USA > South Carolina > Charleston County > Charleston > The newspaper press of Charleston, S.C.; a chronological and biographical history, embracing a period of one hundred and forty years > Part 9
Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).
Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3 | Part 4 | Part 5 | Part 6 | Part 7 | Part 8 | Part 9 | Part 10 | Part 11 | Part 12 | Part 13
The light of this fire was reported as having been seen
119
OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
at 3 o'clock on the morning of 27th April, 1838, full twen- ty-five miles South of Savannah, being in a direct line, about eighty miles from Charleston. A piece of burnt linen was picked up on the morning of the fire, by a plan- ter on his place fifteen miles distant, where the light was most distinctly seen, and where the noise occasioned by the blowing up of houses was heard.
The 3d of January, 1853, marked an epoch in the his- . tory of the Courier. On that propitious day, the semi- centennial anniversary of this journal was celebrated by a banquet given at Butterfields' Pavilion Hotel. At that feast, the "Press-gang" of the City, editorial and operative, were gathered. Mr. WILLINGTON presided, and was as- sisted, at that grateful and joyous festival, by Mr. YEA- DON, as Vice-President. The lapse of fifty years found the original publisher of the Courier, still at its head, and gracefully celebrating the occasion, in healthful spirits and manly vigor.
At 111 East Bay, for about a quarter of a century, the Courier experienced its greatest prosperity. It was in the autumn of 1860, increased in size to 30 by 44, and worked off on two of HOE's single cylinder presses. The paper then used was of domestic fabric, having been manufactur- ed by the "South Carolina Paper Manufacturing Compa- ny." That Company had been regularly supplying paper to the concern since December, 1852.
On the 23d February, 1861, the political condition of the country warranting it, there was placed, immediately under the imprint of the paper, the national words, "Con- federated States of America."
From 111 East Bay-its present location-this paper daily recorded the upheavings of "Secession," events which were temporarily to reduce the paper to the period of its second greatest trial. It was in close proximity to this
120
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
site, that a piece of ordnance-known as "Old Secession," obtained by the author from the Spanish Bark Olympia, through her consignees, Messrs. HALL & Co., was kept in readiness for the work it was required to chronicle in that momentous drama. From the corner of East Bay and Broad Streets, near midnight on the 10th November, 1860, the discharges from that gun-a six pounder-first an- nounced to the slumbering citizens of Charleston, that the Bill calling a Convention of the State, had just passed the Legislature. That gun which had then begun to play a conspicuous part in the incidents destined to become his- torical, again, on the 20th December, 1860, pealed forth, almost instantaneously, announcing the passage of the Or- dinance of Secession. On that occasion, it stood on the vacant space, to the North of the Exchange, and thence it thundered forth the news, as soon as received, of each State falling into line, in support of the political sentiments of South Carolina. The sons of the soil who were called by the projector, to aid him in consecrating that gun to patriotism, resolved that it should never again be devoted to a common use.
The columns of the Courier of the 12th and 13th De- cember, 1861, record a terrible and mysterious dispensation of Providence. We allude to the devastating fire of that year, known as the greatest of all our City fires, in mag- nitude.
It began in the large sash and blind factory of Messrs. W. P. RUSSELL & Co., near the foot of Hasel Street, about half-past eight o'clock, on Wednesday night, December 11, 1861. The wind, which was blowing strongly from North- Northeast, increased almost to a hurricane. The flames rose to a terrible pitch, and in a few moments, notwith- standing the most gallant efforts of an efficient fire brigade, were communicated to the adjacent workshops and build-
121
OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
ings, including the large foundry of Messrs. CAMERON & Co. This was, for the second time, destroyed. By this time the fire indicated the most disastrous results. Building after building caught, and became, as it were, one vast sheet of flame. Furious gusts of wind carried and scattered, in every direction, the burning flakes. Men, women and children were to be seen fleeing from their homes in the greatest distress, and adding much, of course, to the excite- ment.
