William Gilmore Simms facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
William Gilmore Simms
|
|
|---|---|
William Gilmore Simms, around 1860
|
|
| Born | April 17, 1806 Charleston, South Carolina, United States |
| Died | June 11, 1870 (aged 64) Charleston, South Carolina, United States |
| Occupation |
|
| Signature | |
 |
|
William Gilmore Simms (April 17, 1806 – June 11, 1870) was an American writer and politician from the American South. He was a poet, novelist, and historian. His book History of South Carolina was a key textbook on the state's history for many years. Many literary experts see him as a very important writer in Southern literature before the American Civil War. In 1845, famous writer Edgar Allan Poe even called him the best novelist America had ever seen.
Simms worked as an editor for several newspapers and journals during his writing career. He also served in the South Carolina House of Representatives from 1844 to 1846.
Contents
William Gilmore Simms's Early Life
William Gilmore Simms was born on April 17, 1806, in Charleston, South Carolina. His family had roots in Scotland and Ireland. His mother, Harriet Ann Augusta, passed away when he was very young. His father, William Gilmore Simms Senior, had trouble with his business and later joined a group of Indian fighters. Simms was raised by his grandmother, Jane Miller Singleton Gates. She had lived through the American Revolutionary War and shared many stories about it with him.
As a teenager, Simms worked in a drugstore. He also hoped to study medicine. When he was about 18, around 1824, he began to study law. He later received an honorary law degree from the University of Alabama in 1841.
Simms married Anna Malcolm Giles in 1826. After she passed away, he married Chevillette Eliza Roach. They had 14 children together, but only 5 lived to be adults. Simms became a lawyer in South Carolina in 1827. However, he soon left law to focus entirely on writing.
Simms's First Writings
Simms started writing poetry when he was only eight years old. When he was 19, he wrote a special poem about General Charles Cotesworth Pinckney in 1825. Two years later, in 1827, he published a collection called Lyrical and Other Poems and Early Lays. In 1828, he became a journalist. He was also an editor and part-owner of the City Gazette newspaper until it closed in 1832.
Simms then focused completely on writing books. He quickly published several works. These included The Vision of Cortes, Cain, and Other Poems (1829), The Tricolor, or Three Days of Blood in Paris (1830), and his strong long poem, Atalantis, a Tale of the Sea (1832). Atalantis helped him become known as an author. His novel Martin Faber, the Story of a Criminal was published in 1833. This book helped Simms gain readers across the country.
Simms as an Editor and Politician
Simms edited several newspapers in South Carolina. In the 1840s and 1850s, he also edited important Southern journals. These included the Magnolia, the Southern and Western, and the Southern Quarterly Review.
Simms became part of the wealthy Southern planter class because his novels were so popular. He strongly supported the system of slavery. This belief was common among many Southerners and contributed to the start of the American Civil War. Simms was elected to the South Carolina House of Representatives and served from 1844 to 1846. He later lost an election for lieutenant governor of South Carolina by just one vote.
Popular Novels About the South
Simms wrote many popular books between 1830 and 1860. He often wrote about the early history of the South, before and during colonial times. His books included many details about local life and culture. His first big success was The Yemassee (1835). This book was about the Yamasee War of 1715 in South Carolina.
Simms also published eight novels set in South Carolina during the American Revolutionary War. One of these was The Partisan (1835), which was perhaps his most widely read novel. Other books about South Carolina included Katharine Walton (1851), Mellichampe (1836), and Woodcraft (1854).
He also wrote ten novels about the expansion into new frontier lands from Georgia to Louisiana. These included Richard Hurdis; or, the Avenger of Blood. A Tale of Alabama (1838). Simms also wrote about conflicts between Native Americans, Spanish, and French people in Florida. These books included The Lily and the Totem, or, The Huguenots in Florida (1850).
At first, readers in the South, especially in his hometown of Charleston, did not fully support Simms's work. This was partly because he did not come from a rich, aristocratic family. However, he eventually became known as the Southern version of James Fenimore Cooper, another famous American writer. Charleston residents later welcomed him into their important St. Cecilia Society.
In 1845, Simms published The Wigwam and the Cabin. This was a collection of short stories. Edgar Allan Poe thought this collection was "decidedly the most American of American books." Poe also said Simms was "immeasurably the greatest writer of fiction in America." Simms also wrote two full-length Southern humor books: As Good as A Comedy; Or, The Tennessean’s Story (1852) and "Paddy McGann" (1867).
