About The Port-Gibson correspondent, and Mississippi general advertiser. [volume] (Port Gibson, Miss.) 1824-1833
Port Gibson, Miss. (1824-1833)

The Port-Gibson Correspondent, and Mississippi General Advertiser, The Port-Gibson Correspondent, Port-Gibson Herald and The Port Gibson Herald, and Correspondent

Located in southwestern Mississippi, the oldest cotton-producing region in the state, Claiborne was created in 1802 from northern Jefferson County. Jefferson had been one of two original Mississippi counties that together encompassed what was once the colonial Natchez District. Port Gibson, near the intersection of Bayou Pierre and the Natchez Trace military road, was the county seat.

The Port Gibson Correspondent (1818-24), a four-page journal, was the first newspaper in Port Gibson and one of the earliest in Mississippi. In December 1821, James Cornell and William A.A. Chisholm purchased the Correspondent from James Hughes. Chisholm moved south to Woodville where, in 1823, he established the Democratic Woodville Republican, the longest running newspaper in the state to date. Cornell, who favored John Quincy Adams over Andrew Jackson for President of the United States in the 1824 election, continued publishing the Port Gibson Correspondent until February 1825. During his proprietorship, Cornell changed the title to the Port-Gibson Correspondent, and Mississippi General Advertiser (1824-33). During its second iteration as the Port-Gibson Correspondent (1833-48), the newspaper unquestionably supported the Democratic Party. In September 1848, owner William B. Tebo sold the Correspondent to William H. Jacobs, owner and editor of the Whig organ, the Port-Gibson Herald. Tebo informed his readers that they would receive the Mississippi Free Trader (1843-61), the Democratic Natchez newspaper that he now edited, until their current subscription to the Correspondent ran out. After the merger, Jacobs changed the newspaper's title to the Port Gibson Herald and Correspondent; the last known issue was published on May 15, 1857.

The Port Gibson Correspondent and the Port Gibson Herald printed news and editorials from differing political viewpoints from 1842 to 1848 when they were simultaneously in production. In addition, they both carried a typical mix of literature, state and federal legislation, "general intelligence," and local announcements, legal notices, and advertisements. In the 1840s, the newspapers discussed national issues such as trade tariffs, the admission of Texas as a state, and the ensuing Mexican American War. In the early 1850s, the Port Gibson Herald and Correspondent supported Mississippi's Union Party, composed of Whigs and Union Democrats who wished to maintain the federal Union. In 1851, the Union candidate for Mississippi governor, Henry S. Foote, narrowly defeated the Democratic State Rights candidate, Jefferson Davis.

Local news covered a variety of topics important to Claiborne County residents. Oakland College, a Presbyterian school established in 1830 for the sons of wealthy planters, was often written about in the Correspondent's pages. Articles varied from a history of the college in the Port Gibson Correspondent's April 23, 1845 issue to a report on the tragic death of the institution's president, Dr. Jeremiah Chamberlain, in the September 12, 1851 issue of the Port Gibson Herald and Correspondent. Much attention was also given to all aspects of producing cotton. Several editorials on the state of the Grand Gulf and Port Gibson Railroad underscored the importance of finding a reliable means of conveyance between the Mississippi River port and the county interior to transport the yearly cotton crop to market.

Provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History