James Hogg was born in Kilbarchan, Renfrewshire, Scotland. He emigrated to the United States with his parents at the age of ten. His first published poem was “A Ballad of Biggar”, a ballad about a local hero, a Highlander named Biggar who died saving the life of a young woman from a mob. He worked as a printer until he began studying for the ministry
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He was ordained in 1832 and served as minister at the Presbyterian Church in Murray, Montana from 1832 to 1835. In 1835 he moved to Iowa and became pastor of the Presbyterian church in New London, Iowa. In 1841 he married Mary Brown and moved to Texas where they had six children.
In 1847 Hogg joined the army as a chaplain and served until the end of the war. After the Civil War Hogg and his wife moved to Shawnee Mission, Indian Territory (now Oklahoma) where they lived on a farm and also served as missionaries for five years. Hogg wrote many books including The Story of the Outlaw Dick Turpin, A History of Texas from Its Earliest Settlement to A.D., 1836; The Southwestern Old Trail; Tales of Old Texas; The Black Regiment; and Death Rides His Steed: A Tale of Border War.
He died on January 2, 1863 of typhoid fever at Shawnee Mission, Oklahoma.