"One of the most important volumes of short fiction published before the Civil War, The Wigwman and the Cabin represents William Gilmore Simms at his very best. The Wigwam and the Cabin focuses on the Southern frontier that Simms knew so well, a frontier whose vernacular, courage, humor, folklore, violence, injustice, and beauty are vividly brought to life through the strokes of his pen.".

"Simms's portrayal of frontier life is the most realistic and graphic in all nineteenth-century American literature; and the Arkansas edition of The Wigwam and the Cabin, with Dr. Guilds's fine editing and informative introduction, brings back into print an invaluable contribution to the development of the short story in America."--BOOK JACKET.