Newspapers Published in Eastern Alabama in the Civil War Period

I am interested in the lives of my Alabama ancestors during the 1861—1865 Civil War. As Vicki Betts, Librarian at the University of Texas at Tyler has said,

"Newspapers remain one of the most underutilized resources available to the historian, and with good cause. Relatively few full runs of Southern newspapers survived the Civil War and the years of storms, fires, and business failures that preceded the advent of microfilm … [R]esearchers are … encouraged to approach the "truth" in historic newspapers cautiously. Even more so than now, nineteenth century newspapers often expressed extremely partisan positions. Editors gathered reports and rumors from correspondents, travelers, and other newspapers, usually with little or no verification. At the same time, these papers do reflect what people of the period were reading and perhaps believing. As such, they remain a valuable source, used wisely."

I have therefore tried to conduct a brief survey of the newspapers published in Eastern Alabama that may have been read by my ancestors and their families in the years prior to, during, and following the War Between the States.

Click images to enlarge.

While I am interested in what everyday life was like, I am particularly interested in understanding the state of mind that it would take to

• Take up arms against one’s own country, and
• Own slaves and/or defend the "property rights" of those who did.

I am proud of my ancestors and I insist that they were good people, but I am frankly unable to imagine today in 2014 how either is possible. I want to understand the circumstances that brought my ancestors to the point where they found it possible to do so. The Republican party was, during the election year of 1860, apparently widely hated in the South. Based on my reading of the first few issues of the Jacksonville Republican newspaper published in Jacksonville, Alabama in January of 1860, they were dubbed the “Black Republicans” and the paper strongly advocated secession from the Union — by violent means if necessary — in the event that any Republican candidate, presumed in advance to be an abolitionist — a very hated person in this part of the country — were to be elected president that autumn. Several of my direct ancestors and many members of their families enlisted in the Confederate Army after Alabama seceded from the Union in January 1861 so it is likely they agreed with that sentiment. Alternatively, their reasons may have included the wish to defend their homes from any military invasion from the north, regardless of why such an invasion might occur.

So far in this blog I have discussed two of my ancestors from Alabama who enlisted in the Confederate Army.

• John O. Jackson (1834-1861), who died of disease at a Confederate Army camp in Hunstville, Alabama before seeing any combat. He lived in the vicinity of Kirk’s Grove, Alabama in the 1860 US Census.
• David Franklin Averett (1837-1927), who survived his wounds at the Battle of the Wilderness in 1864 and was with Lee’s Army of Northern Virginia at the surrender at Appomattox Court House in 1865. He lived somewhere in the vicinity of Reeltown and Tallassee, Alabama, based on information from the 1860 US Census and the Muster Roll of his Regiment in the Confederate Army in 1861.

There may be others. There are certainly others if one considers the war service of brothers, fathers, and sons of my direct ancestors.

I have started my search for newspapers at Kirk's Grove and at the Reeltown/Tallassee areas. Towns were connected by roads of some kind, but also by railroad, stagecoach, etc. I want to find the newspapers mostly likely to have been read by Averett and Jackson and their families. Common sense seems to indicate that the papers published in the closest locations would be the mostly likely candidates. But if one allows several days for the papers to be distributed, it also seems possible that the liveliest newspapers, in terms of size, amount of information printed, controversy, would also be read. How easily were they distributed? How long did it take to receive a newspaper from another town?

I have already found many examples of articles published in newspapers printed considerable distances republished in a local paper. Samuel Morse patented his telegraph in 1837 so it was in fairly extensive use by 1860, adding considerably to the available information and opinion that ordinary people such as my ancestors would have had available. It seems likely that information appearing in newspapers, particularly pro-slavery newspapers, would be disseminated among other pro-slavery newspapers. Surely many of these articles would be eventually read by the families of David Averett and John Jackson.

I want to read them too. So, where to look?

