William D. Gallagher, Champion of
Wester Literary Periodicals
By JAMES A. TAGUE*
DURING THE 1830's a number of attempts
were made in
Ohio to create a successful literary
journal, one that would be
devoted to subjects other than the
predominant interests of
the majority of the newspapers and
magazines of the day.
The existing media, for the most part,
published articles on
religion, politics, and growth of the
area, and there were few
local outlets for the aspiring author
if he did not write on one
of these subjects. New literary
periodicals, therefore, were
developed with a twofold aim: to
encourage the writing of
essays, books, articles, and poems by
western authors; and to
promote a serious literary effort
concerning western subjects.
In a word, there was an effort made to
develop a western
literary culture separate from and not
dependent upon the
belles-lettres of the eastern section
of the country. Some of
these ventures were good, some bad,
some indifferent; all
suffered from several limitations,
including the lack of avail-
able western literary talent and a
serious lack of interest in
this kind of publication. None of them
was able to overcome
these limitations completely. Several
of those that came
closest were edited by William Davis
Gallagher, whose third
journal, the Hesperian, was one
of the best.
Gallagher was born in Philadelphia on
August 21, 1808,
and moved with his mother and brothers
in 1816 to Mount
Pleasant, Hamilton County, Ohio. While
at Mount Pleasant,
* James A. Tague is a candidate for the
Ph.D degree in history at Western
Reserve University. His article is a revision of a
seminar paper written for
Dean Carl Wittke of the graduate school
there.
258
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Gallagher attended the Lancastrian
Seminary for an unde-
termined length of time, where he
learned the printing trade,
a valuable asset to his later career. At the age of
eighteen he
received his first editorial position
as the general assistant in
the management of an agricultural periodical, the Western
Tiller. In 1826 Gallagher and his brother Francis made a
short-lived attempt to publish a
literary journal under the
name of the Western Minerva. Unfortunately,
there are no
known copies of this periodical
preserved today. Two years
later Gallagher went to work for S. V.
Brown on the Cincin-
nati Emporium and Commercial
Register. In 1830 he became
the editor of the Whig newspaper, the Backwoodsman,
a pro-
Clay paper, which was published at
Xenia, Ohio, where
Gallagher met and married Miss Emma
Adamson. By 1831
he had returned with his bride to
Cincinnati, where John H.
Wood had suggested to him that they
publish a literary
semi-monthly paper, Wood to finance and
publish the new
paper and Gallagher to be the salaried
editor. Being unem-
ployed at the time, Gallagher accepted,
and the Cincinnati
Mirror was born.1
The first issue of the Cincinnati
Mirror appeared on Octo-
ber 1, 1831. It consisted of eight
newspaper-size pages. As
a western journal it concentrated on
the literary efforts of
western authors. In this first issue
Gallagher stated his aim
to be the creation of a periodical
devoted to the promotion of
western belles-lettres, and he ventured
the opinion that there
was talent enough in the Cincinnati
area alone to create an
issue "nearly if not quite equal
to any issue from the eastern
press."2 Despite this
outburst of optimism Gallagher could
never live up to his ultimate aim--a
paper written exclusively
by westerners. Much of the material was
copied from the
eastern press, and the Mirror remained
more of a miscel-
1 The material for Gallagher's early
life comes from biographical sketches by
W. H. Venable based on personal
interviews with Gallagher. See W. H. Venable,
"William Davis Gallagher," Ohio
Archaeological and Historical Quarterly, I
(1887-88), 358-375; II (1888-89),
309-326; and W. H. Venable, Beginnings of
Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley (New York, 1949), 436-470.
