Archibald Rutledge

Archibald Hamilton Rutledge (1883–1973) was an American poet and academic, who served as the first poet laureate of South Carolina. He wrote over 50 books and many poems, usually about his hunting and life experiences in South Carolina.

Life
Rutledge was born on October 23, 1883 in McClellanville, South Carolina. His ancestors included a Governor of South Carolina, a chief justice of the US Supreme Court, and a signer of the Declaration of Independence. As a boy, Rutledge hunted on the plantation with his father and brothers. He attended the Porter Military Academy, now the exclusive Porter-Gaud School, in Charleston, South Carolina. He then attended Union College where he was graduated in 1904 with Phi Beta Kappa honors and membership in The Kappa Alpha Society.

Later in life, he taught English at Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. He married and raised three sons. In the family tradition, he took them hunting back home in South Carolina and in the woods of the Appalachian hills, and his writings reflect this personal devotion to the hunting ethos.

His short stories appeared in Outdoor Life and Field and Stream, and he wrote more than 50 books, including An American Hunter (1937), Old Plantation Days (1907) and Wild Life of the South (1935).

His poems often described his hunting and life experiences growing up on Hampton Plantation and the trips home to South Carolina in summer and for holidays.

Writing
Rutledge's prose places the reader in and part of the hunt. In "Quail of the Kalmias," he writes: "When Bell drew her point in the brown stubble, I thought it would be sport to walk right in, compelling myself to take the birds at a quartering shot as they passed me to escape into their mountain haunts. What they did always seemed to me about as adroit a maneuver as this crafty little aristocrat ever executes. They arose in two small groups, one led by the old cock and the other by the old hen. There was a difference in intelligence, though not in the size of the birds. Separated by only a few yards, the two groups came hurtling by on either side of me, in strong, low level flight."

Recognition
Rutledge was named the first poet laureate of South Carolina in 1934, and held the position until 1973.

Archibald Rutledge Academy in McClellanville, South Carolina is named in his honor.

Publications
{{columns-list|3| "Poem: In honor of South Carolina tricentennial''. Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan, 1970.
 * The Heart's Quest
 * Under the Pines and other poems. Winchester, VA: Eddy Press, 1906.
 * The Banners of the Coast. Columbia, SC: Presses of the State, 1908.
 * New Poems. 1915.
 * Spirit of Mercesburg
 * Songs from a Valley. Chambersburg, PA: Public Opinion Print, 1919.
 * South of Richmond. Chambersburg, PA: J.R. Kerr, 1923.
 * Days off in Dixie. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1924.
 * Collected Poems. Columbia, SC: State Publishing, 1925.
 * A Monarch of the Sky. New York: Purdy Press, 1926.
 * Children of Swamp and Wood. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, Page, 1927.
 * Life's Extras. New York & Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1928.
 * The Flower of Hope. New York & Chicago: Fleming H. Revell, 1930.
 * Peace in the Heart. Garden City, NY: Doubleday Doran, 1930.
 * Veiled Eros. New York: H. Harrison, 1933.
 * When Boys go off to School. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1935.
 * Wild Life of the South. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1935.
 * Brimming Chalice. New York: H. Harrison, 1936.
 * It Will be Daybreak Soon. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1938.
 * The Sonnets of Archibald Rutledge. 1938.
 * Rain on the Marsh. Columbia, SC: Bostick & Thornley, 1941.
 * Home by the River. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1941.
 * Love's meaning. New York & London: Fleming H. Revell, 1943.
 * Hunter's Choice. New York: A.S. Barnes, 1946.
 * The Beauty of the Night. New York & London: Fleming H. Revell, 1947.
 * God's Children. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1947.
 * The Angel Standing; or, Faith alone gives poise. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1948.
 * The Everylasting Light and other poems. Athens, GA: University of Georgia Press, 1949.
 * A Wildwood Tale: A drama of the open. New York: F.H. Revell, 1950.
 * The Heart's Citadel and other poems. Richmond, VA: Dietz Press, 1953.
 * Beauty in the Heart. Westwood, NJ: F.H. Revell, 1954.
 * Brimming Tide and other poems. Westwood, NJ: F.H. Revell, 1954.
 * Bright Angel and other poems. Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan, 1955.
 * Those Were The Days. Richmond, VA: Dietz Press, 1955.
 * The Battle of the Howling Hound and other poems. Richmond, VA: Dietz Press, 1965.
 * Deep River: The complete poems of Archibald Rutledge. Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan, 1966.

Prose

 * Tom and I on the Old Plantation. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1918.
 * Plantation Game Trails. Boston & New York: Houghton Mifflin, 1921.
 * Old Plantation Days. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1921.
 * The American Race Question. 1922.
 * Heart of the South. Columbia, SC: State Publishing, 1924.
 * Lincoln: A Southern view. Leonidas Polk Chapter, United Daughters of the Confederacy, 1925.
 * A Southerner Views Lincoln. New York: Scribner's, 1928.
 * South Carolina. New York: Purdy Press, 1926.
 * Bolio and other dogs. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1930.
 * An American Hunter. New York: Frederick A. Stokes, 1937.
 * My Colonel and His Lady. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1937.
 * Christ is God. New York: Fleming H. Revell, 1941.
 * 'Santee Paradise. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1956.
 * From the Hills to the Sea: Fact and legend of the Carolinas. Indianapolis, IN: Bobbs-Merrill, 1958.
 * Willie was a Lady. Columbia, SC: Wing Publications, 1966.
 * How Wild was my Village? Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan, 1969.
 * The Woods and Wild Things I Remember. Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan, 1970.
 * Voices of the Long Ago: Bible stories retold. Columbia, SC: R.L. Bryan, 1973.
 * Hunting and Home in the Southern Heartland: The best of Archibald Rutledge. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1992.
 * Tales of Whitetails: Archibald Rutledge's great deerhunting stories. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1992.
 * America's Greatest Game Bird: Archibald Rutledge's great turkey-hunting tales. Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1994.
 * Bird Dog Days, Wingshooting Ways. Catallin Gateway, MT: Wilderness Adventures Press, 1998.
 * Carolina Christmas: Archibald Rutledge's enduring holiday stories. Columbia, SC: University of Southern California Press, 2010.