The Daily Intelligencer was first published on June 1, 1849 as the young city of Atlanta's first successful daily newspaper (although the town had previously had weekly papers such as The Luminary). The founders were Benjamin Bomar, Z.A. Rice, Jonathan Norcross and Ira O. McDaniel. During the American Civil War, it had great trouble acquiring paper from its supplier, the paper mill at Sope Creek. In 1864, it was purchased by Jared Whitaker who briefly moved it to Macon then moved back after the war, making it the only Atlanta paper to survive. John H. Steele was its editor from 1860 until his death in January 1871 and Captain Evan Howell was its city editor starting in 1868.
The paper closed in April, soon after Steele's death and after intense competition from the new Atlanta Constitution, which ended up buying at auction the mechanical equipment of the Intelligencer. At that same auction, Whitaker purchased the archives and other paperwork.