2 Cincinnati Mirror, I (October 1, 1831), 5.
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER 259
laneous magazine than a true literary
journal. Although he
never succeeded in making the Mirror
a completely original
paper, Gallagher was able to claim that
his periodical con-
tained the greatest amount of original
material of any west-
ern publication. A survey in 1834
showed that during the first
nine months of publication there had
been three hundred
columns of original material, "an
amount more than equal to
six hundred pages of an ordinary
magazine."3
Although the Mirror did contain
a great deal of original
material written by western authors
when compared with
other western journals, much of the
paper was devoted to
work from the pens of eastern or
European authors. Galla-
gher felt the reason was a lack of
confidence on the part of
western authors and readers in literary
works produced in
the West. Regarding the authors, he
said, "The truth is,
those who might elevate the character
and tone of the periodi-
cal press in our country and city do
not usually meddle with
it."4 On the readers,
he commented: "A disposition to
doubt the capabilities of our own
writers, which has generally
prevailed, has thrown discouragement in
the way of persons
of ability. We hope the reign of this blinding
prejudice is
destined to a short duration."5
Coupled with Gallagher's attempts to
promote western
literature through the pages of the Mirror,
there was a
definite tendency on his part to
depreciate eastern literary
periodicals and literature. He was
astonished that Cincinnati
allowed herself to be imposed upon by
the great number of
eastern periodicals which had "such windy
pretensions to
perfection, and such slight claims to
support."6 He also
claimed that most of the eastern periodicals
devoted the great-
est space to "puffing"
themselves without contributing any-
thing of merit.7
In all, five volumes of the Cincinnati
Mirror were published
3 Ibid., III (July 12, 1834), 311.
4 Ibid., IV (October 3, 1835), 394.
5 Ibid., III
(March 22, 1834), 183.
6 Ibid., III (February 1, 1834), 127.
7 Ibid., II (April 27, 1833), 127.
260
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
over a period of five years.8 During
this time the periodical
developed from a rather crude copy of the New York
Mirror
to a finished magazine of considerable
merit. Throughout,
Gallagher attempted to keep it a
literary product and to resist
the tempting field of politics.
In the pages of the Mirror, Gallagher
followed a three-
faceted editorial policy. The basic
subjects for his numerous
editorials were: the advocacy of
tolerance, education, and
moderation; temperance; and the
promotion of western litera-
ture. The preaching of tolerance,
education, and moderation
was a constant editorial theme,
although Gallagher did not
editorially favor any one religion. For
example, in a review
of Lyman Beecher's book, A Plea for
the West, Gallagher
deplored Beecher's tendency to raise
issues about Catholicism
and advocated instead religious
tolerance.9
In the field of temperance reform,
Gallagher resorted to the
common policy of the time of printing
many short articles
describing, in vivid detail, the
horrible end reserved for
drunkards. A more interesting and
original approach was
his suggestion for the installation of
libraries on all steam-
boats so that passengers could pass
their time in more up-
lifting pursuits than gambling and
drinking.10 In keeping
with his desire to make the Mirror a
western literary journal,
Gallagher devoted many of his editorial
efforts to literary
criticism. In a column for the purpose,
he criticized various
manuscripts sent him by readers and
hopeful authors, but,
unfortunately, these neophytes were
never identified. In the
8 The Cincinnati Mirror during its existence underwent several name
changes,
reflecting mergers, changes in
ownership, and in one case, a change in editors,
though it retained Cincinnati Mirror in
its title throughout.. The various titles
follow: Cincinnati Mirror and Ladies'
Parterre (October 1, 1831-October 29,
1831); Cincinnati Mirror and Ladies'
Parterre and Museum (November 12, 1831-
July 7, 1832); Cincinnati Mirror and
Ladies' Parterre (July 21, 1832-September
13, 1833); Cincinnati Mirror and
Western Gazette of Literature and Science
(October 5, 1833-April 11, 1835); Cincinnati
Mirror and Chronicle (April 18,
1835-October 24, 1835); Buckeye and
Cincinnati Mirror (October 31, 1835-
January 23, 1836); Cincinnati Mirror
and Western Gazette of Literature, Science,
and the Arts (January 30, 1836-September 17, 1836).
9 Cincinnati Mirror, IV (May 21, 1835), 218.
10 Ibid., III
(March 15, 1834), 175.
