About

The Augusta Washingtonian began as the Washingtonian or Total Abstinence Advocate on June 11, 1842. The Washington Total Abstinence Society raised funds for the publication and James McCafferty published the paper on the first and third Saturday of every month. The paper's founding falls in in line with enthusiasm for Washingtonianism in the 1840s and 50s, which supported temperance through testimonials of reformed alcoholics and membership fraternal societies. The Washingtonian featured temperance-focused poetry, accounts from those who took the pledge of abstinence as well as speeches and articles from members of the society. In 1843, for its second volume, the newspaper changed from semi-monthly to weekly and became the Augusta Washingtonian. This newly titled paper maintained its focus on temperance but expanded to also include articles featuring agricultural and miscellaneous subject matter. The Augusta branch of the Washington Total Abstinence Society took editorial control and subsidized the paper so that it could maintain a yearly subscription cost of one dollar. The paper published under the banner "A Cheap Family Paper: Devoted to Temperance, Agricultural, and Miscellaneous Readings" for two more years until publication ceased in 1845.