The First Journalist Killed In War

Irving Carson, the first journalist killed in war. Special guests Civilwarhumor and Mayhayley's Grave.Continue ReadingThe First Journalist Killed In War

One of my favorite research topics – and a staple of my Rosehill Cemetery tours – is Captain Irving Carson, whose daring exploits as a scout made him a legend in his own time, the early days of the Civil War. But few at the time realized that he was also a journalist, at a time when it was a remarkably new profession. And when he died in the Battle of Shiloh, he became the first journalist to be killed in action. If you know his story well and look closely at his cemetery plot, you might notice that there’s something fishy about it. Did the cemetery originally plan to give him a big, fancy monument that would have become a selling point for other burial plots?

On this episode, we talk with Matt Palmquist of Civil War Humor – the best Twitter feed going – and bring back Mayhayley’s Grave for a new custom song, “Dodgin’ Bullets!”

I previously covered Carson in a lengthy post on the Mysterious Chicago podcast and blog

Some pictures:

The only known photo of Carson

Carson’s grave at Rosehill, allegedly visited by Grant himself.

Above, the song for the episode, by Mayhayley’s Grave. Lyrics and melody by Amy Lee. Here more from them on our other Rosehill episode, Kathryn Evans!