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER 261
book-review section he criticized
western authors both spe-
cifically and in general. He had two
major objections to west-
ern writers. First was their tendency
to exaggeration--"the
prevailing vice of western writers,
when this section of the
Union is the subject of their
pens."11 In addition, he criticized
western authors for their "rhyming
mania," as he maintained
that the time spent in writing this
type of poetry by the major-
ity of aspiring poets was wasted.12
He praised highly, on the
other hand, an article, "Diary of
a Pedestrian," by an un-
named author. This story, a description
of a foot trip from
Philadelphia to Cincinnati, was called
"quite a treat" by
Gallagher for its homey descriptions of
everyday things in
the West.13 One of the more
intriguing of Gallagher's com-
ments on western literature was an
article which appeared on
October 24, 1835, in praise of Negro
literature, both by and
about Negroes, in which he suggested
that someone should
attempt to develop this embryo Negro
literature.14
Other than several eloquent pleas for
the preservation of
the Union and for moderation, Gallagher
successfully resisted
the temptation to use his editorial
pages for politics. He par-
ticularly avoided the slavery question,
which was becoming a
hot political issue in some parts of
Ohio. His avoidance of this
question was largely due to the fact
that part of the circula-
tion of the Mirror was in slave-holding
states.
Gallagher's editorial policy led to his
separation from the
Mirror. In March 1836 he had written an editorial violently
attacking Thomas Paine and Paine's Age
of Reason as anti-
Christian.15 Shortly thereafter
Gallagher terminated his
editorial duties at the Mirror because
of a dispute over the
ideas of Paine with the publisher, who
wanted Gallagher to
print material endorsing Paine's
views.16
11 Ibid., I
(February 18, 1832), 86.
12 Ibid., III (May 10, 1834), 238.
13 Ibid., II (March 2, 1833), 91.
14 Ibid., IV
(October 24, 1835), 416.
15 Ibid., V
(March 12, 1836), 55.
16 Venable, "William Davis
Gallagher," Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly, I
(1887-88), 365.
262
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Gallagher originally carried on the
editorial duties of the
Mirror alone.
In 1833, however, he was joined by Thomas
H. Shreve as co-editor, and later by
James H. Perkins. Per-
kins remained for only a short time.
The May 30, 1835, issue of the Mirror
may serve as a
random sample of the variety of
material carried in the publi-
cation. It contained three poems,
slightly less than average.
A section entitled "Miscellaneous
Selections" contained six
one- or two-column sketches including
the story of a steamer
trip from London to Edinburgh, a tale
about a heroic Irish
nobleman, several miscellaneous
selections from Hannah
Moore, a short autobiographical sketch
by Charles Lamb, and
Gallagher's criticisms of several albums
submitted by sub-
scribers. The next section, titled
"Desultory Paragraphs,"
contained eleven short paragraphs on
such subjects as female
piety, the blood fish or Caribito, the
tomb of Byron, and the
drinking of water. There were also two
"Original Tales,"
as well as two original essays. Three
books were reviewed:
Mrs. Butler's Journal; a pamphlet describing a recent Buck-
eye celebration in Cincinnati; and a
new Penny Cyclopedia.
Editorials urged more and higher
quality of criticism of liter-
ature, praised good public speaking,
discoursed on the proper
use of the words "shall" and
"will," and promoted attempts
to colonize Africa with freed
slaves--one of the few articles
in the Mirror regarding slavery.
In addition, the paper car-
ried more than a page of miscellaneous
news items.17
Although many authors contributed to
the Cincinnati
Mirror, frequently they were not named or were identified
only by an initial. Some of the authors
who were fully iden-
tified were the Rev. Timothy Flint,
Morgan Neville, J. A.
McClung, James H. Perkins, John B.
Dillon, William Wirt,
George D. Prentice, N. P. Willis, Mrs.
C. L. Hentz, Mrs.
Julia L. Dumont, the Rev. Ephraim
Peabody, Otway Curry,
Dr. John Locke, Leigh Hunt, and, of
course, W. D. Gallagher
and T. H. Shreve.
17 Cincinnati Mirror, IV (May 30, 1835).
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER 263
Almost from the start the paper was in
financial trouble.
With the exception of reciprocal
advertisements for other
periodicals and an occasional
advertisement for a lecture,
dancing course, or similar cultural
effort, the paper carried
no advertising. Thus the financial
burden had to be borne by
the not very satisfactory subscription
remittances and the
pockets of the publishers. In 1833
Gallagher and Shreve had
obtained financial control and had set
up the Gallagher and
Shreve Publishing Company to publish
the periodical. Two
years later so many subscribers were in
arrears, some as much
as two or three years, that the owners
were forced to sell out
to James B. Marshall.18 Marshall
promptly renamed the pub-
lication the Buckeye and Cincinnati
Mirror, dispensed with
Gallagher and Shreve, and set about to
edit the paper him-
self.19 The new Mirror quickly
became political and devoted
considerable space to proslavery
articles and editorials advo-
cating war in Texas.
