Daily Nashville Patriot Archive

In 1845, Benjamin R. McKennie established the Daily Nashville True Whig in the offices of the paper's predecessor, the Nashville Whig (established 1838). Ewing P. McGinty, formerly of the Clarksville Weekly Chronicle, and Alexander M. Rosborough, formerly of the Columbia Observer, were its editors. McGinty also served as printer. In January 1851, McGinty sold his share of the paper to George B. Brown, but continued as editor. Rosborough also left the paper at this time. Upon McGinty's death in 1855, Hiram K. Walker assumed editorial control (having been with the paper for five years). Two months later, the Daily Nashville True Whig was sold to Smith, Morgan & Co., a group consisting of William H. Smith, John P. Morgan, Jonathan H. Callender, and Anthony S. Camp, and the name was changed to the Nashville Daily Patriot (1855-57). Smith and Callender became the editors.

Between 1855 and 1862 (when publication ceased), the paper underwent several name changes: Daily Nashville Patriot (1857-58), Nashville Patriot (1858-60), and Daily Nashville Patriot (1860-62). Owners and editors included W.H. Smith, John Callender, Thomas H. Glenn, Ira P. Jones, and A.S. Camp.

Despite the name changes, the Patriot remained true to its Whig roots. In 1859, the paper joined forces with the Republican Banner to publish the Opposition, a weekly campaign paper opposed to the Democrats. The paper promoted Colonel John Netherland in his bid for governorship against Isham Harris. The paper was edited by an executive committee: Felix K. Zollicoffer, Samuel N. Hollingsworth, Allen A. Hall, Powhatan W. Maxey, and John Lellyett.

In 1860, when many former Whigs backed the Constitutional Union Party, the Patriot followed suit, supporting Tennessean John Bell for president. When Bell lost to Lincoln, the Patriot (along with many former Constitutional Union supporters) backed the Confederacy.

During the Civil War, the Patriot was one of the first Nashville papers to attempt to illustrate the news. On August 21, 1861, the front page carried a map (four columns wide) depicting the first battle of Manassas Plain/Bull Run. The illustration was reprinted every day for the next two months.

From 1859 to 1861, the Patriot ran a column unique to newspapers in the city. "The City Press" commented on articles in Nashville's other newspapers and gave a hint at the rivalry between the papers and their editors. Comments usually focused on the other papers political opinions but the Patriot often criticized not only their editors' writing style but printing style too: "In his article on Mr. Bell, our contemporary of the [Nashville] Union [and American] uses more CAPITALS, SMALL CAPITALS and Italics than he had supposed every printing office in town could afford" (August 10, 1860). In a city of many newspapers, competition for advertisers and subscribers was tough, as a plea from the February 28, 1860 Patriot showed: "Subscribe for the Patriot and compel your neighbors, at the point of the bayonet, if necessary to do the same thing! Then turn out at once and devote the rest of your lives to the Patriotic work of saving the country by extending the circulation of our paper."

The Daily Nashville Patriot suspended publication in early 1862 when Union troops arrived in the city, but resumed, albeit temporarily, on March 11. The editorial from March 18 expressed concern about the restrictions being imposed on the city's press by Military Governor Andrew Johnson. The Patriot lamented that it did not expect to be "permitted to enjoy, unmolested, the liberty of speech which was once presumed to be the constitutional right of every American freeman." The Patriot survived only a few more weeks before it ceased publication permanently in April 1862.