American poet and artist, born in Chester County, PA, on the 12th of March 1822. The early years of his manhood were spent in wandering in various states of the Union. During that time he supported himself by means of two trades, cigar-making and sign-painting, which he had picked up in Philadelphia and Cincinnati, and by his contributions to different newspapers. He began to lead a regular life in Philadelphia, in 1846 opening a studio there. He went to Europe in 1850 and 1853, and afterward took up his residence in Rome, with occasional visits to the United States. During the Civil War he spent much time in the camps of the Union army, reciting his poems. Of his single poems, the best known is Sheridan’s Ride, which appeared immediately after that famous war episode. He also wrote Poems (1847); Female Poets of America (1848); The House by the Sea (1856); and The Wagoner of the Alleghanies (1862). Of his paintings are The Spirit of the Waterfall; The Lost Pleiad; and Sheridan and His Horse, illustrative of the poem mentioned above. He died in New York, on the 11th of May 1872. On November 1, 1898, a memorial tablet was unveiled in Cincinnati. See also Literary Criticism.
