William Howard Russell 1850. Initially sent by editor John Delane to Malta to cover British support for the Ottoman Empire against Russia in 1854, Russell despised the term "war correspondent" but his coverage of the conflict brought him international renown, and Florence Nightingale later credited her entry into wartime nursing to his reports. The Crimean medical care, shelter and protection of all ranks by Mary Seacole was also publicised by Russell and by other contemporary journalists, rescuing her from bankruptcy. Russell was described by one of the soldiers on the frontlines thus: "a vulgar low Irishman, [who] sings a good song, drinks anyone's
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.