About Louisville messenger. (Louisville, Miss.) 1842-1843
Louisville, Miss. (1842-1843)

Louisville Messenger

Located in east-central Mississippi, Winston County was organized in 1833 from land ceded to the United States in the third Choctaw Cession through the 1830 Treaty of Dancing Rabbit Creek. Nanih Waiya, regarded in Choctaw traditional belief as their ancestral mound, was located in far south Winston County. Numerous creeks drained the undulating-to-hilly terrain into the Noxubee and Pearl Rivers. Cotton was the primary cash crop in antebellum Winston County; other land was well-timbered with pine, oak, poplar, gum, beech, walnut, cherry and cypress. Incorporated in 1836, Louisville, was the county seat.

One of the earliest newspapers in the town was the Louisville Messenger (1842-43), also known as the Messenger. The first editor/proprietor of the four-page weekly was John H. Hardy, who was succeeded in January 1843 by John L. Thompson. Beginning with volume II [2] in June 1843, Thompson printed a prospectus, which described the benefits of continuing a Democratic paper in the area and advocated for John C. Calhoun's candidacy for president. A quote from Calhoun in the second-page masthead summed up the paper's perspective: "Free Trade; Low Duties; No Debt; Separation from Banks; Economy; Retrenchment; and a strict adherence to the Constitution." On November 11, 1843, the last known issue of the Louisville Messenger was published.

Editorials in the paper supported the Democratic platform; for example, two August 6, 1842 briefs argued against a national bank and protective tariff. At the state level, arguments were made for repudiation of Planter Bank bonds as seen in an April 15, 1843 article. A sign of the recession, lists of land for sale due to overdue taxes appeared repeatedly from at least July through September 1842, and later, tax collectors' sales appeared among the legal notices. News about the Republic of Texas and the possibility of its annexation to the United States was another frequent subject. In the spring of 1843, the arrest of State Treasurer Colonel Richard S. Graves for embezzlement was an ongoing topic. In addition to editorials, political content in the Messenger included news about the federal and state Democratic Party ticket, election results, information on state courts and rulings, and Democratic meetings and candidates' announcements. Local news appeared less frequently than foreign, national, and state news, but the Messenger did include on March 1, 1843, a review of a concert at the local Female Academy and advertisements for the Louisville Male Academy. Other content included lessons on proper behavior and other general interest stories, poetry, advertisements, newspaper prospectuses, and an occasional obituary.

Provided by: Mississippi Department of Archives and History