My first readings of one newspaper, the Jacksonville Republican, give a clue. I have noticed that out-of-town businesses from, for example, Rome, GA advertised in the Jacksonville Republican in 1860, in spite of the two towns being about forty-five miles apart. The first example is a drug store ad from 12 January, obviously advertising for customers living in Jacksonville.

And here is another ad in the same issue, placed by a general store in Selma, Alabama — 156 miles away!

Even more significant, however, is an advertisement in the Jacksonville Republican for subscriptions to a newspaper published in Rome, GA.

Subject to the availability of regular transportation such as railroad, stage coach, rivers, etc., it seems reasonable to assume that inhabitants of Kirk’s Grove, AL saw newspapers in a fairly timely manner, even if they were printed forty-five miles away. The US Postal Service functioned well and, I assume, so did the Confederate States Postal Service. Alabama counties touched by a circle centered at Kirk’s Grove having a radius of 45 miles include:

• Calhoun
• Cherokee
• Cleburne
• DeKalb
• Etowah
• Jackson
• Marshall
• St Clair

They are highlighted in green.

Similarly, such a circle centered between Reeltown and Tallassee would touch the following Alabama Counties:

• Autauga
• Barbour
• Bullock
• Chambers
• Chilton
• Clay
• Coosa
• Elmore
• Lee
• Lowndes
• Montgomery
• Pike
• Randolph
• Russell
• Talladega
• Tallapoosa

They are highlighted in yellow.

For the time being, I am concentrating on newspapers published during the years 1859--1866, to which I refer as "the Civil War period" below.

According to the Chronicling America web site at the Library of Congress, the following newspapers were published or may have been published during the Civil War period. For each title, the first set of years shown are the years in which the Library of Congress believes or estimates the papers were published. The information after that provides information about which specific issues are still in existence today. Most are on microfilm and the rest are apparently originals[!] Some are available in digital format online and can be downloaded. I have struck the titles for which no extant issues from the Civil War period are listed. Of course, some of the struck titles may later turn out to have issues found in forgotten archives in the future. This is why I have kept them on what has turned out to be a very long list of titles.

