Albert D. (Albert Deane) Richardson

Born in 1833, Albert Deane Richardson was an American journalist and author best known for his reporting during the Civil War. He wrote for major newspapers and magazines, traveled widely in the West, and built a reputation for lively, direct accounts of the people and events he saw for himself.

During the Civil War, Richardson served as a correspondent for the New York Tribune. While reporting in the South he was captured by Confederate forces and later escaped, an experience he described in The Secret Service, the Field, the Dungeon, and the Escape. He also wrote Beyond the Mississippi, a book that helped introduce many readers to the landscapes and rapid changes of the American West.

Richardson's life ended violently in 1869, but his writing remains closely tied to the drama of mid-19th-century America. He is remembered as a reporter who chased stories from the frontier to the battlefield and turned them into fast-moving, personal narratives.