Biography:

Editor, writer. Born– May 21, 1839, Columbia, S.C. Parents– Mardici Heninrich and Rebecca (Lopez y Nunez) De Leon, Education– Attended Rugby Academy and Georgetown College, Washington, D.C. Employed as a clerk for the Topographical Engineering Bureau, 1858-1861; served in the Confederate Army, 1861-1865; edited Cosmopolite Magazine, 1865-1866; wrote for various New York newspapers and magazines, and translated French novels, 1866-1867; managing editor of Mobile Register, 1868-1876; editor, 1877-, while continuing to write for national publications;  edited the Mobile papers The Gossip and The Gulf Citizen, 1873-1896. Managed the Mobile Theater, 1873-1885. Organized and managed the Mobile Mardi Gras Carnival for 25 years; created carnivals for several other cities.  Published political writings under the name Dunne Browne. Lost his eyesight in 1903; sometimes called “The Blind Laureate of the Lost Cause.”  Died March 19, 1914.

Source:

Chaudron, Louis de V.  Biographical Sketch of the Author, in De Leon, Four Years in Rebel Capitals.  Mobile, Al.:  Gossip Printing Company, 1982.

Marquis Who’s Who online, and the Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. 5.

Publication(s):

Belles, Beaux and Brains of the 60s. New York; G.W. Dillingham, 1907.

Coqsurcus; a Lay of a Very Late Encampment. Chicago; The Hanscom Printing Co., 1887.

Crag-Nest. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing, 1897.

Creole and Puritan. Philadelphia; J. B. Lippincott, 1889.

Creole Carnivals. Atlanta; Author, 1899.

Cross Purposes. Philadelphia; Lippincott, 1871.

East, West and South. Mobile, Ala.; The Gossip Printing Co., 1891.

Four Years in Rebel Capitals. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing, 1890.

An Innocent Cheat; or, Episodes of the Everlasting Comedy. New York; F. T. Neely, 1898.

F. John Holden, Unionist. St. Paul, Minn.; Price-McGill, 1893.

Joseph Wheeler; the Man, The Statesman, The Soldier. Atlanta; Byrd Printing, 1899.

Juny; or, Only One Octoroon’s Story. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing Co., 1889.

A Novelette Trilogy. London; F. T. Neely, 1897.

Our Creole Carnivals. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Press, 1890.

The Pride of the Mercers. Philadelphia; Lippincott, 1898.

The Puritan’s Daughter. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing, 1891.

The Rending of the Solid South. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing Co., 1895.

The Rock or the Rye. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing, 1888.

Schooners That Bump on the Bar. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing, 1894.

Society as I Have Foundered It. Mobile, Ala.; Gossip Printing, 1890.

Sybilla; a Romaunt of the Town. Mobile, Ala.; The Gossip Press, 1891.

Editor:

South Songs. New York; Bleilock & Co., 1860.

Papers;

A collection of the papers of Thomas Cooper De Leon is held by the Caroliniana Library at the University of South Carolina in Columbia.