On November 14, 1835, less than a month
after he had
sold his interest in the Mirror, Gallagher
issued a prospectus
for a new literary periodical to be
called the Cincinnati Spec-
tator and Family News Sheet.20 Evidently the prospect of this
competition proved too much for
Marshall, who announced in
the November 28, 1835, issue of the Buckeye
and Cincinnati
Mirror, that W. D. Gallagher was the new associate editor.21
With Gallagher's return, the editorial
policy changed back to
one more in keeping with the old Mirror.
The proslavery
articles continued but were carefully
paired with antislavery
pieces.22 Financially, Marshall could do no
better than his
predecessors and, shortly before
January 30, 1836, he sold out
to Flash, Ryder and Company, a
Cincinnati publishing firm.
18 Ibid., IV (October 24, 1835), 416.
19 Buckeye and Cincinnati Mirror, V (October 31, 1835), 1. Numbers 1-13 of
Vol. V were published between October
31, 1835, and January 23, 1836, under
the title Buckeye and Cincinnati
Mirror. On January 30, 1836, when the title
was changed again to the Cincinnati
Mirror, the numbering reverted to Vol. V,
No. 1. See also footnote 8.
20 Buckeye
and Cincinnati Mirror, V (November 14,
1835), 24.
21 Ibid., V
(November 28, 1835), 38.
22 For example, see ibid., V
(January 16, 1836), 89-90.
264
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
The name of the paper was at once
changed back to the Cin-
cinnati Mirror and Gallagher and Shreve were engaged as
editors.23 The revived Mirror
was short-lived, however, for
on April 30, 1836, it carried the
announcement of Gallagher's
departure as editor, accompanied by an
editorial signed by the
publishers condemning the senior
editor's faulty business
methods.24 Shortly
thereafter, on May 28, 1836, the readers
were informed that T. H. Shreve had
also left and a Joseph
R. Fry had taken over as editor.25
Fry managed to continue
the Mirror until September 17,
1836, when the paper sus-
pended publication without comment.26
Meanwhile, Gallagher did not remain
unemployed for long.
The Western Literary Journal and
Monthly Review was
published in Cincinnati from June to
November 1836, with
Gallagher as editor. In the first issue
he announced that he
planned to make this magazine a
periodical of, by, and for
residents of the Mississippi Valley,
and his short-lived journal
lived up to its intention to be a
western gazette.27 Each issue
was divided into four main sections:
fiction, essays, book
reviews, and editorial comment. Typical
were articles and
editorials promoting a Cincinnati to
Charleston railroad,
descriptions of Texas, and a story
about the pirate Lafitte.28
Much of the material in the periodical
was written either by
Gallagher or Shreve, and probably was
accumulated origin-
ally for publication in the Mirror. Other
authors who con-
tributed were Timothy Flint, Morgan
Neville, J. A. McClung,
James H. Perkins, Mrs. Julia L. Dumont,
Mrs. C. L. Hentz,
Otway Curry, Wilkins Tannehill, Charles
D. Drake, and the
Rev. Ephraim Peabody.
While Gallagher was busy with his Western
Literary Jour-
nal, J. R. Fry, who had succeeded him on the Mirror, had
terminated the Mirror and had
taken over the editorship of
23 Ibid., V (January 23, 1836), 103.
24 Cincinnati Mirror, V (April 30, 1836), 111.
25 Ibid., V (May
28, 1836), 143, (June 4, 1836), 151.
26 Ibid., V
(September 17, 1836).
27 Western Literary Journal and Monthly Review, I (June 1836), front cover
page.
