The White Slave. Another Picture of Slave Life in America

Born in Deerfield, Massachusetts, this historian, writer, and abolitionist raised eyebrows with his immensely popular anti-slavery novel Slave; or, the Memoirs of Archy Moore (1836) which claims to be written by the ex-slave 'Archy Moore' and centers around the plight of an octoroon who escapes from slavery to become the commander of a British privateer. Hildreth, a lawyer and editor by trade, wrote the novel in Florida, to which he had retreated for health reasons. Before his death in Italy, (Lincoln appointed him United States consul at Trieste), Hildreth wrote numerous essays and biographies, among them his detailed History of the United States (1849-52).