William Howard Russell the first special correspondent of the Manchester Guardian John Black Atkins. http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/03/24/the-special-correspondent/?_r=0' http://spartacus-educational.com/Jrussell.htm' William Howard Russell Sir William Howard Russell (28 March 1820, Tallaght, County Dublin, Ireland – 11 February 1907, London, England) was an Irish reporter with "The Times", and is considered to have been one of the first modern war correspondents. He spent 22 months covering the Crimean War, including the Siege of Sevastopol and the Charge of the Light Brigade. He later covered events during the Indian Rebellion of 1857, the American Civil War, the Austro-Prussian War, and the Franco-Prussian War. As a young reporter, Russell reported
Willis Russell Willis Russell Willis Russell (1844-July 1, 1875) was a Deputy United States Marshal who fought against William Smoot and his Ku Klux Klan chapter in Owen County, Kentucky. Smoot and his followers conducted a bloody reign of terror in Franklin (Frankfort), Owen County, and Henry Counties. Russell finally stopped them, though it cost him his life. Willis Russell was born in 1844 in Monterey, Owen County, Kentucky, and grew up there. During the American Civil War, he served as horse soldier in John Hunt Morgan's famous Confederate cavalry. Bill Smoot was a figure who was popular among the local politicians.