John Reuben Thompson was born in
Richmond, Virginia, in 1823. He graduated in law from the
University of Virginia in 1845. Thompson did not pursue a career in the legal field, but instead dedicated himself to journalism and editorship. In 1847, he became the editor of the
Southern Literary Messenger in Richmond, and in 1859 editor of
The Southern Field and Fireside in Augusta, Georgia. Thompson did not take part in the
Civil War, suffering from tuberculosis. After a recuperative trip to Scotland, went to
London in 1864, became editor of the
Index, a pro-
Confederate newspaper, and promoted the Southern cause throughout various literary and social circles. Thompson was introduced to
Thomas Carlyle by
Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie in October. On the fourteenth, Thompson spent the first of many evenings at
Carlyle's House, engaging in discourse which Carlyle so delighted in that he insisted upon accompanying Thompson to his hotel in the evening, where they conversed on various topics from
Christopher Wren to
Alfred, Lord Tennyson. He continued to visit Carlyle several times a month until Thompson's return to Virginia in September 1866. In 1866 he became editor of the
New York Evening Post, a position that he maintained until his death in New York in 1873. Thompson was also a poet, most of his works being war-poems. During his career and travels, Thompson had the chance to work closely with
Edgar Allan Poe, and many notable Southern authors, such as
William Gilmore Simms,
Henry Timrod,
Paul Hamilton Hayne and
Philip Pendleton Cooke, as well as European authors. == Works ==