William Cobbett, possibly by George Cooke, circa 1831. On display at the National Portrait Gallery, London.


Oil on canvas of William Cobbett.
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After arriving in Philadelphia in 1793, former English Sergeant Major William Cobbett (1763-1835) soon became one of the most vitriolic writers in the pamphlet war between Federalists and Jeffersonians. Writing under the pen name "Peter Porcupine", he was vicious in his opposition to Jefferson and other supporters of the revolutionary regime in France. During the yellow fever outbreak of 1797, Cobbett called Dr. Benjamin Rush a murderer for his unsuccessful strategy of bleeding and purging his fevered patients. Dr. Rush brought suit for libel and was awarded the then staggering sum of $5,000. In 1800 Cobbett, financially ruined, returned to England, where he enjoyed a long and controversial career as a political journalist.