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Newspaper Sentinel of the Valley (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848

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About Sentinel of the Valley (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848

Published weekly in Woodstock from 1841 to 1848, the Sentinel of the Valley is one of several title variations the newspaper underwent throughout its 200-year lifespan. Beginning as the Woodstock Herald in 1817, it became the Woodstock Herald and Shenandoah Weekly Advertiser in 1820, a name it retained until 1823. It changed its title three more times between 1823 and 1841 before settling on Sentinel of the Valley for seven years. It was edited and published by John Gatewood Jr., who had taken on editorial responsibilities earlier in 1841 when the paper was the Sentinel of the Valley and Shenandoah and Page Advertiser under John V. Rigden. On March 13, 1841, the Jeffersonian of Warrenton reported that Rigden had “retired from the editorial chair of the Shenandoah Sentinel and returns to the more grateful vocation of Minister of the Gospel. Mr. John Gatewood succeeds him.”

The Sentinel of the Valley provided news and entertaining reading for the people of Woodstock and the surrounding Shenandoah County, an area of northwestern Virginia bordering West Virginia, bound on its northern side by the Alleghenies and on its southern side by the Massanutten Mountain range. A typical issue of the four-page weekly contained poetry, advice, moral lessons, jokes and articles about faith, good behavior and charity. On its pages, a reader could also find regular messages to subscribers — usually pleading for subscription payments — political speeches, pro-Democrat political news, census reports and weekly lists of local marriages and deaths, as well as updates on statewide, national and international news and culture.

The Sentinel also carried important economic news for area farmers, like the regular “Market News” column, which provided going rates for wheat, flour, corn, salt, beef and bacon. The last two pages of the Sentinel were dedicated to a wide array of advertisements promoting properties for sale or rent, livestock sales, daguerreotype studios and local distributors of clothing, shoes, hats, groceries, and medicines like Sherman’s Cough Lozenges and Peter’s Pills. It also advertised local educational institutions like Woodlawn Academy, Woodstock Female Seminary, and Angerona Seminary, in nearby Winchester. In an effort to boost its reportedly low subscription numbers, on April 21, 1842, the Sentinel announced a reduced subscription price, from $2.50 to two dollars per annum, to take effect in September of that year.

Gatewood issued the last number of the Sentinel of the Valley on June 15, 1848, and established the Tenth Legion as its successor on June 22, 1848. Along with his editorial duties, Gatewood wrote for other publications such as the Southern Planter, served in the Virginia House of Delegates for Shenandoah County from 1857 to 1858 and from 1861 to 1863, and published books like Samuel Kercheval’s History of the Valley. During the Civil War, he served as a captain in the Confederate Army but resumed duties as editor of the Shenandoah Herald after the conflict. In November 1868, Gatewood retired from the Shenandoah Herald, the name the paper held from 1865 to 1974. Woodstock’s long-running newspaper, called the Shenandoah Valley-Herald at its conclusion, ceased publication on March 3, 2023.

Provided By: Library of Virginia; Richmond, VA

About this Newspaper

Title

  • Sentinel of the Valley (Woodstock, Va) 1841-1848

Dates of Publication

  • 1841-1848

Created / Published

  • Woodstock, Va : John Gatewood, -1848.

Headings

  • -  Woodstock (Shenandoah County, Va.)--Newspapers
  • -  Shenandoah County (Va.)--Newspapers
  • -  Virginia--Shenandoah County
  • -  Virginia--Woodstock (Shenandoah County)
  • -  United States--Virginia--Shenandoah--Woodstock

Genre

  • Newspapers

Notes

  • -  Weekly
  • -  Began in 1841.
  • -  -v. 28, no. 38 (June 15, 1848).
  • -  Also available online.
  • -  Archived issues are available in digital format from the Library of Congress Chronicling America online collection.
  • -  Vol. 22, no. 13, (Dec. 2, 1841).
  • -  Tenth legion (Woodstock, Va.) (DLC)sn 86092553 (OCoLC)13757182

Medium

  • volumes

Call Number/Physical Location

  • Newspaper

Digital Id

Library of Congress Control Number

  • sn95079484

OCLC Number

  • 31869655

ISSN Number

  • 2836-7707

Preceding Titles

Succeeding Titles

Additional Metadata Formats

Availability

Rights & Access

The Library of Congress believes that the newspapers in Chronicling America are in the public domain or have no known copyright restrictions. Newspapers published in the United States more than 95 years ago are in the public domain in their entirety. Any newspapers in Chronicling America that were published less than 95 years ago are also believed to be in the public domain, but may contain some copyrighted third party materials. Researchers using newspapers published less than 95 years ago should be alert for modern content (for example, registered and renewed for copyright and published with notice) that may be copyrighted. Responsibility for making an independent legal assessment of an item and securing any necessary permissions ultimately rests with persons desiring to use the item.

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Cite This Item

Citations are generated automatically from bibliographic data as a convenience, and may not be complete or accurate.

Chicago citation style:

Sentinel of the Valley Woodstock, Va -1848. (Woodstock, VA), Jan. 1 1841. https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95079484/.

APA citation style:

(1841, January 1) Sentinel of the Valley Woodstock, Va -1848. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, https://aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95079484/.

MLA citation style:

Sentinel of the Valley Woodstock, Va -1848. (Woodstock, VA) 1 Jan. 1841. Retrieved from the Library of Congress, aj.sunback.homes/item/sn95079484/.