OUR narrative begins in South Carolina, during the summer of 1780. The arms of the British were at that time triumphant throughout the colony. Their armies overran it. Charlestown, the chief city, had stood a siege, and had fallen, after a protracted and honourable defence. One-half of the military strength of the lower country, then the most populous region, had become prisoners of war by this disaster; and, for the present, were thus incapacitated from giving any assistance to their brethren in arms. Scattered, crushed, and disheartened by repeated failures, the whigs, in numerous...

OUR narrative begins in South Carolina, during the summer of 1780. The arms of the British were at that time triumphant throughout the colony. Their armies overran it. Charles, the chief city, had stood a siege, and had fallen, after a protracted and honourable defence. One-half of the military strength of the lower country, then the most populous region, had become prisoners of war by this disaster; and, for the present, were thus incapacitated from giving any assistance to their brethren in arms. Scattered, crushed, and disheartened by repeated failures, the whigs, in numerous instances,...

"Charlemont" from William Gilmore Simms. Poet, novelist and historian from the American South (1806-1870).

"Confession" from William Gilmore Simms. Poet, novelist and historian from the American South (1806-1870).

"Guy Rivers" from William Gilmore Simms. Poet, novelist and historian from the American South (1806-1870).

"The Life of Francis Marion" from William Gilmore Simms. Poet, novelist and historian from the American South (1806-1870).

In partnership with the University of South Carolina Press, the Simms Initiatives at the University of South Carolina Libraries reissue authoritative editions of out of print works by William Gilmore Simms, antebellum South Carolina's preeminent man of letters. Full content from these volumes will also be available online via www.sc.edu/library. As part of the inaugural effort, the six volumes of The Letters of William Gilmore Simms-first published by USC Press between 1952 and 1982-are also being reissued in their first paperback editions. Each volume also includes a new scholarly...