The Early Writings of George Lippard, 1842-1843

[M] Miscellaneous

This section collects a variety of miscellaneous items from The Citizen Soldier that seem most likely to have been written by Lippard. Several of them have been previously attributed to him, but most have not explicitly been credited to his pen. Lippard began working as an anonymous writer and editor for this newspaper in January 1843; by May of that year (according to David Reynolds’ Twayne biography) he had become its chief writer, and by July its chief editor. Indeed, it is difficult to read through the pages of The Citizen Soldier for those months without detecting Lippard’s signature everywhere, and doubtless there are other pieces in the pages of the newspaper that could also be attributed to Lippard. The various commentaries on the state of American literature (M2, M7) and the situation of journalism in Philadelphia (M1, M4, M9, M13), the hostility to George R. Graham (M12), and the taunting of his former employer The Spirit of the Times (M4, M10) were consistent with views Lippard articulated elsewhere and reflected his usual resentments. The statements of the paper’s political agenda (M3, M11) were unmistakably Lippardian. “The Legend of the Coffee Bags” (M5) obviously appeared under Lippard’s byline, but in any case was an elaboration of a short sketch he had published in a “City Police” column in January 1842, included above (A6). Together these pieces depict Lippard as a writer increasingly frustrated by the practice of journalism, discouraged by the state of American literature, and ambitious to attempt literary production on a larger scale and with a bolder agenda.