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Hammond Gazette
	The November 17, 1862, cover page of the inaugural issue of the Hammond Gazette
Publisher	Charley Greer & Co.
Founded	November 17, 1862
City	Point Lookout, Maryland
OCLC number	8254980

The Hammond Gazette was a weekly newspaper that was first published on November 17, 1862 in Point Lookout, Maryland. The paper was initially published by Charley Greer. George Everett, White Commander of Company D in the 38th United States Colored Troops (USCT) stationed at Point lookout, eventually succeeded him and published the paper for the majority of its run.^[1]

Publication

The Gazette was created for the staff and patients of Hammond General Hospital, a military facility at Point Lookout during the Civil War. The paper took its name from the hospital where it was printed, which was in turn named for Surgeon General William A. Hammond. It served to treat the wounded of both sides of the war, but later also served as a prison camp for confederate prisoners in the aftermath of the Battle of Gettysburg.^[1]

It was the first paper to be issued during the Civil War from a military hospital.^[2] In 1955, its remaining issues were described as composing the largest file of record for military hospital newspapers, containing 95 issues from November 17, 1862, to September 7, 1864.^[2] There were a total of 19 military hospital newspapers during the Civil War, five of which were published in or around the Washington, D.C., area.^[3]

The paper contained poetry, humor, war news, current events, local news, lists of those in the hospital, and fiction—including a number of pieces about President Abraham Lincoln^[2]—among other topics. It served as a way for those recuperating at the hospital to maintain a connection with the world around them. Many patients would send clippings of the paper to their friends and family as ways of keeping them informed.^[1] It was also a political instrument, which derided the copperhead—anti-war Democrats—as "a professional growler" and complainer, and called for increased political violence against Southerners in the war.^[4]

While the hospital at one point had some 1900 patients, the number dropped to a couple hundred over time, and creative writing became the bulk of its issues. It contained only modest amounts of advertising, and reported on Lincoln's July 28, 1863, visit to Point Lookout.^[2]

References

^ ^a ^b ^c "About Hammond Gazette". Chronicling America. Library of Congress. Retrieved 12 June 2022.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d P., H. E.; Artus, Samuel; Morton, John T. (1955). "Lincolniana Notes". Journal of the Illinois State Historical Society. 48 (4): 456–465. ISSN 0019-2287. JSTOR 40189470.
^ Lorang, Elizabeth (2013). "'Not feeling very well ... we turned our attention to poetry': Poetry; Washington, DC's hospital newspapers; and the Civil War". In Canada, Mark (ed.). Literature and journalism: Inspirations, intersections, and inventions from Ben Franklin to Stephen Colbert. Palgrave Macmillan. ISBN 9781137329301.
^ Spar, Ira (2017). "Hammond Gazette". Civil War hospital newspapers: Histories and excerpts of nine Union publications. McFarland. pp. 166–167. ISBN 9781476625294.