The publication was founded as "The Army and Navy Journal and Gazette of the Regular and Volunteer Forces", a weekly newspaper printed in New York City. Its founders were brothers Francis Pharcellus Church and William Conant Church. William was a newspaperman and American Civil War veteran. In his youth, he had helped his father edit and publish the "New York Chronicle"; in 1860, aged 24, he became publisher of the "New York Sun", and the following year, took a job as the Washington correspondent of "The New York Times". In 1862, he was appointed a captain in the United States Volunteers; he served for one year, receiving brevets of major and lieutenant colonel.