From the foot of Hasel Street, on Cooper River, East, to the end of Tradd Street, on the Ashley, running West, the conflagration made a clean sweep of portions of the following streets, and together with these are enumerated the number of sufferers who owned one or more houses : Hasel Street, 6 sufferers; Pritchard Street, 8; Pinckney Street, 19; East Bay Street, 29; Anson Street, 11; Motte Lane, 4; Guignard Street, 7; State Street, 12; Church Street, 18; Cumberland Street, 17; Meeting Street, 33, exclusive of the Circular Church and Theatre; Clifford Street, 7; Horlbeck's Alley, 12; Queen Street, 29; King Street, 50; Broad Street, 21, exclusive of St. Andrew's Hall and St. Finbar's Cathedral ; Mazyck Street, 8; Frank- lin Street, 2; Short Street, 7; Friend Street, 21; Tradd Street, West, 23; New Street, 15; Savage Street, 28; Logan Street, 10, exclusive of St. Peter's Church ; Limehouse Street, 4. Thus it will be seen, that there were, at least, 389 sufferers, many of them owning more than one house ; buildings, not of wood, but mostly of brick, of good size and appearance. The area of ground was 540 acres, and the loss of property variously estimated at from five to seven millions of dollars. The great fire of 1838, was almost obliterated from the memory of Charlestonians, by this more disastrous one of 1861. It can well be said, that this fire " caused poverty to wring her hands in agony."
11
122
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
. During the memorable siege of Charleston, the shelling from the Federal fortifications on Morris' Island and its vicinity, which began at half-past one o'clock, on the morn- ing of the 22d August, 1863, had increased to such an extent as to cause the removal of the Courier establish- ment, two months later, out of range of the enemy's shells. For the purpose of this removal, the publication of the paper was suspended Saturday, November 21, 1863, on the one hundred and thirty-first day of the siege, and resumed Monday, November 30, 1863, on the premises of Mr. F. H. WHITNEY, South East corner of Meeting and Reid Streets. But once before, in the long course of over sixty years, has the Courier been known temporarily to suspend.
It was at the corner of Meeting and Reid Streets, and while he was still editor of the Courier, that the mind of WILLIAM BUCHANAN CARLISLE became overshadowed, and soon afterwards, irretrievably lost. The editorial de- partment of the paper was not permitted to suffer, how- ever, as that early and tried friend of the establishment, Colonel AUGUSTUS OLIVER ANDREWS, together with the Reverend URBAN SINKLER BIRD, were engaged in its sup- port.
A. O. ANDREWS was born in Charleston. His education, collegiate, was thorough. Reared as a merchant, he has since become most prominent and useful. He has for many years been closely identified with the commercial interests of his native city. A long and distinguished administra- tion as President of the Charleston Chamber of Commerce, is associated with his name. Fond of literature, his friendly and very intimate relations with the editors of the Courier, dating as they do from early life, gave him scope in the indulgence of a logical and facile pen. His diction is ad- mirable; admitting of no addition or subtraction without risking the destruction of a charm. His writings-gener-
123
OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
ally miscellaneous-admit of no substitution of terms. They have that curiosa felicitas which proves that in their preparation much thought and time have been judiciously expended. That portion of the Courier which is devoted to " Leisure moments with new publications," receives the at- tention of this discriminating writer.
Mr. BIRD, whose writings were miscellaneous and easy, became connected with the Courier in November, 1858. In February, 1865, he terminated his connection with the paper, and associated himself with the Reverend F. A. MOOD, and together, published, for a short time, The Weekly Record. Mr. BIRD went afterwards, to reside in Florida.
The second day after the occupation of Charleston by the forces of the United States, under Lieutenant-Colonel A. G. BENNETT, Commanding, and which occurred February 18th, 1865, the establishment of the Courier was taken possession of by STEWART L. WOODFORD, Lieutenant-Colo- nel of the 127th New York Volunteers, and Provost Marshal General. The seizure was under official orders from Gen- eral QUINCY A. GILMORE, and is here appended :
" OFFICE PROVOST MARSHAL GENERAL, D. S.,
"CHARLESTON, S. C., February 20th, 1865. "[Special Orders No. 1.]
" The Charleston Courier establishment is hereby taken " possession of, by the military authorities of the United "States. All the materials and property of said news- " paper, of every kind, will be immediately turned over " to Messrs. GEORGE WHITTEMORE and GEO. W. JOHNSON, " who are hereby authorized to issue a loyal Union news- "paper. They will receipt to Lieutenant-Colonel WOOD- " FORD, Provost Marshal General, D. S., for all property "taken possession of by them, under this order. They
124
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
"will keep possession of the building now used for that " purpose.
" By Command of Major-General Q. A. GILMORE. " STEWART L. WOODFORD,
" Lieut. Colonel 127th N. Y. Volunteers,
" Provost Marshal General, D. S."
It was announced officially, March 2d, 1865, that the Military authorities had extended facilities to the editors of the Courier for executing all kinds of Job Printing. Mr. WILLIAM L. DAGGETT, who became connected with the Courier as its foreman, in January, 1859-on the re- tirement of Mr. HENRY W. GWINNER, who had discharged the duties with acceptance and laborious fidelity-was then called as superintendent of Job Printing.
