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Newspaper Daily Gazette and Comet (Baton Rouge, La.) 1856-186? Daily gazette & comet

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About Daily Gazette and Comet (Baton Rouge, La.) 1856-186?

In December 1856, George A. Pike’s Morning Comet and George C. McWhorter’s Baton Rouge Daily Gazette were consolidated to form the Daily Gazette and Comet, which Pike edited with Rev. William H. Crenshaw. The brother of prominent Baton Rouge landowner and businessman William S. Pike, George Pike had been an outspoken member of the anti-Catholic, nativist Know-Nothing Party, which he promoted as editor of the Morning Comet and its predecessor the Daily Comet. By 1856, the party had split over the issue of slavery, whereupon Pike, now editor of the Daily Gazette and Comet, shifted his focus to the growing sectional crisis between North and South.

Pike opposed southern secession and called for compromise on the issue of slavery. In the presidential election of 1860, he supported Constitutional Union Party candidate John Bell of Tennessee and his running mate Edward Everett of Massachusetts. However, he also spoke favorably of pro-Union Democrat Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois. Louisiana secessionists whom Pike criticized included Senator John Slidell and Governor Thomas Overton Moore. In the months leading up to the election, the Daily Gazette and Comet reported on the activities of Unionists in and around Baton Rouge and on meetings of Bell and Douglas clubs. (The city ultimately cast the majority of its votes for Bell.) After the election, the paper reported local and regional responses to Lincoln’s victory. Pike himself disagreed with Republican ideology in regard to slavery but considered Lincoln to have been fairly elected and encouraged southerners to adopt a “wait and see” attitude.

Published Tuesday through Saturday in four pages, the Daily Gazette and Comet consisted primarily of advertisements and thus helps document Baton Rouge’s commercial life on the eve of the Civil War. Although the city’s population was then only about 5,500, it was one of the most important shipping centers on the lower Mississippi River and had served as Louisiana’s capital of for eleven years. In addition to business news, Pike reported on sessions of the state legislature. Also of interest is news related to other local institutions, including the Louisiana Institution for the Deaf, Dumb and Blind and the newly founded Louisiana Historical Society, which Pike served as secretary.

Publication of the Daily Gazette and Comet was suspended for about two months during the Civil War and appears to have ceased entirely by war’s end in favor of a weekly edition with which it had been published concurrently since 1856.

Provided By: Louisiana State University; Baton Rouge, LA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Daily Gazette and Comet (Baton Rouge, La.) 1856-186?

Other Title

  • Daily gazette & comet

Dates of Publication

  • 1856-186?

Created / Published

  • Baton Rouge, La. : Geo. A. Pike & W.H. Crenshaw, 1856-

Headings

  • -  Baton Rouge (La.)--Newspapers
  • -  East Baton Rouge Parish (La.)--Newspapers
  • -  Louisiana--Baton Rouge
  • -  Louisiana--East Baton Rouge Parish
  • -  United States--Louisiana--East Baton Rouge--Baton Rouge

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Daily (except Sun. and Mon.)
  • -  Vol. 16, no. 1 (Dec. 30, 1856)-
  • -  Title varies slightly: Daily gazette & comet, Mar. 30, 1858-
  • -  Also available on microfilm from Louisiana State University Library.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format as part of the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Merger of: Baton Rouge daily gazette and: Morning comet.
  • -  Latest issue consulted: Vol. 23, no. 134 (Dec. 29, 1860).

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn88083120

OCLC Number

  • 17609906

ISSN Number

  • 2163-7210

Preceding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

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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:

Daily Gazette and Comet Baton Rouge, La. -186?. (Baton Rouge, LA), Jan. 1 1856. https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88083120/.

APA citation style:

(1856, January 1) Daily Gazette and Comet Baton Rouge, La. -186?. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://www.loc.gov/item/sn88083120/.

MLA citation style:

Daily Gazette and Comet Baton Rouge, La. -186?. (Baton Rouge, LA) 1 Jan. 1856. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/item/sn88083120/.