Camden Journal Archive

The Camden Journal (1826-91) captured life in the community of Camden, South Carolina, in times of affluence, prosperity, desolation, and recovery. Significant events covered by the newspaper included: the establishment of the DeKalb Rifle Guards, a local militia group company that later fought with the Palmetto Regiment in the Mexican-American War, in 1840; the arrival of the South Carolina Railroad in 1848; and the destruction and subsequent occupation of Camden by Union Army soldiers in 1865.

Thomas William Pegues first established The Camden Journal in January 1826. An anecdotal story has it that Pegues had intended to accept a printing job in Charleston, but when he learned he would have to work on Sundays, he started the Journal instead. In 1834, Pegues merged the Journal with the Sumter The Southern Whig and re-launched the paper as The Camden Journal and Southern Whig.

On January 23, 1836, The Camden Journal and Southern Whig, under the ownership of Robert McKnight, reverted back to its original name. A year later, Thomas Pegues moved to Alabama. The Camden Journal suspended publication, and its press and subscription list were sold to the Camden Commercial Courier. By 1839, the Commercial Courier had failed and Pegues had returned to Camden, ready to start afresh. On November 27, 1839, the following notice appeared in the Charleston Courier : "Ample time has elapsed since the suspension of its publication, to enable the community to judge whether a newspaper ought to be sustained in our town, or not ..."

In 1850, Thomas James Warren and Charles Augustus Price took over as owners of the Camden Journal.  They renamed the Journal the Semiweekly Camden Journal and briefly launched an unsuccessful weekly edition called the Weekly Camden Journal. In 1852, they changed the Semiweekly Camden Journal back to The Camden Daily Journal and, in 1853, to The Camden Weekly Journal . Thomas Warren and Charles Price were outspoken in their political and social views, especially on the issues of states' rights and secession. In 1861, Thomas Warren suspended The Camden Weekly Journal to fight for the Confederacy. He served with the Confederate States Army, 15^thRegiment, South Carolina Infantry, Company D, and died in combat in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, in 1863.

In January 1864, Daniel D. Hocott restarted the Camden Journal, utilizing the same volume numbering as The Camden Weekly Journal. Faced with wartime shortages and deprivations, the Camden Journal underwent a rapid succession of title changes. In the span of two years, the newspaper was known as: The Camden Daily Journal  (June-December 1864); Camden The Tri-weekly Journal (January-March 1865); Camden Journal and Confederate (March-May 1865), created by the merger of the Tri-weekly Journal and weekly Camden Confederate; The Tri-weekly Journal (May-June 1865); and The Camden Weekly Journal (July 1865-July 1866). In the days immediately following the Union Army's raid on Camden, conditions were so desperate that Daniel Hocott and John T. Hershman begged "if the pilfering scamp who entered the office during our retreat from the Yanks, and appropriated our only pair of scissors - an indispensable appendage to an editor - will present himself at our sanctum, we will promise no questions asked."

In 1866, Thomas Pegues took over again as publisher and renamed the paper the Camden Journal. From there, the Journal passed through several hands, including those of Kershaw politicians James Thornwell Hay and William Dunlap Trantham. On February 4, 1891, the Abbeville Press and Banner noted the Journal had suspended publication. It likely ceased sometime shortly thereafter. The latest issue known to exist is dated January 8, 1891.