The Bedford Gazette leads with a scathing critique of post-Civil War military spending, declaring that the government retains "ONE HUNDRED AND SEVENTY FIVE FULL FLEDGED MAJOR GENERALS" — one for every 500 soldiers — each drawing over $5,000 annually. The paper rails against these "expensive military establishments" burdening Northern taxpayers. The front page also features an extensive military biography of Democratic candidate Lt. Col. John P. Linton, detailing his service from the three-month campaign through multiple Civil War battles, where he was wounded twice while commanding troops at engagements like Snicker's Ferry and New Market. Beyond politics, the page offers gentler fare with Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's melancholy poem "Weariness" and a charming piece called "Baby is King" about how a 17-pound infant tyrannizes an entire household. The paper also reports on "another loyal thief" — Luther Gallagher of New Jersey, arrested for defrauding the government through forgery while working in the Quartermaster's Department.

This September 1865 edition captures America grappling with post-war reality just months after Appomattox. The military spending controversy reflects genuine tensions over demobilization — the Union Army had swelled to over 2 million men, and deciding how quickly to scale down was both politically and economically fraught. The Democratic Party, devastated by being seen as disloyal during wartime, was desperately trying to rebrand itself as the soldier's friend and fiscal responsibility party. The corruption stories weren't isolated incidents but part of widespread wartime profiteering that would fuel the Gilded Age's reputation for graft. Meanwhile, the detailed military biography of Lt. Col. Linton shows how Civil War service became essential political currency — both parties competed to prove their martial credentials to veteran voters.

• The subscription terms reveal 1865 economics: $2 if paid in advance, but $3 if you waited more than six months — a 50% penalty that shows how inflation and currency instability made prompt payment crucial
• Courts had ruled that simply taking a newspaper from the post office made you liable for payment 'whether they subscribe for them, or not' — essentially making newspaper theft a federal crime
• Lt. Col. Linton fooled Confederate forces for two weeks using 'Quaker guns' (fake wooden cannons) and 'blowing up stumps mornings and evenings, to imitate the discharge of artillery'
• Major generals earned 'over FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS a year' — equivalent to about $85,000 today, while the average worker made around $300 annually
• The paper promises to chronicle government corruption even 'if we have to issue a dozen supplements' to cover all the theft by 'Loyalists'

• That $5,000 major general salary the paper complains about? It was actually modest compared to railroad executives of the era — Commodore Vanderbilt was worth $100 million by 1865, making him the richest American ever at that point
• Lt. Col. Linton's regiment guarded 56 miles of the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad — the same line where a young telegrapher named Andrew Carnegie was learning the business skills that would make him America's steel king
• The Longfellow poem 'Weariness' appeared during the poet's most productive period — he was simultaneously working on translations of Dante that would introduce Italian literature to American readers
• The complaint about 175 major generals was actually understated — the Union Army had created over 1,300 generals during the war, more than in all previous American conflicts combined
• Bedford County's Democratic newspaper was part of a broader pattern — most rural Pennsylvania papers opposed Lincoln's Republicans, helping fuel the 'Copperhead' anti-war movement that nearly cost Lincoln the 1864 election