SIMMS, WILLIAM GILMORE (1806-1870)

—Novelist, etc., b. at Charleston, South Carolina, began his literary life with journalism. He then for some time tried poetry, but without any distinct succe except occasionally in Southern Pa ages and Pictures (1839). But in fiction, which he began in 1833 with Martin Faber , he was more succe ful, though rather an imitator of Cooper. The Yema ee (1835) is generally considered his best novel. He was le happy in his attempts at historical romance, such as Count Julian and The Damsel of Darien . During the war, in which he was naturally a strong partisan of the South, he was ruined, and his library was burned; and from these disasters he never recovered. He had a high repute as a journalist, orator, and lecturer. He was the first Southerner to achieve any name in literature.