Unconquerable Defiance: Richmond Newspapers and Confederate Defeat, 1864-1865

This thesis describes and analyses how the Richmond press operated as a propaganda machine during the final year of the Civil War. It argues that the newspapers of the Confederate capital regularly exploited the propaganda value of the news they reported, employing methods including distortion of facts and libelous personal attacks. They displayed a seemingly total disregard for veracity in their zeal to convince their readership that the cause was not lost, and created a false picture of the real situation to a population which was war-weary and desperate for reassurance that victory was still possible. Defeats were minimized and even the tiniest victory in the most insignificant skirmish was magnified. When the Northern army began its strategy of hard war, the Richmond press seized on that to help create a demonized portrait of the Yankee and the North.

Name thesis:degree_name

Master of Arts

Level thesis:degree_level

Thesis

Discipline thesis:degree_discipline

History

Year dc:date.available

2007

Author dc:creator

• Berler, Anne K.

Contributors dc:contributor

• Dr. Ted Tunnell

• Civil War
• Virginia
• press
• propoganda
• public opinion
• Jefferson Davis
• civilian morale
• Yankee
• Confederate
• mass communication
• Arts and Humanities
• History

Statement dc:rights

• © The Author

Identifier

https://scholarscompass.vcu.edu/etd/719

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarscompass.vcu.edu:etd-1718