American author; born in Newcastle, DE, and studied medicine at the University of Philadelphia, taking the degree of M.D. He produced for the stage the tragedies of the Gladiator (in which Edwin Forrest obtained fame) and Oraloosa and The Broker of Bogota. In 1834 and 1835 appeared his novels, Calavar, or the Knight of the Conquest; and The Infidel, or the Fall of Mexico, which dealt with scenes in the Mexican conquest. They have been much admired and praised for the accuracy of their detail and dialogue. In 1835 appeared also The Hawks of Hawk Hollow, a tradition of Pennsylvania; and then followed Sheppard Lee (1836); and Nick of the Woods, or the Jibbenainosay (1837); Peter Pilgrim, a collection of the author’s periodical contributions (1838); and The Adventures of Robin Day (1839). In 1847 he became associated with Morton McMichael in the publication, in Philadelphia, of the North American and United States Gazette. He died on the 22nd of January 1854.
