The Evening Star's September 17, 1861 edition leads with a serialized Victorian romance—"In Loco Parentis"—a comedic tale of romantic entanglement in which Dr. Bibber arranges his daughter's marriage to Mr. Carter, only to have Carter beg off due to a deathbed promise to his late wife. The solution? Carter's son agrees to marry the daughter instead, technically "in the place of the father." But buried beneath this domestic drama are the real wartime headlines: Berdan's Sharpshooters are recruiting elite marksmen from New Hampshire. The New-Hampshire company of 100 men has just arrived at camp in Weehawken, led by Captain A. B. Jones, a college graduate who traded Euclid and Herodotus for Hardee's Military Tactics. These aren't ordinary soldiers—one-third are farmers, the rest skilled mechanics earning $2 a day year-round, all screened for "excellent moral character." The piece boasts that Jones's marksmanship nearly rivals Colonel Berdan's legendary exhibition shot, and that over 250 men applied, with nearly all passing the rifle "string test" (a 30-inch accuracy measure). There's also a portrait sketch of the famous war correspondent Porc Crayon, riding across the landscape with an opera glass and a leather tack, his rough frontier appearance contrasting sharply with refined accomplishments.

September 1861 was a pivotal moment in the Civil War—barely six months after Fort Sumter, the Union was desperate for trained soldiers and technical expertise. Berdan's Sharpshooters were the war's first elite rifle regiment, representing the North's industrial advantage: the ability to recruit educated, skilled men and organize them into specialized units. While the South relied on cavalry traditions and individual marksmanship, the Union was building systematic military innovation. This newspaper page reveals how the conflict was transforming American society—romanticized fiction shared space with war recruitment, and college-educated men like Captain Jones were abandoning their studies to fight. The emphasis on character screening and technical skill shows the Union was learning to build a modern, professional army. Meanwhile, the serialized romance offered Washington's civilian readers an escape from the grinding reality of a war that would last four more years.

• Berdan's Sharpshooters used a 'string test' to measure accuracy—a 30-inch string was the standard, and Captain Jones reportedly achieved a nine-inch string, nearly matching Colonel Berdan's legendary five-inch shot from the Weehawken exhibition. Over 250 men applied, with 'nearly all of them' able to pass this test, meaning the North had deep reserves of skilled riflemen.
• The New Hampshire company was recruited with an unusual requirement: candidates had to present 'satisfactory certificates of good character and habits as their second qualification for admission,' after passing the marksmanship test. Character screening was explicitly part of the military recruitment process.
• One-third of Berdan's New Hampshire recruits were farmers; the rest were mechanics and artisans 'who earn their $2 a day the year round'—suggesting these were relatively prosperous working-class men volunteering, not desperate conscripts.
• Captain A. B. Jones received his officer's commission from the Governor on his college graduation day and 'sprang with alacrity from the study of Euclid and Herodotus to that of Hardee and Scott'—shifting from classical Greek mathematics and history to military manuals almost immediately upon graduation.
• The Evening Star's subscription rates: 14 cents by carrier per week, or $7 per year; $3.50 by mail; single copies cost 'one cent' (two cents in wrappers). Advertisements had to be submitted before 10 a.m. to appear that day.

• Berdan's Sharpshooters, first mentioned on this page, became one of the Civil War's most celebrated units and would be immortalized in James McPherson's 'Battle Cry of Freedom.' Colonel Hiram Berdan's insistence on elite marksmen created a template for specialized military units that would persist through the 20th century.
• Captain A. B. Jones learned his rifle skills in the era before telescopic sights—his nine-inch accuracy string was achieved with iron sights alone. By World War I, just 50 years later, sniper rifles would have optical scopes, making such feats routine.
• Porc Crayon (David Hunter Strother), featured in the portrait, was simultaneously a journalist, illustrator, and Union scout operating behind Confederate lines for General Banks. He sketched some of the war's most vivid firsthand accounts—making him one of the Civil War's multimedia correspondents, a role that wouldn't have a true parallel until World War II.
• The serialized romance 'In Loco Parentis' reflects the genteel entertainment Washington's elite craved while their sons marched away. The phrase itself—'in the place of the father'—captures a Civil War theme: the substitution clause that allowed wealthy men to hire replacements for the draft, a source of fierce Northern resentment.
• The Evening Star was Washington's afternoon paper, competing for the capital's business and political class. By 1861, it was already 18 years old, having been founded in 1843—making it a trusted voice during the war's opening months, when Americans desperately sought reliable news from the conflict.