John William De Forest

John William De Forest
John William De Forest (1826–1906) was an American writer and Union army officer best known for his realistic depictions of the American Civil War. His novel "Miss Ravenel's Conversion from Secession to Loyalty" (1867) is considered one of the earliest examples of realistic war fiction in American literature. De Forest also wrote several other works, including "Kate Beaumont" (1872) and "Overland" (1871), focusing on post-war America and social issues of the time. He contributed significantly to the development of realism in American literature.

Author's Books:


The Colonel was the idol of his bragging old regiment and of the bragging brigade which for the last six months he had commanded. He was the idol, not because he was good and gracious, not because he spared his soldiers or treated them as fellow-citizens, but because he had led them to victory and made them famous. If a man will win battles and give his brigade a right to brag loudly of its doings, he... more...

Part I. Mr. Norval: It is now four weeks since your accident. I have made inquiry of your physician whether news or business communications, however important, brought to your attention, would be detrimental to you, cause an accession of feverish symptoms or otherwise harm you. He assures me, On the contrary, he is sure you have not been for years so free from disease of any sort, with the sole... more...

CHAPTER I. In those days, Santa Fé, New Mexico, was an undergrown, decrepit, out-at-elbows ancient hidalgo of a town, with not a scintillation of prosperity or grandeur about it, except the name of capital. It was two hundred and seventy years old; and it had less than five thousand inhabitants. It was the metropolis of a vast extent of country, not destitute of natural wealth; and it consisted of a... more...