Today in Wheeling History: July 9--The Daily Register, forerunner of today's Wheeling News-Register, opens its Wheeling offices (1863).
In July 1863, 31-year-old Ohio native Lewis Baker purchased the printing press of the defunct Wheeling Daily Press and launched The Daily Register, joined soon after by editor O.S. Long. Founded in the middle of the Civil War, the paper voiced staunch Democratic views, standing in sharp contrast to its Republican rival, the Daily Intelligencer. Baker supported a Union victory but repeatedly criticized the Lincoln administration's conduct of the war and opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, believing it would only harden Southern resistance.
Those views brought real consequences. In July 1864, after the Register accused Union Gen. David Hunter of "vandalism" for removing a bronze statue of George Washington from the Virginia Military Institute campus, Hunter ordered the paper's offices seized and its editors arrested—on July 9, 1864, exactly one year to the day after the paper's founding. Baker and Long spent roughly seven weeks jailed at the Athenaeum before their release on August 30, 1864, and resumed publishing that September, unbowed.
The paper became West Virginia's leading Democratic voice, spinning off tri-weekly, weekly, and German-language editions. Baker himself was elected a Democratic state senator, serving as President of the West Virginia Senate in 1871, before relocating to Minnesota in 1885. The paper was renamed the Wheeling Daily Register in 1864, the Wheeling Register in 1878, and finally merged with the Wheeling Daily News in 1935 to become the Wheeling News-Register.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library - Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/489a5y9z), Facebook - Archiving Wheeling's Post (https://tinyurl.com/ms32scaz), Newspapers.com - The Wheeling Daily Register Archive (https://tinyurl.com/3dbwyaak), e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online - Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/3yzt6zeh), Library of Congress - Chronicling America - The daily register [Wheeling, W. Va.], September 8, 1863 (https://tinyurl.com/22hxfb49), Newspapers.com - Wheeling Sunday Register Archive (https://tinyurl.com/5n82zc3f), Newspapers.com - The Daily Register Archive (https://tinyurl.com/3p6ncy3y), Ohio County Public Library - The Press in Wheeling, 1886 (https://tinyurl.com/2f3sa6cx), Library of Congress - Chronicling America - Wheeling Register [Wheeling, W. Va.] 1878-1935 (https://tinyurl.com/pych9aen), Library of Congress - Chronicling America - The Daily Register [Wheeling, W. Va.] 1863-1864 (https://tinyurl.com/mr3hstjr), Ohio County Public Library - Newspapers (https://tinyurl.com/4a8r4nub), Wikipedia - Lewis Baker [politician] (https://tinyurl.com/yhut2xkf)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Wikimedia Commons, Google Maps, The Historical Marker Database
In July 1863, 31-year-old Ohio native Lewis Baker purchased the printing press of the defunct Wheeling Daily Press and launched The Daily Register, joined soon after by editor O.S. Long. Founded in the middle of the Civil War, the paper voiced staunch Democratic views, standing in sharp contrast to its Republican rival, the Daily Intelligencer. Baker supported a Union victory but repeatedly criticized the Lincoln administration's conduct of the war and opposed the Emancipation Proclamation, believing it would only harden Southern resistance.
Those views brought real consequences. In July 1864, after the Register accused Union Gen. David Hunter of "vandalism" for removing a bronze statue of George Washington from the Virginia Military Institute campus, Hunter ordered the paper's offices seized and its editors arrested—on July 9, 1864, exactly one year to the day after the paper's founding. Baker and Long spent roughly seven weeks jailed at the Athenaeum before their release on August 30, 1864, and resumed publishing that September, unbowed.
The paper became West Virginia's leading Democratic voice, spinning off tri-weekly, weekly, and German-language editions. Baker himself was elected a Democratic state senator, serving as President of the West Virginia Senate in 1871, before relocating to Minnesota in 1885. The paper was renamed the Wheeling Daily Register in 1864, the Wheeling Register in 1878, and finally merged with the Wheeling Daily News in 1935 to become the Wheeling News-Register.
To learn more: Ohio County Public Library - Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/489a5y9z), Facebook - Archiving Wheeling's Post (https://tinyurl.com/ms32scaz), Newspapers.com - The Wheeling Daily Register Archive (https://tinyurl.com/3dbwyaak), e-WV: The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online - Wheeling Intelligencer (https://tinyurl.com/3yzt6zeh), Library of Congress - Chronicling America - The daily register [Wheeling, W. Va.], September 8, 1863 (https://tinyurl.com/22hxfb49), Newspapers.com - Wheeling Sunday Register Archive (https://tinyurl.com/5n82zc3f), Newspapers.com - The Daily Register Archive (https://tinyurl.com/3p6ncy3y), Ohio County Public Library - The Press in Wheeling, 1886 (https://tinyurl.com/2f3sa6cx), Library of Congress - Chronicling America - Wheeling Register [Wheeling, W. Va.] 1878-1935 (https://tinyurl.com/pych9aen), Library of Congress - Chronicling America - The Daily Register [Wheeling, W. Va.] 1863-1864 (https://tinyurl.com/mr3hstjr), Ohio County Public Library - Newspapers (https://tinyurl.com/4a8r4nub), Wikipedia - Lewis Baker [politician] (https://tinyurl.com/yhut2xkf)
Photo credits: Ohio County Public Library Archives, Wheeling WV; Wikimedia Commons, Google Maps, The Historical Marker Database
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