Benjamin Cummings Truman (October 25, 1835 – July 18, 1916), was an

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, pe ...

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and

author An author is the writer of a book, article, play, mostly written work. A broader definition of the word "author" states: "''An author is "the person who originated or gave existence to anything" and whose authorship determines responsibility f ...

; in particular, he was a distinguished war correspondent during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, and an authority on

duel A duel is an arranged engagement in combat between two people, with matched weapons, in accordance with agreed-upon Code duello, rules. During the 17th and 18th centuries (and earlier), duels were mostly single combats fought with swords (the r ...

s. He was born in

Providence, Rhode Island Providence is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Rhode Island. One of the oldest cities in New England, it was founded in 1636 by Roger Williams, a Reformed Baptist theologian and religious exile from the Massachusetts Bay ...

and attended public school in Providence, followed by a

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school in Canterbury, New Hampshire. After a year administering a district school in

Merrimack County, New Hampshire Merrimack County is a county in the U.S. state of New Hampshire. As of the 2020 Census, the population was 153,808, making it the third-most populous county in New Hampshire. Its county seat is Concord, the state capital. The county was organi ...

, he returned to Providence and learned

typesetting Typesetting is the composition of text by means of arranging physical ''type'' (or ''sort'') in mechanical systems or ''glyphs'' in digital systems representing ''characters'' (letters and other symbols).Dictionary.com Unabridged. Random Ho ...

. He was a compositor and a

proofreader Proofreading is the reading of a galley proof or an electronic copy of a publication to find and correct reproduction errors of text or art. Proofreading is the final step in the editorial cycle before publication. Professional Traditional m ...

for ''

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'' from 1855 to 1859, and later worked for

John W. Forney John Weiss Forney (30 September 1817 – 9 December 1881) was an American newspaper publisher and politician. He was clerk of the United States House of Representatives from 1851 through 1856, and again from 1860 through 1861. He was thereafter se ...

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

at the ''

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'', and in

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

for the '' Sunday Morning Chronicle''. When the Civil War began, he became a war correspondent, then declined a commission in 1862 to become a staff aide to

Andrew Johnson Andrew Johnson (December 29, 1808July 31, 1875) was the 17th president of the United States, serving from 1865 to 1869. He assumed the presidency as he was vice president at the time of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. Johnson was a Dem ...

, military governor of

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, and Generals

James S. Negley James Scott Negley (December 22, 1826 – August 7, 1901) was an American Civil War General, farmer, railroader, and U.S. Representative from the state of Pennsylvania. He played a key role in the Union victory at the Battle of Stones River. ...

, John H. King and Kenner Garrard. From ''Duelling in America ''1992: :After the Civil War, Truman had a variety of jobs, serving for a time as a special agent of the Post Office Department on the West Coast, before going back into newspaper work. He shifted into public relations in the 1880s, promoting the state of California both in this country and abroad. After the turn of the century, he toured the Near East as a correspondent. :Besides his journalistic endeavors, Truman wrote numerous books, including several on California history, and even produced two plays. He is best known, however, for his work as a Civil War correspondent. Through energy, resourcefulness, and not a little luck, he was often able to beat his rivals to press with important stories. During his extensive travels in the South, he sent many insightful letters to the New York ''Times'', documents that are considered some of the most important resources of the Reconstruction Era. For his book ''The Field of Honor'' (1884), Truman collected accounts of significant European and American duels that illustrated the many variations of the ''code duello'', as it was then known. The American portion of the book was reprinted as ''Duelling in America''. Truman owned five newspapers, including the

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

''Bulletin'', where he lived for a time. He died on July 18, 1916 in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

, California.

References

* Dumas Malone, ed. ''Dictionary of American Biography''. vol. X, part 1. Charles Scribner's Sons, New York, NY. 1964. * Major Ben C. Truman, Steven Randolph Wood, Editor ''Duelling in America''. Joseph Tabler Books, San Diego, 1992.
FAMOUS TIMES WRITER DIES IN CALIFORNIA; Major Ben C. Truman Served New York Times as Correspondent in Civil War and Was President Johnson's Secretary.
The New York Times. July 30, 1916 {{DEFAULTSORT:Truman, Benjamin Cummings 1835 births 1916 deaths The New York Times corporate staff Journalists from Washington, D.C. People from Providence, Rhode Island Writers from Philadelphia American war correspondents People from Merrimack County, New Hampshire Burials at Evergreen Cemetery, Los Angeles Journalists from Pennsylvania War correspondents of the American Civil War 19th-century American businesspeople