Paul Hamilton Hayne

Paul Hamilton Hayne was born in Charleston on 1st January 1830. His ancestors settled in Charleston, South Carolina after emigrating from Shropshire, England. His family were prominent in local affairs and a number of them fought in the military. His uncle Robert G Hayne served in the United States Senate and was Governor of South Carolina. His father was Lieutenant Hayne of the U S Navy but he died at sea whilst Paul was an infant.
Paul was a graduate of Charleston College and being the bearer of a famous name and having inherited a reasonable sum of money he was free of the necessity of earning a living. He had been interested in literature from a youth and he particularly enjoyed poetry. He was a protégé of Gilmore Simms in whose company he and a number of other youths would dine and discuss Elizabethan lore and the English classics.
After graduation he became involved in journalism and with a group of young friends published a monthly literary magazine [Russell’s]. Hayne was the editor.
Hayne’s first volume of poetry was professionally published at the age of 25 in 1855, a second two years later and a third three years after that. These were well received and persuaded Hayne to pursue a literary career
By this time he had married Miss Mary Middleton Michel, daughter of a French physician who served with Napoleon Bonaparte.
During the Civil War Hayne’s poor health stopped him taking a fully active part but he obtained a position on the staff of Governor Picken’s. The war was disasterous for hayne’s. His elegant home was burnt in the bombardment of the city, destroying his extensive library and most of his valuables. Treasures he had lodged in the vaults of the bank were also lost in the ‘march to the sea’. He fled to Georgia and lived a secluded life at Copse Hill, growing fruit and vines.
Hayne lived at Copse Hill for 15 years and managed to do some more writing. In 1872 Legends and Lyrics was published and in 1873 an edition of Henry Timrod’s poems edited by Hayne was published. This was followed in 1875 by The Mountain of the Lovers. He also wrote a biography of Gilmore Simms together with Memorial Sketches of Governor Hayne and Mr. Legarè. Quite a respectable accomplishment for a recluse!
Writing in the introduction to The Poems of Paul Hamilton Hayne [D Lothrop & Co 1882] Margaret J Preston said “He has made the melancholy moanings of his Georgia pines sob through his verses. He has given voices to the Midnight Thunder; to the Windless Rain; to the Muscadines of the Southern Forests; to their Woodland Phases; to the Aspects of the Pines, as has not been heretofore done.”