Cable, George Washington (1844–1925), born in New Orleans, served in the Confederate army, studied engineering, and was a warehouse clerk before he turned to writing as a career. His early sketches were published in the New Orleans
Picayune, and his stories of Louisiana local color appeared in
Scribner's and
Appleton's at intervals from 1873 to 1879. In the latter year he published a collection,
Old Creole Days, which was followed by a novel of 19th‐century Louisiana,
The Grandissimes (1880). Other books include
Madame Delphine (1881), a novelette about a quadroon woman;
Dr. Sevier (1885), a novel set in New Orleans before and during the Civil War;
Bonaventure (1888), concerned with a Creole among the descendants of Acadian exiles;
John March, Southerner (1894), a novel of the Reconstruction, concerned with an amiable old judge and his dealings with Northern intrigues in a small town;
Strong Hearts (1899), a collection of stories;
The Cavalier (1901), a story of the Civil War; and
Bylow Hill (1902), concerned with the unhappy marriage of a New England clergyman and a Southern girl. Cable, who continued to write until 1918, was a leader of the local‐color movement, and his stories depicting the charm of New Orleans society, though slight in narrative value, are distinguished by their style and an appreciation of the locality, although there were those who attacked his treatment of the Creoles,
Adrien Rouquette for one.
