Biographical Sketch from the Life of M.C.M. Hammond is a brief memorial pamphlet commemorating the life and service of Marcus Claudius Marcellus Hammond, the middle brother of the Hammond family with whom Simms was so closely connected.  Collected on the occasion of Hammond’s 23 January 1876 death, this volume consists of three distinct parts.  The first two of these parts are biographical sketches of Hammond, one by Simms, and one by Brigadier General Benjamin Alvord, who served with Hammond in the Mexican-American War. The third section of the work is a brief memorial ...

           One of the major American cities of the mid-19th century, Charleston was viewed by its citizens as a hub of culture and erudition equal to that of the other great cities of the time, including New York, Boston, Philadelphia, and Baltimore.  To illustrate the quality of the city’s intellectual life and literary merits, “Charleston book-seller and Reform Jewish leader Samuel Hart, Sr. proposed that Charlestonians join the trend” of putting together an anthology of writings by city residents, much as several other cities had done throughout the late 1830s.[1]  Simms, the leading ...