• Titles in Autauga County, Alabama
• The Autauga Citizen (Prattville, AL; 1853-1882) (issues available for 1859–1866)
• Southern Statesman (Prattville, AL; 1854-186?) (single issue from 1859 and a single issue from 1860)
• Titles in Barbour County, Alabama
• Clayton Banner (Clayton, AL; 1852–1869) (several issues from 1860–1862 and single issue from 1864)
• The Eufaula Daily News (Eufaula, AL; 1865–18??) (two issues available from late 1865)      
• Eufaula Express (Eufaula, AL; 1858–186?) (some issues available from 1859 and 1861)
• Eufaula News (Eufaula, AL; 1866–18??) (no issues available from Civil War period) 
• Eufaula Weekly News (Eufaula, AL; 18??—18??) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• Eufaula Weekly Times (Eufaula, AL; 18??—187?) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• Southern Native (Eufaula, AL; 185?—18??) (single issue available from 1858)
• Spirit of the South (Eufaula, AL; 1850–1865) (issues available from 1859–1863)
• The Times & News (Eufaula, AL; 18??—1906) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• Titles in Bullock County, Alabama
• The Southern Home Journal (Union Springs, AL; 186?-18??) (one issue available from 1861)
• Union Springs Gazette (Union Springs, AL; 185?-18??) (one issue available from 1860)
• The Union Springs Journal (Union Springs, AL; 18??-1???) (one issue available from 1882)
• Titles in Calhoun County, Alabama
• The Alabama Weekly Inquirer (Anniston, AL; 18??-1???) (issues available from 1898) 
• Jacksonville Republican (Jacksonville, AL; 1837-1895) (many issues from 1837-1895; most issues from 1859-1866)
• Titles in Chambers County, Alabama
• The Chambers Tribune (La Fayette, AL; 1849-186?) (one issue from 1861 and two issues from 1863)
• The East-Alabamian (La Fayette, AL; 184?-1?a??) (issues available from the second half of 1843)
• The People’s Journal (La Fayette, AL; 18??-1???) (one issue available from 1892)
• Southern Sentinel (La Fayette, AL; 18??-1???) (one issue from January 1860)
• Titles in Cherokee County, Alabama
• Cherokee Advertiser (Centre, AL; 1866-1892)
• Coosa River Argus (Centre, AL; 1854-18??) (one issue from 1854, two from 1860) 
• Gladiator (Cedar Bluff, AL; 1843-18??) (one issue from 1843, one from 1844)
• Titles in Chilton County, Alabama
• (no titles listed for the Civil War period)
• Titles in Clay County, Alabama
• (no titles listed for the Civil War period)
• Titles in Cleburne County, Alabama
• The Fruithurst Times (Fruithurst, AL; 1???-190?) (issues available from 1903)
• The Standard-Democrat (Edwardsville, AL; 18??-1???) (issues available from 1896) 
• Titles in Coosa County, Alabama
• (none during the Civil War period)
• Titles in DeKalb County, Alabama
• The Collinsville Courier (Collinsville, AL; 1???-1927) (no issues from the Civil War period))
• The Fort Payne Journal (Fort Payne, AL; 18??-1958) (none from the Civil War period are available)
• The Wills Valley Post (Collinsville, AL; 1854-18??) (one issue from 1879 is available)
• Titles in Elmore County, Alabama
• The Alabama Times (Wetumpka, AL; 1840-18??) (few issues available only from 1840-1841)
• Daily State Guard (Wetumpka, AL; 1849-18??) (few issues available only from 1849) 
• Dorsey’s Dispatch (Wetumpka, AL; 185?-1857) (few issues available only from 1856-1857)
• The Elmore Standard (Wetumpka; AL; 1865-1868) (few issues available only from 1867-1868)
• Harry of the West (Wetumpka, AL; 1844-18??) (single issue available from 1849)
• The Southern Crisis (Wetumpka, AL; 1840-1840)
• The Southern Dial and African Monitor (Wetumpka, AL; 185?-18??) (single issue available from 1858)
• The State Guard (Wetumpka, AL; 1847-18??) (few issues available from 1847 and 1852)      
• Weekly State Guard (Wetumpka, AL; 184?-????) (single issue available from 1851) 
• Wetumpka Dispatch (Wetumpka, AL; 1857-18??) (issues available only from 1857) 
• Wetumpka Spectator (Wetumpka, AL; 185?-186?) (some issues available from 1856-1857, 1859, and 1861)
• The Wetumpka Whig (Wetumpka, AL; 1844-18??) (single issue available from 1844, 1846, and 1847)
• Titles in Etowah County, Alabama
