John Richard Dennett (1838–1874)

John Richard Dennett, beginning in June, 1865, traveled the post-war South for eight months writing pieces entitled "The South As It Is" for the new magazine The Nation.  He talked to people of all classes, black and white.  Most of his articles avoided commentary for straight reporting, but in his last letter he concluded that the efforts to change Southern whites would prove to be too little and too late.  [information from Stephen Budiansky The Bloody Shirt]