Home Business and Labor The Boston News-Letter, Loyalist Rag, Reports the News

The Boston News-Letter, Loyalist Rag, Reports the News

by
10 comments

Boston had not had a newspaper for 14 years when John Campbell, the postmaster, started the Boston News-Letter, on April 24, 1704. It was the first continuously published newspaper in British North America.

John Howe

John Howe

Boston’s first newspaper, Publick Occurrences, Both Foreign and Domestick, lasted but one issue on Sept 25, 1690. It had carried a whiff of scandal and was quite popular, But the colonial authorities shut it down because of “sundry doubtful and uncertain Reports.” They did “hereby manifest and declare their high Resentment and Disallowance of said Pamphlet.”From then on, anyone who wanted to publish a newspaper had to have a license.

The Boston News-Letter

John Campbell, a Loyalist, had no problem getting one. The Boston News-Letter would function as the Tory house organ until the Siege of Boston.

Campbell had started by writing newsletters to Gov. Fitz-John Winthrop of Connecticut with information from travelers arriving from England. He may also have sent his newsletters to other New England governors. In 1704, Campbell decided to make his newsletter public and to sell it.

It was a single sheet, printed on both sides. The first issue was filled with news from England, much of it cribbed from London periodicals. It carried news of the French threats to Britain and warned of “bloody designs of Papists and Jacobites.”

Only one column of that first issue reported local news. News items included ship arrivals, a judicial appointment and an “excellent” sermon at Old South Church.

1st issue of the Boston News-Letter

1st issue of the Boston News-Letter

Campbell’s  biggest scoop came in 1718, when he reported on the death of the pirate Blackbeard in hand-to-hand combat.

The Boston News-Letter’s printer, Bartholomew Green, took over in 1722 and ran the paper until he died in 1732. His son-in-law, John Draper, inherited the publication. Draper published the newsletter until he died in 1762, and his son Richard took it over. Richard died in 1774 and his widow, Margaret Green Draper, published it. She wasn’t the only widow to take up her husband’s printing business. Hannah Bunce Watson did it in Hartford and Ann Smith Franklin  (Ben’s sister-in-law) did it in Newport, R.I.

Demise of the Boston News-Letter

The Boston News-Letter was the only newspaper published in Boston during the early days of the American Revolution. It carried the news of the Boston Tea Party, the Battles of Lexington and Concord and the Battle of Bunker Hill. The stories were probably written by the apprentice, John Howe. He became Margaret Green Draper’s business partner during the last five months of its existence.

The Boston News-Letter stopped publication in February 1776, just before the British evacuated Boston. Draper and Green left for Halifax the next month, where most good Loyalists went.


This story last updated in 2022.

10 comments

Margaret Dragon April 24, 2014 - 1:37 pm

Love these historical snapshots!

Margaret Dragon April 24, 2014 - 1:37 pm

Love these historical snapshots!

Boston Celebrates the Birth of a Prince in 1718 – and Lots of Other Royal Milestones - New England Historical Society May 4, 2015 - 3:30 pm

[…] 1716, the Boston News-Letter described King George's accession to the throne: the artillery of the fort at Castle William was […]

Boston Light, The Cursed Lighthouse (Until the British Blew It Up) - New England Historical Society July 23, 2017 - 12:42 pm

[…] two years Boston Light was built. The Boston News-Letter of Sept. 17, 1716, reported the "Light House has been built; And on Fryday last the 14th Currant […]

The Gravesites of Six Revolutionary Heroines - New England Historical Society March 11, 2018 - 11:05 am

[…] Revolution, as the British had shut down all the newspapers in Boston. Plus, New York’s Loyalist newspapers printed nothing but pro-British news. Only the Courant could provide reliable news to patriots […]

The High Tide Storm of 1723 Strands Puritans in Their Meeting Houses - New England Historical Society March 25, 2018 - 7:38 am

[…] Boston News-Letter gave such a ridiculous explanation for the high waters that young Ben Franklin had a field day […]

The Oldest Newspaper in Each New England State - New England Historical Society August 18, 2018 - 9:13 am

[…] British had shut down all the newspapers in Boston. Plus, New York’s Loyalist newspapers printed nothing but pro-British news. The Courant, as the only paper large enough to provide […]

The High Tide Storm of 1723: 'Ye Mightyest Overflowing of Ye Sea' - New England Historical Society February 24, 2020 - 1:43 pm

[…] Boston News-Letter gave such a ridiculous explanation for the high waters that young Ben Franklin had a field day […]

Comments are closed.

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join our mailing list to receive the latest artciles from the New England Historical Society

Thanks for Signing Up!

Subscribe To Our Newsletter

Join Now and Get The Latest Articles. 

It's Free!

You have Successfully Subscribed!