The new proprietors, made so by force of arms, suspend- ed publication, April 5, 1865, and republished eight days after, from 43 Hayne Street, two doors East from Meeting Street. Both WHITTEMORE and JOHNSON were, up to the time of their entrance into the City with the troops, attach- ed to the Federal army, as correspondents of Northern journals.
WILLIAM L. DAGGETT, who took charge of the Job de- partment at the time mentioned, was born in New Bedford, State of Massachusetts, August 6, 1824. After having begun his apprenticeship, in 1832, with the late Colonel SAMUEL GREEN, of the New London (Conn.) Gazette, he worked in the office of the Mercury, a publication in the Town of his nativity. He came to Charleston in 1838, being then in his fourteenth year. After " sticking type" in the offices of B. B. HUSSEY, BURGES & JAMES, The Charleston Mercury, and The Southern Patriot, he was called to the foremanship of The Evening News, in Octo- ber, 1845, at the time that journal was started. Warmly
125
OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
participating in the municipal contest of 1849, his energies were rewarded shortly after, by a civil appointment from the dominant party. In 1852, EDWARD C. COUNCELL and himself became co-partners, and as COUNCELL & DAGGETT were popular job printers. Withdrawing from that firm some time after he accepted the foremanship of The Charles- ton Standard. His next change found him in the office of the Courier. In his acceptance of the position he was called to, the proprietors were benefitted ; for, up to the present period, he has proved himself the most efficient, energetic and skillful of foremen.
Messrs. GEORGE WHITTEMORE and GEORGE W. JOHNSON continued to control the paper until the 24th of April, 1865, when Mr. JOHNSON, not only suddenly, but rather mysteriously, left the City. The paper was then issued by GEORGE WHITTEMORE & Co. It was then increased to full size from half a sheet; the dimensions being 16 by 11} inches. The subscription price of $20 per annum, re- mained unchanged, and was paid in Federal currency. This condition of things remained until 20th November, 1865, when the firm of A. S. WILLINGTON & Co. again assumed control of the paper. It was then enlarged, and the subscription reduced to the ante-bellum rate of $10. In May, 1866, Mr. GEORGE WHITTEMORE left Charleston for New York. It is needless here, to state how the paper reverted to those who had for so many years upheld its ever popular usefulness and integrity. But a few weeks before this change, the office was, in consequence of a fire, which burned out the establishment, on the morning of 18th October, 1865, removed back to 111 East Bay, and once more occupied its old stand.
1898 1824 54
CHAPTER XIII.
THE COURIER AND ITS PRINCIPAL EDITORS-A. S. WILLING- TON, R. YEADON, W. S. KING, AND OTHERS-NULLIFICA- TION, A CIVIL EXCITEMENT, 1831-'32-THE COURIER AND POLITICS-NEW YORK AND CHARLESTON LINE OF STEAMERS-MEXICAN WAR-PONY EXPRESS-ELECTRO- MAGNETIC TELEGRAPH.
THE Courier includes among its leading editors, within the author's recollection, one of its founders, AARON SMITH WILLINGTON. Mr. WILLINGTON became from practice, a very excellent writer, of unaffected style and manner, never attempting ambitious flights, always maintaining the proper level of the subject he undertook to discuss. A literary friend remarked in company, not a great while ago, that Mr. WILLINGTON's excellent biographical sketch of WILLIAM CRAFTS, at one time editor of the Courier, would do credit to any journalist. Mr. WILLINGTON Was a man of wonderful energy, and nothing can more fully demonstrate the fact, than his surmounting of difficulties in early life, as publisher. His tour in Europe in 1851, gave him a place in our native literature, through the in- strumentality of an exceedingly well written volume, en- titled, " A summer's tour in Europe, in 1851." A stroke of apoplexy, sudden in its effect, which occurred on the night of the 1st February, 1862, first indicated the ap- proach of death; four hours later, on the morning of the 2nd, this highly esteemed editor and associate proprietor
128
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
of the Courier, closed his long, useful, and well directed life, within forty days of his 81st year. His remains were deposited in the cemetery of St. Philips' Church. , The widow of Mr. WILLINGTON is now the representative of his interest in the paper.
RICHARD YEADON, who was the second associate pro- prietor of the Courier, was the only son of Col. RICHARD YEADON. He was born in this City, October 22, 1802. Mr. YEADON became the de facto editor of the Courier; July 1, 1832, taking the editorial pen, to wage the war of the Constitution, against nullification, as advanced by the State Rights Party. He took active charge of the editorial department of the paper, at the time of his connection with it as a partner, on the 1st January, 1833.
