David Law Proudfit (October 27, 1842, Newburgh, New York – February 23, 1897, New York City) was an American poet and lithographer, who also wrote under the pseudonym Peleg Arkwright. Son of a clergyman, Proudfit was educated at the common schools until the onset of the Civil War. Enlisting as a

private Private or privates may refer to: Music * " In Private", by Dusty Springfield from the 1990 album ''Reputation'' * Private (band), a Denmark-based band * "Private" (Ryōko Hirosue song), from the 1999 album ''Private'', written and also recorde ...

in the

1st Regiment New York Mounted Rifles The 1st Regiment New York Mounted Rifles, sometimes designated 7th Regiment New York Volunteer Cavalry, was a cavalry regiment of the Union Army during the American Civil War. Service Companies organized and mustered in between July 1861 and Sep ...

aged nineteen, he spent four years as a soldier, rising to the rank of

major Major (commandant in certain jurisdictions) is a military rank of commissioned officer status, with corresponding ranks existing in many military forces throughout the world. When used unhyphenated and in conjunction with no other indicators ...

. He then went to New York and entered business in lithography. He began contributing to periodicals under the pseudonym Peleg Arkwright, until success encouraged him to write under his own name. In 1868 he married Frances Marian Dodge. His later business interests included pneumatic tubes; in the 1880s he was president of the Meteor despatch company of New York.''Appletons' cyclopaedia of American biography'', 6 vols, 1888

Works

*''Love among the Gamins, and other poems'', New York, 1877 *''Mask and Domino'', 1888 *''From the Chaparral to Wall Street; or a man from the West'', 1891

References

External links

1842 births 1897 deaths American telecommunications industry businesspeople 19th-century American poets American male poets 19th-century American male writers 19th-century American businesspeople {{US-business-bio-1840s-stub