Charles Congdon

April 7, 1821 (age 69)

New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States

Congdon began his career by sweeping out the office of the New Bedford Courier, the weekly paper published by his father. Later, while carrying papers on the village route, he composed his first poem, “Ode to Commerce. ” About 1879 he became a reporter on the Daily Register in New Bedford, but went back to Providence to edit the New Age, a suffrage paper. He then made New Bedford his home again, being first, editor of the Daily Bulletin and later, associate editor of the Daily Mercury. His success on the latter paper explains his call to Boston in 1854 to edit the Atlas, then the leading Whig organ of New England. At the personal request of Horace Greeley he went to New York in 1857 to work on the Tribune, where he became known as “Greeley’s right hand man. ” Some of his best work on that newspaper may be found in “Tribune” Essays (1869), leading editorials contributed during the exciting years from 1857 to 1863. At the close of his college days he published a poetical volume with the sophomoric title, Flowers Plucked by a Traveler on the Journey of Life (1840). During his editorial years on the Tribune, from which he resigned in 1882, he brought together a somewhat remarkable library which attracted considerable attention for its Americana when it was sold in 1891. Associates on the Tribune said that Congdon wrote from the head while Greeley wrote from the heart. On his arrival in New York he became a constant contributor to the periodicals of the day. His published articles ranged from those in Vanity Fair, the great humorous weekly edited by Artemus Ward, to those printed in the serious, dignified North American Review. A kinsman of William Cullen Bryant, he was naturally a contributor to the Knickerbocker Magazine then edited by Lewis Gaylord Clark. For many years he was the New York correspondent of the Boston Courier in which his contributions were signed with the nom de plume “Paul Potter. ” Beloved by all newspapermen, he spent his declining years in a New York hotel near Washington Square. After his death from heart failure his body was taken to his old home, New Bedford.

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Flowers Plucked By a Traveller on a Journey of Life (Classic Reprint)

(These poems I have arranged in this volume in the order i...)

Tribune Essays: Leading articles contributed to the New York tribune from 1857 to 1863

(Tribune Essays - Leading articles contributed to the New ...)

Reminiscences of a journalist

(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)

The Warning of War: A Poem Delivered Before the United Societies of Dartmouth College, Hanover, N.H., at the Annual Commencement, July 30, 1862

( This work has been selected by scholars as being cultur...)

Charles Taber Congdon Edit Profile

editor author poet

Background

Congdon Charles Taber was born on April 07, 1821 in New Bedford, Massachusetts, United States.

Education

From the local school Congdon went in 1837 to Brown University for three years, which he has described in detail in Reminiscences of a Journalist (1880). He was never graduated though he received the honorary degree of Master of Arts in 1879.

Career

Congdon began his career by sweeping out the office of the New Bedford Courier, the weekly paper published by his father. Later, while carrying papers on the village route, he composed his first poem, “Ode to Commerce. ” About 1879 he became a reporter on the Daily Register in New Bedford, but went back to Providence to edit the New Age, a suffrage paper. He then made New Bedford his home again, being first, editor of the Daily Bulletin and later, associate editor of the Daily Mercury. His success on the latter paper explains his call to Boston in 1854 to edit the Atlas, then the leading Whig organ of New England.

At the personal request of Horace Greeley he went to New York in 1857 to work on the Tribune, where he became known as “Greeley’s right hand man. ” Some of his best work on that newspaper may be found in “Tribune” Essays (1869), leading editorials contributed during the exciting years from 1857 to 1863. At the close of his college days he published a poetical volume with the sophomoric title, Flowers Plucked by a Traveler on the Journey of Life (1840). During his editorial years on the Tribune, from which he resigned in 1882, he brought together a somewhat remarkable library which attracted considerable attention for its Americana when it was sold in 1891. Associates on the Tribune said that Congdon wrote from the head while Greeley wrote from the heart.

On his arrival in New York he became a constant contributor to the periodicals of the day. His published articles ranged from those in Vanity Fair, the great humorous weekly edited by Artemus Ward, to those printed in the serious, dignified North American Review. A kinsman of William Cullen Bryant, he was naturally a contributor to the Knickerbocker Magazine then edited by Lewis Gaylord Clark. For many years he was the New York correspondent of the Boston Courier in which his contributions were signed with the nom de plume “Paul Potter. ”

Beloved by all newspapermen, he spent his declining years in a New York hotel near Washington Square. After his death from heart failure his body was taken to his old home, New Bedford.

Achievements

Congdon was distinguished for his work as an editorial writer on the New York "Tribune" for a period from 1857 till 1862. The most meritorious of all his poems was "The Warning of War" (1862), which he delivered before the United Societies of Dartmouth College on July 30, 1862.