Nonfiction History and Biographies
Simms's History of South Carolina (1842) was used as the main school textbook on the state's history for many generations. He also wrote The Social Principle: The True Source of National Permanence (1843). He wrote several very popular biographies about heroes of the Revolutionary War, such as Francis Marion, Nathanael Greene, and John Laurens.
Simms also put together a collection of works by Captain John Smith, which covered the founding of the Virginia Colony. He also wrote a book about the Chevalier Bayard. Simms wrote a history of Alabama and was a popular speaker on American history. He gathered one of the largest collections of Revolutionary War papers in the country. Sadly, most of this collection was lost when soldiers from Sherman's army burned his home, Woodlands, in Bamberg, South Carolina.
Simms and the American Civil War
During the American Civil War, Simms supported the Southern states that wanted to separate from the United States. He wrote about this in a weekly newspaper. His oldest son, who had the same name, was old enough to serve in the Confederate army.
Soldiers from Sherman's army burned and destroyed Simms's plantation home, Woodlands. This fire also destroyed 10,000 books and many valuable papers from the Revolutionary War era. Simms published little new literary work after the Civil War began. He advised several Southern politicians and suggested plans for Confederate military defenses.
The war left his family very poor. Simms took on many writing and editing jobs, which harmed his health. He put together a collection of Southern war poems in 1866.
Simms's Death and Legacy
William Gilmore Simms passed away from cancer at his eldest daughter's home in Charleston on June 11, 1870. He is buried in Magnolia Cemetery. A large bronze statue of Simms stands in Battery Park in Charleston. The statue was created by John Quincy Adams Ward and was dedicated in 1879.
In 2016, Simms's family held a ceremony honoring him in Hanahan, South Carolina.
Simms's Reputation After His Death
Experts at DocSouth note that Simms's many works describe the history and culture of the South. This includes the different social classes, the strong regional identity, and the farming economy of the Low Country. It also covers the frontier areas and the Appalachian Mountains.
Some people, like David Aiken, have expressed sadness that Simms's works are not as widely read today. They believe he was removed from American literature because he wrote about the destruction of Columbia, South Carolina, and questioned the North's reasons for victory in the Civil War. Simms argued that the North's methods during the war took away any moral high ground they might have had. Author Donald Davidson also said that the lack of attention to Simms's importance is "nothing less than a scandal."
Today, literary scholars and historians still recognize Simms as a major figure in Antebellum literature and an important thinker. The University of South Carolina has made most of his works and papers available online. In recent years, there has been a "Simms Renaissance," with scholars like James E. Kibler and Mary Ann Wimsatt studying his work. A journal called The Simms Review is published every year, featuring new articles about the author.
List of Works by William Gilmore Simms
- Monody, on the Death of Gen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney (1825)
- Lyrical and Other Poems (1827)
- Tile Vision of Cortes, Cain, and Other Poems (1829)
- The Tricolor, or Three Days of Blood in Paris (1830)
- Atalantis, a Tale of the Sea (1832)
- Martin Faber, the Story of a Criminal (1833)
- Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia (1834)
- The Yemassee (1835)
- The Partisan (1835)
- Pelayo: a Story of the Goth (1838)
- Mellichampe (1836)
- Richard Hurdis; or, the Avenger of Blood. A Tale of Alabama (1838)
- Border Beagles: A Tale of Mississippi (1840)
- History of South Carolina (1840, with an expanded second edition in 1860)
- The Kinsmen (1841)
- The Wigwam and the Cabin (1845)
- ’’The Life of Captain John Smith, the Founder of Virginia” (1846)
- The Lily and the Totem, or, The Huguenots in Florida (1850)
- Katharine Walton (1851)
- The Tennessean's Story (1852)
- The Golden Christmas (1852)
- Vasconselos (1853)
- Southward Ho! A Spell of Sunshine (1854)
- Woodcraft (1854)
- The Forayers (1855)
- Eutaw (1856)
- The Cassique of Kiawah (1859)
- Simms' poems: Areytos Songs and Ballads of the South (1860)
- A City Laid Waste: The Capture, Sack, and Destruction of the City of Columbia (1865) online
- Joscelyn (1867)
Images for kids
-
Drawing of Simms
-
William Gilmore Simms as he appears at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.
-
Simms's bust, unveiled in 1879, in The Battery in Charleston, South Carolina
See also
- South Carolina literature
