Simms, William Gilmore (1806-1870)

Simms, William Gilmore (1806-1870)

American novelist, known for his romances dealing with Indians and frontier life and the Revolutionary War in South Carolina.

These include Guy Rivers ( 1834); THe Yemassee ( 1835), Richard Hurdis ( 1838), Border Beagles ( 1840), Beauchampe ( 1842), Charlemont ( 1856), The Cassique of Kiawah ( 1859), and others, all constituting the series known as the Border Romances; The Partisan ( 1835), Mellichampe ( 1836), and Katherine Walton ( 1851), a trilogy, the outstanding volumes in the series called the Revolutionary Romances, which also contains The Kinsmen ( 1841; later issued as The Scout, 1854), The Sword and the Distaff ( 1853; later appearing as Woodcraft, 1854), The Forayers ( 1855), and Eutaw ( 1856).

Simms' novels, which have been compared to those of James Fenimore Cooper, are characterized by melodrama, chiefly aristocratic heroes and heroines, and a consistent bias in favor of the society, culture, and politics of South Carolina, in keeping with the author's intense admiration for his native state.