The Midland Journal was a weekly newspaper published in Rising Sun, Cecil County, Maryland from August 7, 1885 to June 27, 1947.

[4] Ewing had plenty of experience publishing newspapers, having previously established Topeka, Kansas' Daily Capital in 1877 as well as Macon County, North Carolina's Blue Ridge Enterprise in 1882.

[6] He was also a novelist and poet, with his story "The Hag of the Wallowish" originally appearing as a serial in The Philadelphia Dollar Newspaper beginning in 1849.

[10][11] Like many small town publications, The Midland Journal functioned primarily as a source of local news, light reading, and brief notices of national and international events.

[13] Ewing continued the trend he started at the Whig of a fairly progressive editorial stance; in December 1885 the Journal announced a lecture at the local Episcopal church by celebrated abolitionist Frederick Douglass and noted that "his fame as an orator is world wide.