28 Ibid., I (September 1836).
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER 265
another periodical, the Western
Monthly Magazine. Fry had
no more success with the Western
Monthly Magazine than
with the Mirror and was forced
to suspend publication in
December 1836. In his last issue he had
sharply criticized
Gallagher as a poet and referred to one
of his poems as "dis-
gusting and horrible."29 Despite
this sharp criticism Fry's
Western Monthly Magazine appeared next in February 1837,
in combination with Gallagher's Journal,
as the Western
Monthly Magazine and Literary
Journal.30 This new combi-
nation, co-edited by Gallagher and
James B. Marshall, lasted
for four issues. It was published
concurrently in Louisville
and Cincinnati and was edited in Louisville,
where Galla-
gher was then living.31 Since
Marshall was away on business
in the East during the entire period of
publication, Gallagher
was in fact the sole editor. Like its
immediate predecessor,
the Western Literary Journal, the
new combined periodical
was another attempt to create a western
journal by and for
residents of the Mississippi Valley. In
this respect the West-
ern Monthly and Literary Journal was highly successful, for
it consisted almost entirely of
material written by western
authors, and probably contained less
material copied from
the eastern press than any of its
contemporary publications.
The authors were much the same as those
for the Journal,
with the addition of S. P. Hildreth and
W. B. Oaks. Unfor-
tunately, this periodical came to an
abrupt end in May of 1837
with the terse announcement,
"Letters intended for the senior
editor of the magazine should, in
future, be addressed to
Columbus, Ohio." 32
In Columbus the ex-senior editor went
to work for his
younger brother, John M. Gallagher,
editor of the Ohio State
Journal. W. D. Gallagher was given the title of literary
editor,
but the Ohio State Journal contained
very little in this cate-
gory.33 Less than a year
after arriving in Columbus, Galla-
29 Western Monthly Magazine, V
(December 1836), 758-759.
30 Western Monthly Magazine and Literary Journal, I (February
1837), title
page.
31 Ibid.
32 Ibid., I (May
1837), 292.
33 Ohio State Journal (Columbus), April 1837-April 1838.
266
THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
gher left the paper, mainly because of
his opposition to the
use of the German language in public
schools.34 He felt that
inasmuch as the schools were supported
by public funds, they
should be taught in English, not a
foreign tongue. This oppo-
sition was embarrassing to his brother,
an aspiring politician
as well as editor of the politically
oriented Ohio State Journal,
so W. D. Gallagher withdrew from the
paper.
Gallagher had not, however, given up
his efforts to create
a successful western literary
periodical. His next attempt
was perhaps the most successful of
all--the publication of
the Hesperian in Columbus and
later in Cincinnati. The first
issue of the Hesperian appeared
in May 1838, with Otway
Curry as Gallagher's junior editor and
John D. Nichols the
publisher. In general form and content
the Hesperian was
similar to the Western Literary
Journal, although several
features from the old Mirror were
included.35 Its western
tone was apparent in the very first
article, a long description of
the land, the people, the scenery, and
the economy of Ohio in
1838 written by Gallagher.36 This
issue also contained a long
editorial by Gallagher on the subject
of western literary
periodicals, in which he pointed out
that most of these periodi-
cals had been failures. This, he
thought, was largely because
of the indifference of the western
press and western authors
to local scientific, educational, and
religious matters. He
maintained that, rather than digging up
stories about western
advances in these areas, the press of
the area preferred to
follow the lead of the East and become
merely copiers of
eastern papers. The second cause for
failure he found in the
lack of local publishers who had the
requisite business skill
to run a periodical. He felt that the
editor should not be held
responsible for the business end of the
publication, which
should be left to the businessmen, not
the literary men.
Another reason for continued failures
he attributed to the
reluctance of western authors of merit
to contribute to the
34 Venable,
Beginnings of Literary Culture, 449.
35 Hesperian, I (May 1838), title page.
36 Ibid., 1-17.
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER 267
existing western periodicals, forcing
the perodicals either to
print inferior material or to copy from
the eastern press. But
the most important cause of lack of
success was the consistent
tendency of subscribers to fail to pay
their bills.37 In a similar
vein Gallagher later reprinted a long
article on western litera-
ture in the last issue of the Hesperian.
