The Newport Gazette Archive

The Newport Gazette was a weekly Tory newspaper, established January 16, 1777, by John A. Howe of New York while the British occupied Newport during the American Revolutionary War. It was printed on the hand press previously used to print the Newport Mercury.

The pro-revolution Newport Mercury was suspended with the issue of December 2, 1776 (no. 954 instead of no. 955), and as the British forces advanced on Newport, printer Solomon Southwick buried his press and types (see Newport Mercury, June 12, 1858) and fled to Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Six days later, on December 8, 1776, the British occupied Newport. The press was discovered and used to print pro-British news in the Newport Gazette.

The last known issue is that of October 6, 1779, vol. 3, no. 139, which, according to Clarence S. Brigham, must have been nearly the last number, as the British evacuated Newport, October 25, 1779.