John William De Forest
John William De Forest was a notable American author and soldier born into a wealthy New England family in 1826. Due to poor health, he did not follow the family tradition of attending Yale University and instead embarked on a two-year journey to the Near East. Upon his return, De Forest published *History of the Indians of Connecticut*, a pioneering work that is still valued for its ethnographic accuracy and detail. He spent several years traveling and studying languages before marrying and settling in Charleston, South Carolina. When the Civil War began, De Forest and his family fled just before the attack on Fort Sumter, after which he organized a volunteer group and participated in numerous battles. He documented his experiences in a journal that was later published as *A Volunteer's Adventures*, providing a significant first-hand perspective on Union Army life. Despite his realistic writing style, De Forest's work was not widely recognized during his time, as the prevailing literary taste favored sentimental narratives. His contributions, however, began to receive appreciation towards the end of the twentieth century, particularly for their honest portrayal of historical events.
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John William De Forest
Armed Forces Personnel
- Born: March 31, 1826
- Birthplace: Humphreysville (now Seymour), Connecticut
- Died: July 17, 1906
- Place of death: New Haven, Connecticut
American novelist and historian
Biography
John William De Forest was a member of a wealthy and cultured New England family. Poor health, however, prevented him from following family tradition in his education, and instead of attending Yale he took a two-year trip to the Near East. On his return, he assembled History of the Indians of Connecticut, the first book of its kind and one that is still consulted by ethnologists for its accuracy and detail.
Afterward, De Forest spent several years abroad, traveling, collecting material for books, and studying foreign languages. He returned to America, married, and was living in Charleston, South Carolina, when the Civil War broke out. He escaped with his wife and child just before the attack on Fort Sumter.
Back in Connecticut, he organized a group of volunteers and led them through a series of Civil War battles. De Forest recorded his experiences in a journal, later published as A Volunteer’s Adventures, which remains one of the best accounts of life in the Union Army. The journal also served as an important source of material for his excellent but neglected novel Miss Ravenel’s Conversion from Secession to Loyalty.
Partly because his writing was factual, accurate, and realistic, De Forest failed to achieve recognition from a generation that preferred sentimentalized versions of history. Only toward the end of the twentieth century did his realism begin to gain renewed appreciation from critics who, like William Dean Howells, admired the way in which De Forest worked, “with a sort of disdainful honesty to the effects of art.”
Bibliography
Bergmann, Frank. The Worthy Gentleman of Democracy: John William De Forest and the American Dream. Heidelberg, West Germany: C. Winter, 1971. This short volume is useful even to the beginning student of De Forest’s fiction.
Buckley, William K. Senses’ Tender: Recovering the Novel for the Reader. New York: Peter Lang, 1989. Focuses on Miss Ravenel’s Conversion from Secession to Loyalty.
Gargano, James W., ed. Critical Essays on John William De Forest. Boston: G. K. Hall, 1981. Though the twentieth century essays in this collection are mostly aimed at scholars, the rich selection of early reviews, written in De Forest’s own time, is a boon to students at any level.
Hijiya, James A. John William De Forest and the Rise of American Gentility. Hanover, N.H.: University Press of New England, 1988. There are some interesting references to De Forest’s novels in this study, but most of the analysis is biographical and social.
Light, James F. John William De Forest. New York: Twayne, 1965. A book-length study of De Forest not limited to a specific theme. Comments briefly on each of his novels. Provides a chronology and an annotated bibliography.
Schaefer, Michael W. Just What War Is: The Civil War Writing of De Forest and Bierce. Knoxville: University of Tennessee Press, 1997. Part 1 discusses the components of realism in both writers’ works. Part 2 concentrates on De Forest and explores what it means to depict war in a “realistic” fashion. Schaefer discusses De Forest’s influences and the extent to which firsthand experience matters. Includes detailed notes and an extensive bibliography.
Wilson, Edmond. Patriotic Gore. New York: Oxford University Press, 1966. A study of the literature of the American Civil War, this massive work contains a long chapter on De Forest and “The Chastening of American Prose Style,” one of the most succinct introductions to De Forest in print.