William Franklin Gore Shanks

Born in Shelbyville, Kentucky, on April 20, 1837, William Franklin Gore Shanks was an American journalist and author whose career grew out of the turbulent years of the Civil War. Sources agree that he worked as a war correspondent for the New York Herald from 1861 to 1865, a role that gave him close contact with many of the military figures he later wrote about.

After the war, he continued in journalism and editorial work. Available biographical references say he later wrote for the New York Herald in an editorial role, worked with the New York Tribune, and served as managing editor of Harper’s Weekly. Those years in major newspapers and magazines helped shape the lively, reportorial voice found in his books.

Shanks is best remembered for Personal Recollections of Distinguished Generals (1866), a book that draws on direct experience and aims to show Civil War leaders as people as well as public figures. Reference sources also credit him with Bench and Bar (1868) and the play A Noble Treason (1876). He died in 1905.