This article, taken from
the New York Quarterly Review, made the point that the
western literature of the day was
primarily devoted to either
religion or politics, and mostly to the
latter, and noted that
men of letters were rarely met in the
West unless they were
politicians or preachers.38 Gallagher
deplored this state of
affairs and showed that, although there
were between twenty
and thirty literary journals east of
the Alleghenies, there were
only seven in the West.39 Earlier
Gallagher had commented
on the tendency of westerners who might
contribute to litera-
ture to turn to other subjects:
Still it is unquestionably true, as
said before, that our intellectual
efforts have been appropriated, almost
exclusively, to other objects:--
to politics; to the professions; to
commerce; and to all the diversified
means for the accumulation of property.40
Through the pages of the Hesperian, Gallagher
tried to
reverse this trend. He was so
successful in making the Hes-
perian a western journal that by the beginning of the third
volume he felt he could specialize on
the literary efforts of
Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, and Illinois,
but he admitted that
he might occasionally draw upon
"the whole broad west" for
his material.41 Typical of
the western themes were articles
on Indians and on early settlements in
the Mississippi Val-
ley, and essays promoting internal
improvements, particularly
a complete canal system within the
Mississippi Valley, and
western railroads.
37 Ibid., 90-94.
38 Ibid., III
(November 1839), 453-465. The author of the article was not
identified.
39 Ibid., 499.
40 Ibid., I (June 1838), 180.
41 Ibid., III,
preface to bound volume, p. iii.
268 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
Despite the editor's purpose there was
a considerable
amount of borrowed material in the Hesperian
-- less than
other contemporary literary periodicals
had, but more than
Gallagher would have liked, although he
attempted to choose
this material from western subjects.
For example, the maga-
zine contained excerpts from Miss
Martineau's Retrospect of
Western Travel.42 Much
of the rest of the borrowed material
consisted of excerpts from articles or
books on travel, litera-
ture, and education. In general, and
unlike some of his con-
temporaries, Gallagher was careful to
give credit where credit
was due.
The Hesperian, although
primarily a literary journal, by
no means ignored science. Frequently
articles appeared con-
cerning the more important or
interesting scientific topics of
In his editorial policy, Gallagher, as
he had done in the
Mirror, tried to keep politics out of the Hesperian. Five
main
themes were discernible in his
editorial columns: morality,
education, western literature, western
economy, and modera-
tion in politics. The editorials on
morals were fewer and less
persuasive than similar editorials in
the Mirror, especially in
regard to temperance. He even predicted
that western-made
wine would be one of the most important
products of the
West.43 Gallagher supported
New York Governor DeWitt
Clinton's ideas on progressive
education and wrote several
articles calling for the extension of
the common school system
in Ohio. He also expressed his dislike
for the use of German
in teaching school and advocated the
establishment of more
and better schools for the deaf, mute,
and blind.44 Regard-
ing the western economy, Gallagher
consistently promoted
all projects which would aid in the
development of the West,
and revealed the typical westerner's
fascination with the rapid
development of the area in which he was
living.45
42 Ibid., I (May
1838), 67-70.
43 Ibid., I (June
1838), 103.
44 Ibid., I (May
1838), 16-17; II (November 1838), 85-87, (January 1839),
254-255, (February 1839), 332-333.
45 See, for example, ibid., I
(May 1838), 8-14; III (July 1839), 164-166.
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER 269
One of the most important and growing
political problems
of the day was slavery. On this issue
the Hesperian was gen-
erally silent. In the few articles
which appeared on slavery
Gallagher carefully followed his
earlier policy of pairing pro-
and anti-slavery articles. Editorially,
he said he felt slavery
should be discussed in a moderate
fashion, with the press
giving each side equal coverage. Above
all, he implored that
the slavery question be kept out of
politics, for he feared that
this issue might easily disrupt the
Union.46 In the book re-
view section Gallagher tended to
criticize the writing rather
than the content of the books he
reviewed. He was highly
critical of other editors who only
praised or "puffed" books.47
Some of his reviews were quite caustic.
In a review of a
book of poems, The Charter Oak and
Other Poems, by John
Jay Adams, he wrote, "But, really,
we are so strongly im-
pressed with the conviction that Mr.
John Jay Adams, author
of 'the celebrated poem of the
"Charter Oak"' . . . is a very
silly gentleman, that we cannot help
saying so."48
The Hesperian, although well
written and composed, never
gained wide popularity, but it had its
enthusiastic supporters
among those who desired the promotion
of native western
literature. The editors and publishers
of the Warren, Ohio,
Western Reserve Chronicle were unqualified in their praise,
saying, "There is not, in our
view, a purely literary publica-
tion in the whole country more entitled
to a generous sup-
port than the Hesperian."49 J.
