1 William Swinton (1833–92), described by the New York Citizen as “tall, red-whiskered, sedate,” was a special correspondent for the New York Times during the war and became notorious for his overly revealing and critical reports on Union troop movements. In 1864, General Ambrose E. Burnside ordered Swinton shot for his activities, but General Grant intervened, merely banishing him from Union lines (“William Swinton,” New York Citizen, 25 May 67, 3; Grant, 2:143–45). Clemens apparently knew Swinton rather well: later that winter the two men roomed together in Washington (see 21 Feb 68 to JLC and family, n. 1). In 1906 Clemens recalled that they also cooperated in a “Newspaper Correspondence Syndicate,” for which they wrote “a letter apiece once a week and copied them and sent them to twelve newspapers, charging each of the newspapers a dollar apiece. And although we didn’t get rich, it kept the jug going and partly fed the two of us” (AD, 15 Jan 1906, CU-MARK, in MTA, 1:323–24). Unfortunately, no evidence has been found to corroborate Clemens’s memory. So far as is known, Swinton was not now working for the Tribune, the Times, or any other newspaper, but he would certainly have been well known to Young. In April 1867 he published The Twelve Decisive Battles of the War: A History of the Eastern and Western Campaigns, in Relation to the Actions That Decided Their Issue, through Dick and Fitzgerald, who later declined Mark Twain’s book about the Sandwich Islands. In his 17 December letter to the Alta, Clemens wrote that A. D. Richardson, with Beyond the Mississippi, “and Swinton (‘Twelve Decisive Battles.’) have published the most saleable books, I believe, that have issued from the press this year” (SLC 1868). For a discussion of the “three Holy Land letters” see 24 Nov 67 to Young, n. 1.

2 See 1 Dec 67 to Young, n. 2.