Murat Halstead was a nineteenth century American journalist, editor and author.
In his youth, Halstead worked on his family's farm during the spring and summer months and attended school during the late fall and winter. His mother taught Halstead how to read before he was four years old. It is said that as a boy he read such books as Plutarch’s Lives,Josephus, and Rollin’s Ancient History. Halstead enrolled in the Farmers' College near Cincinnati, Ohio in 1848 and graduated four years later.
At the age of eighteen, Halstead began providing articles to various newspapers in Cincinnati. In 1853, he became a reporter with the Cincinnati Commercial. Within a year, Halstead became a partial owner of the paper. By 1865, he was the editor of the CoMurat Halstead was a nineteenth century American journalist, editor and author.
In his youth, Halstead worked on his family's farm during the spring and summer months and attended school during the late fall and winter. His mother taught Halstead how to read before he was four years old. It is said that as a boy he read such books as Plutarch’s Lives,Josephus, and Rollin’s Ancient History. Halstead enrolled in the Farmers' College near Cincinnati, Ohio in 1848 and graduated four years later.
At the age of eighteen, Halstead began providing articles to various newspapers in Cincinnati. In 1853, he became a reporter with the Cincinnati Commercial. Within a year, Halstead became a partial owner of the paper. By 1865, he was the editor of the Commercial. It later merged with the Cincinnati Gazette and the new paper was then called the Commercial Gazette. Halstead served as its editor.
Halstead was present at the execution of John Brown, in 1859. He personally reported several battles during Civil War, and was a correspondent during the Franco-Prussian War, where he sided emphatically with the Germans.
As an editor, Halstead routinely criticized politicians for their corrupt actions. He especially disliked the fact that United States Senate seats were usually given to the wealthiest men in a state. He also strongly supported the Republican Party's platform.
In 1889, President Benjamin Harrison nominated Halstead to be the United States ambassador to Germany. The United States Senate refused to approve the appointment, probably because he had raised the ire of some Senators alleging in editorials that they had purchased their seats.
Halstead later moved to New York City, where he published stories in the Cosmopolitan Monthly and served as editor of the Brooklyn Standard Union. At the start of the Spanish–American War, he once again became a war correspondent and went to the Philippines. His later years he spent writing books, mainly biographies, and contributing articles to magazines.
Halstead died at his home in Cincinnati from a cerebral hemorrhage in 1908. —from Wikipedia, obituary in the New York Times and Ohio History Central (http://www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/M...)...more
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