William Alexander Caruthers (23 December 1802-29 August 1846), historical romancer, was born in Lexington, Virginia, and is buried in an unlocated grave at Marietta, Georgia. No known likeness exists; indeed, until the 1940s his career remained among the least documented of American authors. After attending Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, in Lexington, Caruthers graduated in medicine from the University of Pennsylvania in 1823, then married Louisa C. Gibson, a wealthy girl from the Georgia sea islands, and located in his home town. Removing to New York City for better prospects in 1829, the physician served through the cholera epidemic of 1832 "at the hourly risk of his life attending the poor and miserable," affirmed an in-law, the Reverend John Holt Rice. At the same time, he saw through the Harper & Brothers' press two lengthy, two-volume novels in rapid succession.

The Kentuckian in New-York. Or, the Adventures of Three Southerns (1834), while containing...