Although the Weekly Register had a short publishing run of only fourteen months, it was one of the more important Confederate periodicals of the Civil War era.   Published from January 2, 1864 to February 18, 1865 by Johnson & Schaffter in Lynchburg, Virginia, 114 miles west of Richmond, the Weekly Register sought to provide its readers with a broad view of the war, one which examined the "prominent events of the war" through the lens of the Confederate cause.  The Weekly Register examined not only the developments on the battlefield but also the inner workings of the Confederate government.  "At a time like this," the publishers explained to their subscribers, "when events of such interest are crowding so rapidly upon us," it is important to preserve "the record of these events in some authentic and durable form."

Eager to memorialize the war's key events, the Weekly Register published correspondence and telegrams between Jefferson Davis and General Joseph Johnston pertaining to General Grant's siege of Vicksburg and its surrender to Union forces on July 4, 1863 (which took place six months prior to the newspaper's first issue).  The periodical also featured one of the war's most famous naval battles between the C.S.A. Alabama and the U.S.S. Kearsarge, which resulted in the sinking of the Confederate cruiser on June 19, 1864.  The Weekly Register covered various aspects of the presidential campaign of 1864, including the Democratic National Convention in Chicago and the reelection of Abraham Lincoln.  An extensive chronology of the war appeared in two installments on May 7 and December 31, 1864.  The periodical supplemented its military and political coverage with a large collection of Confederate government and military documents, including the Constitution, public statements by Davis, executive reports issued by Davis's cabinet, military orders, and reports on military operations.

Like many other Confederate periodicals, the Weekly Register was a casualty of the war.  With the Confederacy on the verge of collapse, publishers Johnson & Schaffter discontinued the periodical, seven weeks before Lee surrendered to Grant at Appomattox Courthouse.