• The Camp Fire (Gadsden, AL; 18??-????) (one issue from 1895 and one from 1896 are available)
• The Gadsden Weekly Times (Gadsden, AL; 18??-1887) (several issues from 1885 are available)
• Titles in Jackson County, Alabama
• Bellefonte Courier and Jackson County Republican (Bellefonte, AL; 183?—????) (single issue from 1839)
• Camp Illuminator (Bridgeport, AL; 1864–1865) (several issues available from 1864–1865)
• Era and Star (Scottsboro, AL; 18??—1???) (no issues available from Civil War period) 
• Jackson County News (Stevenson, AL; 1865—????) (single issue available from 1865) 
• The Progressive Age (Scottsboro, AL; 18??—1962) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• The Stevenson New Era (Stevenson, AL; 186?—1???) (all available issues from 1869) 
• Titles in Lee County, Alabama
• East Alabama Monitor (Opelika, AL; 186?-1869) (some issues from 1868-1869)
• The Opelika Recorder (Opelika, AL; 186?-187?) (one issue from 1866)
• The Opelika Tri-Weekly Locomotive (Opelika, AL; 186?-18??) (some issues from 1869-1870)
• Opelika Union (Opelika, AL; 1865-????) (at least one issue available form 1865)
• The Opelika Weekly Locomotive (Opelika, AL; 18??-1871) (at least one issue available from 1871)
• The Progressive Age (Opelika, AL; 18??-1872) (a few issues from 1872)
• The Sketch Book (Auburn, AL; 1860-18??) (a few issues from late 1860)
• The Southern Era (Opelika, AL; 1860-1860) (some issues available from 1859-1860) 
• The Southern Republic (Opelika, AL; 1861-186?) (issues available from 1861-1862) 
• The Weekly Southern Era (Opelika; 185?-1860) (issues available from Nov 1859 — Feb 1860)
• Titles in Lowndes County, Alabama
• The Chronicle (Hayneville, AL; 18??—1860) (issues available from 1860)
• The Citizen-Examiner (Hayneville, AL; 18??-192?) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• Hayneville Chronicle (Hayneville, AL; 1860–186?) (issues available from 1860)
• The Lowndes County Chronicle (Hayneville, AL; 183?—18??) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• Lowndes County Observer and Spirit of the Times (Hayneville, AL; 183?—1???) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• The Watchman (Hayneville, AL; 185?—186?) (issues available from 1860)
• The Weekly Herald (Benton, AL; 185?—186?) (issues available from 1859–1
• Titles in Macon County, Alabama
• The Confederate States (Tuskegee, AL; 1861-18??) (one issue from April 1861)
• The News (Tuskegee, AL; 1865-????) (one issue from 1873 and one from 1887)
• South Western Baptist (Marion, AL; 1850-1865) (scattered issues on microfilm for 1850-1865)
• The True Union (Tuskegee, AL; 185?-18??) (one issue from 1857)
• The Tuskegee News (Tuskegee, AL; 1865-18??) (issues from 1866)
• Tuskegee Republican (Tuskegee, AL; 1856-18??) (issues from 1856-1858)
• The Universalist Herald (Notasulga, AL; 184?-19??) (a few issues from 1859-1861) 
• Titles in Marshall County, Alabama
• The Columbus City Journal (Columbus City, AL; 18??—????) (no issues at all available)      
• The Marshall County News (Guntersville, AL; 185?—18??) (single issue available from 1858)
• The Marshall Eagle (Guntersville, AL; 185?—18??) (no issues available from Civil War period)
• The Tennessee Valley (Guntersville, AL; 185?—18??) (two issues available from 1856)
• Titles in Montgomery County, Alabama
• Alabama State Gazette (Montgomery, AL; 184?-????) (single issue available from 1849)
• Alabama State Sentinel (Montgomery, AL; 1860-186?) (few issues available from 1867-1868)
• The Atlas (Montgomery, AL; 1849-185?) (three issues available from 1850-1851)
• Capital City Record (Montgomery, AL; 186?-18??) (single issue available from 1869) 
• The Church Register (Montgomery, AL; 186?-????) (large number of issues available from 1869-1870)
• The Daily Advertiser (Montgomery, AL; 18??-18??) (issues available for April-July 1863 and a single issue from 1865)
• Daily Alabama Journal (Montgomery, AL; 1847-18??) (issues available from 1847-1856)
• The Daily Confederation (Montgomery, AL; 1858-186?) (issues available for 1860-1861)
• Daily Montgomery Ledger (Montgomery, AL; 1865-1866) (issues available for August — November 1865)
