About Union County star and Lewisburg chronicle. [volume] (Lewisburg, Pa.) 1859-1864
Lewisburg, Pa. (1859-1864)

Union County Star and Lewisburg Chronicle

East central Pennsylvania's Union County is dominated to the north and west by the Allegheny Mountains, with farming and settlement concentrated in the south and east. Founded in 1784, the county seat of Lewisburg is located on the West Bank Susquehanna River, Union County's eastern boundary.

In 1859, Samuel H. Orwig, the publisher in nearby Mifflinburg of the Union County Star, sold his paper to publisher Oliver N. Worden and Worden's new editor, John R. Cornelius of the Lewisburg Chronicle. With the stroke of the pen, the two oldest Union County newspapers were combined in the new Union County Star and Lewisburg Chronicle.

"The Star and Chronicle" as it styled itself on the front page below the banner, was Republican in outlook, published in Lewisburg each Friday. However, following the shelling and surrender of Fort Sumter on April 14, 1861, and beginning with the issue of April 30, the paper was published on Tuesdays and Fridays to more closely follow Civil War news. That first biweekly issue--simply headlined "The War!"--pledged not "to circulate all manner of flying rumors needlessly alarming the people. We intend to give as RELIABLE news as possible, drawn from the Telegraph, Mails, and from private information, up to the hour of going to press."

For the next three years, the Star and Chronicle delivered as promised, supplementing distant war news received over the wires and in major urban papers with accounts "From passengers &c.;" traveling through central Pennsylvania. The news as related in the mail received in Union County was often among the most touching. A week after the titanic struggle at Gettysburg, the July 10, 1863 issue covered that crucial battle, and Grant's victory at Vicksburg as well, but also found room in column two on its front page for this brief note about a local lieutenant:

"Among the graduates of the University, at Lewisburg, last August, was A[ndrew]. G[regg]. Tucker, 'the only son of his mother, and she a widow.' He immediately enlisted with Co[mpany].E, 142nd P[ennsylvania]. V[olunteers]. On Wednesday, at Gettysburg, he acted as Adjutant of the Regiment, when, although wounded in the arm, he refused to quit the field, but cheered on the men until he was prostrated by wounds in the breast and one leg. He lingered until Sunday morning, when, at the early age of 19 years, he expired, and was buried by the side of his Colonel (Cummings) near the S.E. corner of the Ladies' Seminary. "

On January 6, 1865--following a final December 30 issue that triumphantly hailed Lincoln's 1864 re-election--Worden retired, and the name of the paper reverted to the Lewisburg Chronicle under John R. Cornelius, who would edit and publish it as a weekly again for more than 30 years.

Provided by: Penn State University Libraries; University Park, PA