Murat Halstead had a genius for news enterprise and gained a great reputation for his independent and vigorous editorials. Under his guidance, the Cincinnati Commercial became one of the most notable political and literary influences in the Unites States and rivaled the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Daily News, and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch for leadership among newspapers of the Middle West. Halstead was an indefatigable worker who supposedly wrote an average of 3,000 words a day for forty years. At first he conducted his newspaper independent of party politics, but later he allied it with the Republican party; Halstead was a prominent figure at Republican conventions for over fifty years. Although he gained fame in his time as a political reporter and a brilliant war correspondent, he is best remembered today for his role in the Liberal Republican movement of 1872.

Halstead was born 2 September 1829 at Paddy's Run, Buttler County...