Simms, William Gilmore

(1806-1870), of South Carolina, wrote a number of poems, the best of which is ‘‘ At lant is, a Tale of the Sea.” He is best known for his romances, illustrative of Southern life, and founded on Revolutionary and border incidents in South Carolina, We by Trent. Vol. VL—15 Sims Case (1851), a famous fugitive slave case, which illustrates a common method of the seizure of negroes under the law of 1850. Sims was arrested in Boston on a false charge, and immediately claimed as the property of a Mr. Potter, of Virginia. He was sent back to Virginia on a certificate signed by the United States Commi ioner, despite the intense indignation of the people, which ran so high that the court house was surrounded with chains and guarded by a company of armed men called afterward ‘‘ Sims Brigade.” 228