E.D.E.N. Southworth considers Ishmael to be her very best work, being founded on the life of one of the noblest of our countrymen who really lived, suffered, toiled, and triumphed in this land. Its inspirations of wisdom and goodness were drawn from the examples of heroic warriors and statesmen of the Revolution. Ishmael—born in the depths of poverty, misery, and humiliation and raised to the summit of fame—was good as well as great. His life is proof that there is no depth of human misery from which we may not, by virtue, energy, and perseverance, rise to earthly honors, and by God’s grace, attain eternal glory.