Edwin Fishel's The Secret War for the Union discusses how the press during the Civil War routinely reported important military information. With the arrival of Union Army regiments in July 1861 to protect Washington DC, the National Republican listed the regiments in the area with their numbers and names of the officers. In a later report, the New York Herald listed only nineteen of those regiments. The paper later decided to report the army's total strength.
Confederate leaders arranged for the delivery of Northern papers to Richmond. General Lee routinely consulted them.
If you think the press today sinks ships, the newspapers in those days fell over each other to report state secrets.
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