Charles Chauncey Burr was one of the most enigmatic and colorful characters of American magazine journalism. His fame derives from his editing of the Civil War journal the Old Guard; Burr was consistently outrageous, argumentative, and controversial. He championed the "political principles which date from the foundation of the Government (that is, 1776)," the Confederacy and the South, and the supremacy of the Caucasian race, all the while urging cessation of the war and violently attacking, from New York City, President Lincoln and "the blundering stupidity and intolerant fanaticism of [his] Administration."

While today many of Burr's views seem outlandish and absurd, his apparent erudition, his dexterity with language and logic, and his fervent emotion still strike the reader of his publications as powerful and persuasive--even if, as Frank L. Mou says, it is bard to imagine Burr's surviving without capital letters and exclamation points. If Burr's anti-Lincoln hysteria...