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Chronicling America
National Endowment for the Humanities

Newspaper Southern Patriot (Houston, Chickasaw County, Miss.) 18??-18??

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About Southern Patriot (Houston, Chickasaw County, Miss.) 18??-18??

Located in north Mississippi, Chickasaw County was established in 1836 from land ceded to the United States by the Chickasaw through the 1832 Treaty of Pontotoc. With fertile prairies and sandy hills, cotton was the county’s primary cash crop, and indigenous hardwoods were plentiful. Houston, the county seat, was incorporated in 1837; by 1850 it had two grist mills, four saw mills, two cotton gins, six carriage and wagon shops, two saddleries, and several other manufactories.

The Democratic four-page weekly Southern Patriot (1846?-50?) began with a press purchased from an earlier Houston newspaper. In 1848, Thomas(?) N. Martin, was editor and proprietor, but by July 1849 there was a co-owner and John(?) A. Orr was editor. (Orr later served in the Mississippi state legislature, 1852-53.) The masthead included the motto, attributed to David (Davy) Crockett, “Be Sure You’re Right- then go Ahead” an image of an eagle, with four arrows in one talon, an olive branch in the other, and a banner reading “E Pluribus Unum” in its beak was centered in the title. The majority of content in the Patriot consisted of long political editorials, advertisements, and legal notices. Announcements hailed the Democratic candidates Lewis Cass of Michigan for president in 1848 and General John A. Quitman for governor of Mississippi in 1849. The Patriot supported Winfield Scott Featherston, a Houston lawyer, for the United States House of Representatives (1847-51). Editorials criticized policies of the Whig Party in general, and Whigs Zachary Taylor and Henry Clay in particular. Presidential election returns, state legislative news, and local Democratic Party announcements rounded out the political news. General interest stories, poetry, letters to the editor, crop conditions and other farm news, obituaries, and marriage announcements appeared occasionally. Local news was limited, but covered events such as a big July Fourth celebration and the return of volunteers from the Mexican-American War (1846-48), both in the July 19, 1848 issue.

Provided By: Mississippi Department of Archives and History

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Southern Patriot (Houston, Chickasaw County, Miss.) 18??-18??

Dates of Publication

  • 18??-18??

Created / Published

  • Houston, Chickasaw County, Miss. : T.N. Martin

Headings

  • -  Houston (Miss.)--Newspapers
  • -  Mississippi--Houston
  • -  United States--Mississippi--Chickasaw--Houston

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Description based on: Vol. 3, no. 7 (July 19, 1848).

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn87065207

OCLC Number

  • 15272653

ISSN Number

  • 2470-1637

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Southern Patriot Houston, Chickasaw County, Miss. 18??-18??. (Houston, MS), 18??. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87065207/.

APA citation style:

(18??) Southern Patriot Houston, Chickasaw County, Miss. 18??-18??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn87065207/.

MLA citation style:

Southern Patriot Houston, Chickasaw County, Miss. 18??-18??. (Houston, MS) 18??. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn87065207/.