author
James Strange French
1807–1886
A Virginia lawyer turned novelist, he left behind frontier fiction shaped by a life spent close to some of the most charged events of 19th-century America. His work is now remembered alongside his unusual career in law, writing, and public life.
1 Audiobook
Elkswatawa : or, The prophet of the west. A tale of the frontier
by James Strange French
About the author
Born in Dinwiddie County, Virginia, in 1807, he studied at the College of William & Mary and the University of Virginia before reading law in North Carolina. He later built a varied career as a lawyer, novelist, and hotel keeper, and died in Gordonsville, Virginia, in 1886.
He is especially noted for defending people accused after Nat Turner's 1831 rebellion in Southampton County, a role that gives him a distinctive place in American legal and literary history. Alongside his legal work, he wrote at least two novels, including Sketches and Eccentricities of Col. David Crockett of West Tennessee and Elkswatawa; or, The Prophet of the West, a frontier tale set around Tecumseh's War.
His writing reflects the energy of early American popular fiction, mixing adventure, history, and regional color. Though not a household name today, he remains an intriguing figure for listeners interested in overlooked 19th-century authors whose lives were as dramatic as their books.