Knoxville Gazette

The ''Knoxville Gazette'' was the first newspaper published in the U.S. state of Tennessee and the third published west of the Appalachian Mountains. Established by George Roulstone (1767–1804) at the urging of Southwest Territory governor William Blount, the paper's first edition appeared on November 5, 1791.Carroll Van West
Knoxville Gazette
''Tennessee Encyclopedia of History and Culture'', 2002. Retrieved: 7 July 2010. The ''Gazette'' provided an important medium through which Tennessee's frontier government could dispense legislative announcements, and the paper's surviving editions are now an invaluable source of information on life in early Knoxville.John Anthony Caruso,
The Appalachian Frontier: America's First Surge Westward
' (Knoxville, Tenn.: The University of Tennessee Press, 2003), pp. 348-349. Retrieved: 7 July 2010.

Layout and publication

The ''Gazette'' was a typical late-18th century broadsheet consisting of two pages, each with three columns (later four). The first page contained news, while the second page contained advertisements and announcements. The paper typically measured by , but the size varied due to Roulstone's difficulties in obtaining paper.William Rule, ''Standard History of Knoxville, Tennessee'' (General Books, 2009), pp. 197-199. The ''Gazette'' was normally published on a biweekly basis.

Roulstone was a native of Boston, Massachusetts, but had moved to Fayetteville, North Carolina, by the late-1780s, where he published an unsuccessful newspaper. Upon the creation of the Southwest Territory (which included what is now Tennessee) in 1790, the territory's first governor, William Blount, saw the need for a newspaper through which the territorial government could announce its legislative decisions, and invited Roulstone to the capital's new territory, Knoxville.East Tennessee Historical Society, Lucile Deaderick (ed.), ''Heart of the Valley: A History of Knoxville, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: East Tennessee Historical Society, 1976), pp. 15, 293-294. Blount and Roulstone spent several months in Rogersville, Tennessee, before moving to Knoxville, and the earliest issues of the ''Gazette'' were published in Rogersville. The paper's October 6, 1792 issue was the first published in Knoxville.

Roulstone published the ''Gazette'' until his death in 1804. His wife, Elizabeth Gilliam Roulstone, continued publishing the paper until 1808, when she and her second husband moved the paper Carthage, Tennessee.A Brief History of Newspaper Publishing in Tennessee
By James B. Lloyd, The University of Tennessee Libraries (website accessed January 2, 2008) During the same period, George Roulstone's former business partner, George Wilson, moved to Knoxville and established ''Wilson's Knoxville Gazette'', which first appeared in November 1804. Wilson continued publishing this paper until 1818, when he moved to Nashville to publish the pro-Jackson sheet, ''Old Hickory''. Knoxville entrepreneur Frederick Heiskell worked briefly for Wilson's paper before leaving to co-found the '' Knoxville Register'' in 1816.

Notable issues and events

The early issues of the ''Gazette'' are an invaluable source of information on life in early Knoxville. The paper's December 17, 1791 issue revealed the results of the lottery conducted for lots in the newly-platted city, with Roulstone himself drawing lots 27 (now First Tennessee Plaza) and 40.Stanley Folmsbee and Lucile Deaderick, "The Founding of Knoxville," East Tennessee Historical Society ''Publications'', No. 13 (1941), p. 3-20.East Tennessee Historical Society, Mary Rothrock (ed.), ''The French Broad-Holston Country: A History of Knox County, Tennessee'' (Knoxville, Tenn.: The Society, 1972), map facing pg. 33. In the Fall of 1792, the ''Gazette'' announced the opening of two of Knoxville's first businesses, the Cowan Brothers' Store and Chisholm's Tavern. The paper's November 17, 1792 issue contained a notice by the city's founder, James White, threatening to prosecute anyone caught cutting timber on the town commons. Early Knoxville architect Thomas Hope placed an advertisement in a 1797 issue of the ''Gazette'' offering a reward for the return of some stolen tools.

Native American hostilities were a frequent topic in the ''Gazettes early issues.Walter Durham, "The Southwest Territory: Progression to Statehood," East Tennessee Historical Society ''Publications'', No. 62 (1990), pp. 3-15. The paper gave detailed accounts of attacks such as the Cherokee assault on Cavet's Station in 1793 and the Chickamauga Cherokee attack at Ziegler's Station in 1792. The May 22, 1795 issue contained the provisions of the Treaty of Oneida, which the U.S. had signed several months earlier.William MacArthur, ''Knoxville, Crossroads of the New South'' (Tulsa, Okla.: Continental Heritage Press, 1982), 24-25. In one issue, the Cherokee Chief Red Bird placed a notice in the ''Gazette'' warning the chief of the Upper Towns not to disturb William Cocke, for Cocke "talks very strong and runs very fast."

Many events important to the early history of the State of Tennessee were covered by the ''Gazette''. The paper's January 6, 1795 issue contained a notice of the "annual escort" through the wilderness from Southwest Point to Bledsoe's Station, and mentions that construction of the Cumberland Road would commence at that time. Throughout the Summer of 1795, the ''Gazette'' published announcements by Blount regarding arrangements for the state's constitutional convention, which took place the following year. A later issue of the ''Gazette'' contained a letter from Andrew Jackson accusing John Sevier of fraud, giving insight into the animosity that eventually developed between the two leaders.Phillip Langsdon, ''Tennessee: A Political History'' (Franklin, Tenn.: Hillsboro Press, 2000), p. 34.

See also

* The Rogersville Review
* Early American publishers and printers

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knoxville Gazette, The
Defunct newspapers published in Tennessee
Publications established in 1791
Publications disestablished in 1818
Mass media in Knoxville, Tennessee
History of Knoxville, Tennessee
Rogersville, Tennessee
1791 establishments in the United States
1818 disestablishments in Tennessee