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Pen of Fire John Moncure Daniel, 1825–1865 2002, 296 pp
courtesy of our partner, Atlas Books |
The first full-length biography of this American diplomat and outspoken editor of the Richmond Examiner.
During his short and stormy life, John Moncure Daniel served as a U.S. diplomat, journalist, Confederate officer, and conscience of the Confederacy. Strongly pro-slavery, fiercely loyal to the Confederacy, and an outspoken opponent of Jefferson Davis, Daniel made many enemies and fought as many as nine duels.
John Daniel became a leading Richmond editor and a force in the Democratic party by his early twenties. President Franklin Pierce rewarded Daniel for his support in the 1852 campaign by making him American envoy to the kingdom of Sardinia at Turin.
Daniel returned to Richmond after South Carolina seceded from the Union in December 1860. Resuming editorship of the Examiner, he pushed successfully for the secession of Virginia (leaving the paper twice to serve as a Confederate officer) and attacked Jefferson Davis as timid, incompetent, and corrupt. Wounded in 1864 in a duel with the Treasurer of the Confederacy, Daniel died in Richmond in March 1865, at age 39, just days before Union troops took the city.