A. Harris, the editor of the
Cleveland Herald, devoted an unprecedented amount of space
to Gallagher and his Hesperian. The
Herald frequently had
carried short reviews and comments on
various magazines and
periodicals of the day, but in the case
of the Hesperian, there
were several multi-column reviews.
Inasmuch as the average
issue of the Herald at that time
only contained about six to
eight columns of news, this was a
significantly large amount
of space to be devoted to one
periodical. Harris, himself an
46 Hesperian, I (September 1838), 415-416.
47 Ibid., II (April 1839), 494.
48 Ibid., III
(October 1839), 419.
49 Western Reserve Chronicle (Warren,
Ohio), July 9, 1839.
270 THE OHIO HISTORICAL QUARTERLY
ardent promoter of the West, agreed
with Gallagher that
western literature was equal to that of
the East and worthy
of encouragement.50 After
the second issue of the Hesperian,
in reporting that Gallagher was
succeeding in creating inter-
est among the western literati, Harris
commented, "We are
gratified to see the interest
manifested by western writers in
placing the Hesperian upon an equal
footing with the old
Eastern Magazines."51 He was even
more positive about the
success of the Hesperian after
its first year of publication, and
reported that "the support of the
Hesperian has been grad-
ually increasing from the first number,
until its publication
is no longer an experiment."52
From a literary point of view
Harris was undoubtedly correct, yet the
Hesperian went out
of business six months later as a
financial failure.
Late in 1839 Gallagher had an offer to
become the assistant
editor of the Cincinnati Gazette under
the noted lawyer and
journalist Charles Hammond. Gallagher
readily accepted the
offer, apparently because Hammond
offered to pay him a
regular salary.53 Thus ended
not only the Hesperian but also
Gallagher's career as an editor of
literary journals. He re-
mained assistant editor of the Cincinnati
Gazette until Ham-
mond's death in 1840, when he became
chief editor, in which
capacity he served until 1850. During
this period Gallagher
became more and more interested in
politics and in particular
in the antislavery movement. As a
politician he served as the
personal secretary of two secretaries
of the treasury, Tom
Corwin and Salmon P. Chase, and was a
delegate from Ken-
tucky to the Republican national
convention in 1860, where
he voted for the nomination of Lincoln.
He never again
edited a literary journal, although he
subsequently did edit
another daily newspaper and a farm
journal. During the
Civil War, Gallagher served in various
capacities as a cus-
50 See, for example, Cleveland Herald, June 20, October 27,
December 4, 1838,
January 12, June 21, 1839.
51 Cleveland Herald, June 20, 1838.
52 Ibid., June
21, 1839.
53 Venable, "William Davis
Gallagher," Ohio Archaeological and Historical
Quarterly, I (1887-88), 373.
WILLIAM D. GALLAGHER 271
toms agent and a pension agent, and
after the war he returned
to Louisville, Kentucky, where, for
financial reasons, he be-
came a secretary for the Kentucky Land
Company. Galla-
gher, however, never gave up his love
for western literature
and turned his energies to poetry,
becoming one of the leading
pioneer poets of the Mississippi
Valley. He published several
volumes of his poems and one of the
first anthologies of
middlewestern poetry. He died near
Louisville on June 27,
1894.54
Gallagher's attempts to create a native
western literary
periodical had only moderate success.
His Cincinnati Mirror,
Western Monthly, and Hesperian were all of merit in the
opinion of western cultural leaders,
but they failed to receive
enough popular support to make them
financially successful.
Perhaps the lack of political news and
discussion helps explain
the limited circulation of these
literary journals in this era
of considerable political excitement
and tremendous economic
growth in Ohio.
54 For Gallagher's later life and his
political and literary careers after 1840,
see Venable, Beginnings of Literary Culture, 451-470;
Emerson Venable, Poets
of Ohio (Cincinnati, 1909), 15-17; and R. L. Rusk, The
Literature of the Middle
Western Frontier (New York, 1926), I, 339-343.