Edward Jones Hale

(DoB-DoD)

Editor and Publisher of the Fayetteville Observer from 1824-1865

Edward Jones Hale was a prominent and wealthy businessman in Fayetteville, and was editor and publisher of the Fayetteville Observer from 1824-1865. He was a prominent member of Phoenix Lodge No. 8.

Hale was an ardent Confederate sympathizer, and used his newspaper as a platform to trumpet the Southern cause. Hale's position was well known in the North, and when General Sherman's Union troops occupied Fayetteville, Hale's newspaper and other properties were burned to the ground. Hale lost sizeable fortune and nearly every possession he owned. Leaving Fayetteville after the war, Hale became a successful publisher again.