There has been in reality a good deal of needless confusion about Weems and his book, for he was not a complex character, and neither he nor his writings are difficult to value or understand.

By profession a clergyman or preacher, by nature an adventurer, Weems loved notoriety, money, and a wandering life.

So he wrote books which he correctly believed would be popular, and sold them not only through the regular channels, but by peddling them himself as he traveled about the country.

In this way he gratified all his propensities, and no doubt derived from life a good deal of simple pleasure.

Chance brought him near Washington in the closing days, and his commercial instinct told him that here was the subject of all others for his pen and his market.