Originally published in 1859, The Cassique of Kiawah is the history of how, from humble origins, a little settlement planted between the Ashley and Cooper Rivers began to grow into what would become a proud and prosperous civilization. In this historical romance, William Gilmore Simms, one of nineteenth-century America's greatest novelists and historians, uses extensive research and eloquent detail to achieve a perfect balance of history and fiction.
In 1684, when Carolina was still a new colony, the city of Charleston lacked civilization--no churches, no marketplaces, no religion or trade. A group of settlers (known then as blackguards or ruffians, and among them Harry Calvert, privateer and proud hero of our tale) struggled to build and protect a civilization, a community that would grow to become one of the most loved in the South.
Scarcely available since its publication before the Civil War, The Cassique of Kiawah has been touted as "a lost masterpiece," and "one of the great works of American literature." Another critic described the novel as "a delightful novel of manners, and a realistic depiction of the early evolution of a society."