John McClanahan, Died: 1865

As Union soldiers neared the city of Memphis John McClanahan and and his partner Benjamin Dill along with composing room foreman S.C. Toof and pressman Andy Harmon packed up the Memphis Appeal printing equipment and left the city, heading toward the Mississippi town of Grenada. Proving their commitment to their cause they kept moving and printing as the war wore on. General Grant’s descent upon Vicksburg flushed the Appeal’s operation first further south to Jackson then ultimately to Atlanta as Grant’s occupation of Southern Mississippi became complete.

In Atlanta the Memphis Appeal continued to churn out newspapers by any means possible. Most of the articles were written by McClanahan although Dill maintained a strong editorial voice.  As the Union army drew closer the operation moved to Columbus, Georgia. Using every available paper type and unpaid labor available the Memphis Appeal survived until the very last month of the war. Brigadier General James H. Wilson of the Union army was to later say, “One of the most gratifying incidents of the fall of Columbus, Georgia was the capture of the notorious Southern newspaper known as “The Memphis Appeal”.

The surviving members of the Memphis Appeal team headed back to Memphis. The one and only “correspondent” for the paper, Charles Linebaugh had drowned crossing a river with the printing press en route to Atlanta. Although Dill and McClanahan vowed to begin again more tragedy struck when McClanahan fell or was thrown out of his window at the Gayoso Hotel. The paper was struck a second major blow six months later when illness took the life of Benjamin Dill. Both editors having surrendered their health for a cause they held dear.

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