William Howard Russell witnessed the final re-capture of Lucknow (1858). In 1861 Russell went to Washington, returning to England in 1863. In July 1865 he sailed on the "Great Eastern" to document the laying of the Atlantic Cable and wrote a book about the voyage with color illustrations by Robert Dudley. He published diaries of his time in India, the American Civil War and the Franco-Prussian War, where he describes the warm welcome given him by English-speaking Prussian generals such as Leonhard Graf von Blumenthal. Russell later accused fellow war correspondent Nicholas Woods of the "Morning Herald" of lying in his articles about
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