• Daily State Sentinel (Montgomery, AL; 1863-186?) (some issues available from 1867)
• Titles in Pike County, Alabama
• Advocate and American (Troy, AL; 1861–186?) (issues available from 1861–1862)
• Independent American (Troy, AL; 1855–1861) (issues available for 1855–1861)
• Southern Advertiser (Troy, AL; 1859–1868) (issues available for 1860–1866)
• Southern Messenger (Troy, AL; 1866–1868) (issues available from 1866–1867)
• States Rights Advocate (Troy, AL; 1860–1861) (a few issues available from 1861–1862)
• Troy Messenger (Troy, AL; 1???—19??) (a few issues available from 1912)
• Titles in Randolph County, Alabama
• The Randolph County Democrat (Wedowee, AL; 1860-????) (none available)
• The Roanoke Herald (Roanoke, AL; 18??-1???) (issues available from 1896-1899)
• Southern Mercury (Wedowee, AL; 18??-1860) (one issue from 1859 and one from 1860 are available)
• Titles in Russell County, Alabama
• Alabama State Register and Girard and Columbus Advertiser (Girard, AL; 1840-18??) (two issues from 1840)
• East Alabama Messenger (Girard, AL), 1???-19??) (one issue from 1904)
• East Alabamian (Girard, AL; 185?-18??) (two issues from 1852-1853)
• Titles in St Clair County, Alabama
• (No titles listed for the Civil War period)
• Titles in Talladega County, Alabama
• The Alabama Reporter (Talladega, AL; 1843-1875) (issues available for 1860, 1862, 1864, 1866)
• The Democratic Watchtower (Talladega, AL; 1840-1867) (issues available for 1859-1866, and other years)
• The Humorist (Talladega, AL; 1838-1???) (one issue from 1838)
• Our Mountain Home (18??-1???) (issues available from 1872, 1875-1882, 1886, 1888, 1891, 1893-1897, and later)
• The Patriot (Talladega, AL; 1839-18??) (four issues available from 1840-1841)
• Southern Register (Talladega, AL; 183?-18??) (one issue from 1839)
• Titles in Tallapoosa County, Alabama
• The Dadeville Banner & Times (Dadeville, AL; 18??-18??) (a couple of issues from 1864 are available)
• Formed from the merger of The Dadeville Banner and the Tallapoosa Times
• The Dadeville Banner (Dadeville, AL; 18??-186?) (several issues from 1861)
• Merged with the Tallapoosa Times to form The Dadeville Banner & Times
• Dadeville Democrat (Dadeville, AL; 18??-????) Issues available only from 1885 
• Messenger (Dadeville, AL; 1866-18??) Single issue available from 1867
• The Tallapoosa Gazette (Dadeville, AL; 18??-1???) (few issues available only from 1879-1880)
• Tallapoosa News (Dadeville, AL; 186?-187?) (few issues available only from 1870-1872)
• Tallapoosa Times (Dadeville, AL; 185?-18??) (a few issues from 1860 — 1861 are available)
• Merged with The Dadeville Banner to form The Dadeville Banner & Times
• The Tallapoosian (Dadeville, AL; 186?-1???) (few issues available only from 1867-1868)

I have highlighted the titles that seem to provide the most complete information over the duration of the Civil War period. I believe the Jacksonville Republican from Calhoun County appears to be the most complete available, with The Autauga Citizen from Prattville, and The Alabama Reporter and The Democratic Watchtower from Talladega also being strong candidates. They should provide the best opportunity to observe the evolution of a pro-slavery newspaper from a year or two prior to the war, through the war, and for a year or two afterward.

Based on geography instead of completeness, the Jacksonville Republican is the most likely candidate for John O. Jackson. For David Averett, The Dadeville Banner, the Tallapoosa Times, and The Dadeville Banner & Times are the most likely candidates.

I was fortunate to find a fairly complete set of The Jacksonville Republican newspaper issues in digital form for those years. In fact, the collection actually extends from 1837 to 1895 and are available, free to download in PDF format, from a site at Jacksonville State University. The results of the search from the geographic point of view of David Averett are not as promising: only a few issues are available from 1860-1861 and 1864.

My plan is to begin with the most accessible of the titles, the Jacksonville Republican and see where that leads.