William Tappan Thompson

William Tappan Thompson (born Aug. 31, 1812, Ravenna, Ohio, U.S.—died March 24, 1882, Savannah, Ga.) was an American humorist remembered for his character sketches of Georgia–Florida backwoodsmen. Thompson was orphaned in his early teens, worked briefly on a Philadelphia newspaper, then worked as assistant to the secretary of the Florida territory. He moved to Georgia in the early 1830s. In 1838 he founded the Augusta Mirror, the first of several literary magazines he undertook. Discovering...