Background
Bradley Sillick Osbon was born on August 16, 1827, in Rye, Westchester County, New York, United States. He was the son of Review Abiathar Mann and Elizabeth E. (Sillick) Osbon.
journalist lecturer naval officer
Bradley Sillick Osbon was born on August 16, 1827, in Rye, Westchester County, New York, United States. He was the son of Review Abiathar Mann and Elizabeth E. (Sillick) Osbon.
Osbon studied navigation in Brooklyn, New York.
Osbon was an incorrigible youth. Running away at the age of eleven to work on the canal, he eventually wound up on a ship running between New York and Liverpool. A typhus plague broke out on the way back to New York, killing many of the Irish passengers in a trip that he described as “simply hell afloat.” Returning to New York after the disastrous trip, Osbon joined the United States Navy where he served on store ships. He craved adventure, however, and found it in short supply in this supporting role. Leaving the Navy, he joined the crew of a whaling ship bound from New Bedford to the Arctic and Antarctic Oceans. In 1851, he joined the Anglo-Chinese Navy for a short stint fighting pirates in the South China Sea. Returning finally in 1852, he found himself bored by shore life, and enlisted in the Argentine Navy where he became the captain of a schooner in 1853. He called himself at the time a sailor of fortune, and in 1857, he again moved on, joining the merchant marine as the quartermaster of a steamship.
In 1858, Osbon left the merchant marine for the lure of the lecture circuit. He was paid $800 a lecture to tell stories of his varied career on the high seas, and, because he was so entertaining, he was frequently asked to put into print for local newspapers his stories. This was the beginning of his life as a journalist. He contributed at first to a variety of newspapers, and eventually found steady work with the brand new New York paper. The World, initially established as a religious paper. With his background as a minister’s son and on ships, Osbon was a valuable commodity for the fledgling paper. In 1861, his account of the Fort Sumter siege vaulted him to national prominence. It was during this initial stage of the war that an unfortunate event happened that would come back to haunt Osbon. The leader of the relief expedition to Fort Sumter, Gustavus V. Fox, asked Osbon to omit his name from Osbon’s accounts because he was uncertain of the expedition’s success and did not want to be criticized in the event that the expedition was a failure. When the expedition was hailed as heroic, Fox accused Osbon of omitting his name on purpose; Osbon protested, citing their earlier agreement publicly, further embarrassing Fox. Later, Fox had his revenge by accusing Osbon of treason and having him imprisoned for six months.
Osbon’s accounts of the war for The World were so popular that he was offered a position at the New York Herald as naval editor. The salary offered - twenty-five dollars a week - was nearly three times his salary at the smaller paper. His work was further enabled by Secretary of the Navy Gideon Welles, who admired Osbon enough to give him access to all naval expeditions in the South. At the battle of Port Royal, Osbon’s reporting was particularly graphic, giving the readers an intense account of what happened. Luckily, he came back uninjured, except for his full red beard which was largely burned off at Port Royal when the wadding from one of the artillery shells blew back into his face. He went on to cover Admiral Farragut’s expedition at New Orleans, and came to idolize Farragut.
Osbon continued his front-line journalism, helping to save the Hartford when it was hit by a shell, and was injured on the ironclad Montauk at the battle of Fort McAlister. Following his injury, Osbon again took to the lecture circuit; in 1864, he left the employ of the Herald and formed a syndicate to supply news about naval developments. Osbon was allowed to publish his stories on the condition that they were not to be made public until the information was officially disseminated. Two papers, however, violated this agreement, and Secretary of the Navy Fox took this opportunity to exact revenge on Osbon for the perceived earlier slight at Fort Sumter. Charged with treason under the fifty- ninth article of war, Osbon was imprisoned in Washington, DC, while awaiting trial. He spent six months incarcerated before being acquitted and released.
After his release, Osbon returned to his news bureau, but was once again struck with the urge for adventure; he served in the Mexican Navy near Brownsville, Texas, and as a boarding officer for the New York Associated Press in New Orleans. In 1868, he traveled to France and Europe, where he sent back dispatches for American papers. Returning to the United States in 1871, Osbon founded the National Gazette with his own money. The paper was a success; in two years Osbon’s project had 7,000 readers, and its size was increased. The paper continued for thirteen years before being sold in 1884.
Osbon’s fortunes took a turn for the worse after he sold the paper. The rest of his life was spent in a variety of failed business ventures, and he was forced to subsist on a small (twenty dollars) pension from the government. He died at the age of eighty-four in New York City.
Served in Chinese Navy (as commander), Argentine Navy (as commander), United States Navy (signal officer) and Mexican Navy (admiral). During Civil War served under Du Pont, Farragut and Worden (specially mentioned by Farragut).
Osbon's obituary in the New York Herald made no mention of the war reportage for which he had become famous. A book of his personal memoirs was published in 1906 with Albert Bigelow Paine; the book was called A Sailor of Fortune: Personal Memoirs of Captain B. S. Osbon. The end of Osbon’s life is especially sad considering the rich adventures and dutiful service of his earlier career. He unstintingly put himself in harm’s way in order to report on the war, and his disregard for his own safety enabled him to write some of the most thrilling war reports of his time. His muscular style brought the war home for his readers, giving him the reputation as a top-notch war journalist and a hero in his own right. Thus, the fact that he had to sell his honorary gold-handled sword to obtain food and shelter during his last years is a particularly disheartening commentary on the short memory of America’s reading public. As quoted by Kaul, his wife said in his obituary: “My husband died because he needed food and medicine”; the daring adventurer and journalist had, for all intents and purposes, faded from the public’s consciousness.
On February 14, 1868, Osbon married Eliza Balfour.