About this time, the Courier, which had pursued a com- mercial course, gradually became involved in politics ; its tendency in this direction increased, and was, finally, more decided ; in fact, it was hardly possible to escape the ap- parent vortex. It was the period of the great struggle of the Union, and the Nullification Parties, and no organ, not even one of the commercial and miscellaneous nature of the Courier, was suffered to retain a position of perfect neutrality. A position indeed of that sort would have been untenable by any journal in the presence of ques- tions so vital !
The doctrine of nullification has been alluded to in con- nection with the press. This powerful fulcrum of public opinion, tended much to irritate that burning civil excite- ment; therefore, an outline of the contest cannot be re- garded as out of place in this work.
Those who figured at the time, when there were daily apprehensions of the shedding of a brother's blood, are rapidly passing away. While complying with the behests of nature, they have, thus far, failed to leave to posterity,
129
OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
except in irregular form, any record of the most bitter of political disputations-one which has been such a prolific source of injury, politically, commercially, and socially.
It can be said of nullification, that though the question began to be agitated in the year 1824, it did not assume a very threatening shape until the celebrated protest of the South Carolina Legisture, on the subject of the tariff; a document of great historical interest, which was put forth in December, 1827. Mr. CALHOUN, regarded as the great High Priest of nullification, published about this time an exposition of the nullification doctrine .*
On the 4th July, 1831, General ROBERT Y. HAYNE, and others, addressed the nullifiers, and Colonel WILLIAM DRAYTON, the same day, in an oration which occupied over two hours of time, addressed the Union Party. Colonel DRAYTON was followed by THOS. R. MITCHELL, Judge HUGÉR, Judge LEE, HUGH S. LEGARE, JAMES L. PETIGRU, and others. From that period, party lines were formally drawn.
The General Assembly of South Carolina, on the 23d November, 1832, called a Convention. The Convention, with Governor HAMILTON at its head, passed, by a vote of
* Nullification was a word never used by John C. Calhoun. It was a term used by Thomas Jefferson. A venerable statesman and townsman of ours- he, who made the call in our State Legislature, in 1831, for a Convention --- has furnished the author with the following extract of a letter, in justification of the assertion, to many unknown. The letter from which these sentences are taken, is dated June 9, 1865. The letter was written by a relative, a con- fidential friend in fact, of John C. Calhoun. In the following language the eminent statesman has spoken:
"Nullification is not my word. I never use it. I always say STATE INTERPO- SITION. My purpose is a suspensive veto, to compell the installing of the highest tribunal provided by the Constitution, to decide on the point in dis- pute. I do not wish to destroy the Union. I only wish to make it honest. The Union is too strong to break. Nothing can break it, but the slavery question, if that can. If a Convention of the States were called, and it should decide that the protective policy is constitutional, what then ? Then give it up."
130
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
136 to 27, the Ordinance of Nullification. This instrument ignored certain acts of Congress, laying duties on foreign commodities.
A proclamation, denunciatory of this Ordinance was made by President ANDREW JACKSON, dated at Washing- ton, December 10, 1832. It was a powerful composition, four columns in length, and couched in language not to be mistaken. This proclamation, repugnant as it was to the nullifiers, gave hopes and assurances to those of the Union Party.
The nullifiers were for putting down the tariff, by the action of one State, with the expectation of being joined by the other Southern States. The Union and State Rights Party, were likewise opposed to the tariff, but advocated a Convention of the Southern States. They hoped by peace- ful means to pursuade their tariff brethren to gradually lesson the burthens under which they labored. It could not be accomplished. Parties pro and con, already form- ed, increased numerically, civil strife waxed warm, and mischief-incalculable mischief was threatened. A sover- eign State had openly defied, and by legislative enactment, annulled the laws of the Union. The silver cord so oft confessed, was about to be severed, and no man could then say at what hour the troubles were destined to burst in an overwhelming deluge of ruin and disaster.
With no intention to narrate the many incidents which were enacted during a period when the result of one single rash act could not have been foreseen, the author continues, and briefly narrates the settlement of that serious domestic dissonance.
