William Howard Russell, battle-hardened journalist and veteran of the Crimean War and the Indian Mutiny, sailed into New York harbour in March 1861 eager to report the explosive events of America's civil war for the London Times. His was an important role. When Russell was first introduced to Abraham Lincoln in Washington later that month, the President remarked: 'The London Times is one of the greatest powers in the world - in fact, I don't know anything which has more power - except perhaps the Mississippi.' Similarly, the black political activist Frederick Douglas remarked that Americans 'watched eagerly to see what The London Times had to say'. The newspaper was frequently regarded as an authentic mouthpiece of the British government and it was little wonder that Russell was assiduously courted by prominent figures both in the North and South.