Townsend, George Alfred, 1841-1914

George Alfred Townsend (January 30, 1841 – April 15, 1914) was an American journalist and novelist who worked under the pen name Gath. He was one of the youngest war correspondents during the American Civil War. Over the course of his career he worked for multiple newspapers including the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Press, New York Herald, New York World and Chicago Tribune. He became well known as Washington D.C. correspondent for the New York World and his coverage of the assassination of Abraham Lincoln. He turned his daily reports into a book, The Life, Crime, and Capture of John Wilkes Booth, published in 1865. In 1871, he established and edited the Washington D.C. newspaper the Capital along with Donn Piatt, but left the venture soon after its creation. He built an estate on South Mountain near Burkittsville, Maryland, and named it Gapland. He built the National War Correspondents Memorial on his estate to recognize journalists who died in war. After his death, his estate was purchased by the State of Maryland and became Gathland State Park.