Upon the enactment of Mr. CLAY's tariff or compromise bill, in February, 1833, which was a substitute for that of Mr. VERPLANK's, nullification began to wane. The enactment of Mr. CLAY's bill, together with the cogent influences
131
OF CHARLESTON, S. O.
produced by BENJAMIN WATKINS LEIGH, who came as Commissioner from Virginia to South Carolina, to promote an adjustment between a sister State and the General Gov- ernment, brought about a revocation of the Nullification Ordinance, on the 15th March, 1833. That obstacle hav- ing been removed, there was inaugurated a restoration to harmony in our State. Then came that era of good feeling which was again to unite all in the bonds of social, if not political brotherhood. Alienated affections gradually re- turned to their wonted, but long deserted channels. The rankling wounds of the social, and even the family circle, began to experience the healing influences, and all felt that if party warfare had again to be waged, it should be char- acterized by the courtesies and charities of life.
A review of the troops by Governor HAYNE. HAMIL- TON's successor, and a salute of one hundred guns, which was fired on the 1st April, 1833, bespoke the end of nulli- fication. Thus it was, that the Union was saved, by the spirit of concession and compromise, that presided at its formation.
" Nothing in the nature of newspaper controversy" said The Courier and Enquirer, of New York, during that ex- citing time, " could be more pointed, or more pungent, than " the weapons of warfare wielded by The Charleston Courier, " in doing battle with the CALHOUN cohorts in South Car- " olina. It is almost painful to stand by, and see the exe- " cution done by the grape and cannister, which the Cou- " rier throws into the nullification ranks. Its shots tell, " with fearful effect, upon the Mercury in particular."
The Courier, which is more of a commercial and miscel- laneous than a political journal, has nevertheless played its part, and that boldly in the issues which have, at different periods, agitated the country. In the era of nullification, it was the leading Union organ in the State, and upheld
132
THE NEWSPAPER PRESS
the Union cause against what it regarded an unconstitu- tional resistance to the laws of the Union within the Union. It upheld the cause of the Union, in the secession crisis of 1851 and 1852, and threw its influence in favor of co-operation against the secession element, as a choice of evils. Again, in 1860, during the secession era, it held the election of a sectional President, on grounds of political and practical hostility to the constitutional rights, and cherished domestic institutions of the South, to be properly and inevitably the knell of the Union, and went with the State, and the South, in dissolving a connection with faith- less confederates.
It is only, however, when such trials become inevitable, that the proprietors of journals like the Courier, should countenance a deviation from tenets, akin to those which that journal has long adhered to, with determined persis- tency.
The unavoidable change of policy, alluded to in the edi- torship of the Courier, was greatly regretted by the asso- ciate proprietors.
Mr. YEADON continued to conduct the editorial depart- ment of the paper, until the strife of local, State and Na- tional politics was safely over, and society had once more returned to a condition of repose. Mr. YEADON withdrew from the editorial chair, on the 4th November, 1844, in a valedictory of three columns, addressed " To the Patrons of the Courier and the Public." Then it was, that he concen- trated his labors upon his exacting profession-the law. The enticement of composition, however, upon all topics of public interest, natural to one of his remarkable intellect- ual endowment, he could not resist, and, at intervals he contributed to the columns of his paper.
With that stern and inflexible disposition, evinced by him when assailed, he responded to the gross and vulgar
133
OF CHARLESTON, S. C.
attack of The New York Herald, when the latent hostility of that journal was aroused against himself and his paper, in January, 1858. The reply was not only curt, but con- vincing. Here is the article : " The New York Herald .- " This scurrilous journal has made a gross, vulgar, and un- "provoked attack on one of the editors of the Courier, so " utterly at war with propriety and decency, as to require " no other notice, than an expression of unmitigated con- " tempt for the author, whose notorious venality, destitu- " tion of moral sense, and insensibility to shame, have long " since caused him to be put to the social ban, and to be " tabooed by the press of New York, where he is generally " regarded as a moral leper, whose touch is pollution, and " whose disease is so deeply seated, that not Arbana and " Pharpar, rivers of Damascus, nor Jordan, and all the wa- " ters of Israel, can wash him clean." This rebuke was generally commented upon at the time, by the New York and Carolina presses.
.
In the capacity of editor, Mr. YEADON was recognized as a man of power ; of a vigor, in fact, equal to that which he exhibited as a lawyer. He wrote clearly, with a mind eminently logical, and a memory stored with facts, always ready with his authorities, and prompt in seizing the strong points of his argument. Quick and comprehensive in his intelligence, he was never otherwise than patient, and in- defatigable in investigation. " And thus working, toiling " incessantly, day and night, now in his law office, or in " the courts, and now writing column after column for the " Courier, this strong man continued to labor, until the de- " cree went forth from the Supreme Governor of the world, " that his labors should cease." Sorrowing relatives and friends witnessed the closing of his grave, in the cemetery of the Circular Church, on the afternoon of the 26th of
Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.