1848
On the 23rd of June, 1848, the name of the Protestant Monitor was changed to the Alton Monitor with its religious mantle exchanged for that of Democracy, and the names of Lewis Cass and William O. Butler [were] nailed to the mast-head as its candidates for the Presidency and Vice Presidency. [John] McPike withdrew from the paper. It was continued as a campaign paper a few weeks later, however. The names Cass and Butler were taken down and Martin Van Buren’s substituted. It was then under the editorial control of John W. Buffum. It suspended at the close of the campaign.
(From The History of Madison County by W.P. Brink & Co. 1882).
