SUPPLEMENT TO THE GAZETTE SENTINEL & PLAQUEMINE GAZETTE AND SENTINEL

Plaqueville, LA: Iberville Parish, 1860. Group of eight broadside Supplements and one broadside Extra issued by the Plaquemine Gazette and Sentinel on August 4, 18, 25, September 1, September 15, 29, October 20, November 3, 24. Folio. 515 x 400 mm. (21 1/4 x 15 3/4 inches). All printed one-side only except the issue of September 1, which is printed on two sides. Plaquemine is located on the west bank of the Mississippi about 15 miles south of Baton Rouge. The Plaquemine Gazette and Sentinel was formed from the union of the Iberville Gazette and the Plaqueville Sentinel. The Gazette & Sentinel was issued weekly (semi-weekly for a couple of months in (truncated) 1861), beginning February 27, 1858 and apparently ceased publication with the issue of September 3, 1863. The editor and proprietor was W. P. Bradburn. Neatly removed from a bound volume, light tide marks across several issues, the August 4th issue with large, central brown stain and others with light foxing, but overall in very good state of preservation. The Supplement to the Gazette and Sentinel was published on Saturdays and was filled with information on the Pro-Southern position of the Louisiana public on the eve of the Civil War. In the August 18 and 25th issues the paper supports the candidacy of John C. Breckenridge of Kentucky and include a lengthy biography of seven columns. The September 1 Extra is almost entirely devoted to an account of the Democratic nominating convention and the September 14 issue contains the conclusion of an article by Samuel A. Cartwright taken from DeBow's Review, entitled "Unity of the Human Race is Disproved by the Bible." The lead piece in the September 29 issue, "The Traitor Unmasked" is an attack on Stephan A. Douglas. The final issue of the 24 of November reports on an "Important Public Meeting" held at the Court House in Plaquemine on November 17, 1860, in response to the election of Lincoln: “A sectional part at the North has been victorious . . . upon the principle of hatred of the South, and pledged destruction of your property and your rights. The declaration has gone forth that you are an inferior race . . . It has been settled by ballot to the satisfaction of Black Republicans, that upon the triumph of their 'higher-law' doctrine, it becomes their imperative duty to civilize Southern Barbarism - in other words to wipe out the institution of slavery from the land, beggar you, and make you their vassals." The meeting adopted five resolutions, including a call to reconvene the State legislature to decide a course of action in the present crisis, reaffirmation of the sovereign right of states to secede from the Union, and formation of a local militia "for the purpose of preserving domestic peace and tranquility, and to act as circumstances may require. (Inventory #: 64910)