Stephen Powers, Journalist, Scientist and Traveler

Stephen Powers was born in Washington County, Ohio, in 1840, son of a farmer and a graduate of the University of Michigan in 1863. His first position as a journalist came when he was employed by the Cincinnati Commercial as a Civil War correspondent. In this capacity he witnessed "at a safe distance" the battles of Kennesaw Mountains, Atlanta and Nashville.1 When the war was over, he traveled extensively through the South reporting the first series of Reconstruction Conventions. Later he was called upon to testify before the Senate Reconstruction Committee concerning conditions and attitudes found in the South.2