Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Legaré was the son of John D. Legaré, the founding editor of the farm journal
Southern Agriculturalist, as well as the librarian of the Agricultural Society of South Carolina from 1828 to 1830, and Mary Doughty Mathewes. He attended the College of Charleston in 1841 before transferring the following year at St. Mary’s college in Baltimore, Maryland, to be closer to his cousin,
Hugh S. Legaré who was then serving as the
United States Attorney General.
St. Mary's College While at St. Mary’s, he studied ancient and modern languages as well as mathematics and chemistry. Although he did not graduate, he received an honorary certificate and won premiums in the individual subjects of rhetoric, natural history, astronomy, Spanish, German, and painting in oil. Following his cousin’s death in 1843, he returned to Charleston.
Charleston, South Carolina (Before Pulmonary Tuberculosis) Upon his return to Charleston, he began to work as a law clerk in the offices of James L. Petrigru, although he did not continue in the field namely due to disinclination and poor health. Legaré sought recognition for his poetry and fiction, publishing
Orta-Undis and other Poems in 1848. The rough translation "sprung from waves" is probably a reference to the painting "The Birth of Venus". It was published by
William Davis Ticknor in Boston. It attracted good reviews, including the endorsement of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He also published seventeen stories in popular periodicals, including
The Knickerbocker,
Graham’s Magazine, and
Putnam’s Magazine. Legaré’s poetry is studied today mostly in South Carolina, especially in Aiken, where he spent the last years of his life. ==
Orta-Undis and Other Poems ==