The American Literary Blog

Southern writing suffered a slow development in the early history of the United States, and certainly in the first half of the 19th century...

The Union army had been attempting to take Vicksburg , Mississippi, for some time. Bombardment of the Confederate stronghold lasted throug...

William Gilmore Simms knew he would die in 1870. "I am rapidly passing from a stage where you young men are to succeed me, doing wha...

Photo by Randy Garsee , used with permission The Charleston Academy of Music hosted an evening of "Dramatic Entertainment" on ...

In a letter dated January 14, 1859, Paul Hamilton Hayne wrote to his unofficial mentor William Gilmore Simms that the older writer'...

The poet Bayard Taylor died on December 19, 1878. Perhaps the worst part of his death was that he could no longer defend himself from being...

After a five-day siege of Yorktown, Virginia by combined American and French forces, the commander, Charles Cornwallis , and his British tro...

Few writers define the American South as well as William Gilmore Simms (primarily remembered as a novelist ) and Paul Hamilton Hayne (call...

When Charleston, South Carolina was bombarded during the Civil War, Paul Hamilton Hayne lost his home and his ample library to an exploding...