Crimean War gained worldwide attention for pioneering and publicising modern nursing while treating the wounded. The Crimean War also saw the first tactical use of railways and other modern inventions, such as the electric telegraph, with the first "live" war reporting to "The Times" by William Howard Russell. Some credit Russell with prompting the resignation of the sitting British government through his reporting of the lacklustre condition of British forces deployed in Crimea. Additionally, the telegraph reduced the independence of British overseas possessions from their commanders in London due to such rapid communications. Newspaper readership informed public opinion in the United Kingdom
William Thomas Russell James until 1894, when he became private secretary to Cardinal Gibbons and curate at the Cathedral of the Assumption. In 1908, Russell was named pastor of St. Patrick Catholic Church in Washington, D.C. He there earned a reputation as an eminent preacher. In 1909, he inaugurated the Pan-American Mass, an annual liturgical celebration held at St. Patrick's on Thanksgiving. Before being discontinued in 1914, the Mass was attended by President William Howard Taft and representatives of 21 American republics. He was raised to the rank of Domestic Prelate by Pope Pius X in 1911, and named an honorary member of