Charles Austin Fosdick (September 6, 1842 – August 22, 1915), better known by his ''nom de plume'' Harry Castlemon, was a prolific writer of juvenile stories and novels, intended mainly for boys. He was born in

Randolph, New York Randolph is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 2,470 at the 2020 census. The town was named after Randolph, Vermont. The town of Randolph contains a former village called Randolph. The town also contains m ...

, and received a high school diploma from Central High School in

Buffalo, New York Buffalo is the second-largest city in the U.S. state of New York (behind only New York City) and the seat of Erie County. It is at the eastern end of Lake Erie, at the head of the Niagara River, and is across the Canadian border from South ...

. He served in the Union Navy from 1862 to 1865, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...

, acting as the receiver and superintendent of coal for the

Mississippi River Squadron The Mississippi River Squadron was the Union brown-water naval squadron that operated on the western rivers during the American Civil War. It was initially created as a part of the Union Army, although it was commanded by naval officers, and was ...

. Fosdick had begun to write as a teenager, and drew on his experiences serving in the Navy in such early novels as ''Frank on a Gunboat'' (1864) and ''Frank on the Lower Mississippi'' (1867). He soon became the most-read author for boys in the post-Civil War era, the golden age of children's literature. Fosdick once remarked that: "Boys don't like fine literature. What they want is adventure, and the more of it you can get in two-hundred-fifty pages of manuscript, the better fellow you are." Fosdick served up a lot of adventure in such popular book series as the Gunboat Series, the Rocky Mountain Series, the Roughing It Series, the Sportsman's Club Series, and The Steel Horse, or the Rambles of a Bicycle. He was "Uncle Charlie" to famed liberal Baptist minister,

Harry Emerson Fosdick Harry Emerson Fosdick (May 24, 1878 – October 5, 1969) was an American pastor. Fosdick became a central figure in the Fundamentalist–Modernist controversy within American Protestantism in the 1920s and 1930s and was one of the most prominen ...

, whose writings reflected fondly on the time spent as a boy visiting Fosdick at his home in

Westfield, New York Westfield is a town in the western part of Chautauqua County, New York, United States. The population was 4,513 at the 2020 census. Westfield is also the name of a village within the town, containing 65% of the town's population. This unique to ...

. Fosdick married Sarah Elizabeth Stoddard in 1873, and they spent most of their married life in Westfield.Hamersly, Lewis Randolph, et al., ''Who's Who in New York (City and State)'', L.R. Hamersly & Co., (New York 1904). They are buried beside each other in the Westfield Cemetery.

Works Include

* The Gun-boat Series ** “Frank, the Young Naturalist”, 1864 ** “Frank on a Gun-boat”, 1864 ** “Frank Before Vicksburg”, 1864 ** “Frank in the Woods”, 1865 ** “Frank on the Lower Mississippi”, 1867 ** “Frank on the Prairie”, 1869 * The Rocky Mountain Series ** “Frank in the Mountains”, 1864 ** “Frank Among the Rancheros”, 1865 ** “Frank at Don Carlos' Rancho”, 1868 * The Boy Trapper Series ** “The Buried Treasure, or, Old Jordan's Haunt”, 1877 ** "The Boy Trapper, or, How Dave Filled the Order", 1878 ** “The Mail Carrier”, 1879 * The War Series ** “True To His Colors” 1889 ** “Rodney The Partisan” 1891 ** "Rodney, The Overseer", 1892 ** “Marcy The Blockade Runner” 1891 ** "Marcy The Refuge" ** "Sailor Jack, The Trader", 1893 * The Houseboat Series ** "The Mystery of Lost River Canyon", 1896 ** "The Young Game Warden", 1896 * Roughing It Series ** "George in Camp, or, Life on the Plains", 1868 ** “George at the Wheel, or, Life in the Pilot-house”, 1881 ** “George at the Fort, or, Life Among the Soldiers”, 1882 * The Sportsmen Club Series ** “The Sportsman's Club: In the Saddle “, 1873 ** “The Sportsman's Club Afloat”, 1874 ** “The Sportsman's Club Among the Trappers”, 1874 * The Go-Ahead Series ** "No Moss, or, The Career of a Rolling Stone", 1868 ** "Go-ahead, or, The Fisher-boy's Motto", 1868 ** "Tom Newcombe, or, The Boy of Bad Habits", 1896 * Afloat and Ashore Series ** “A Rebellion in Dixie”, 1897 ** "A Sailor in Spite of Himself", 1898? * Frank Nelson Series ** “Snowed Up, or, The Sportsman’s Club in the Mountains”, 1876 ** “Frank Nelson in the Forecastle, or, the Sportsman's Club Among the Whalers”, 1876 ** “The Boy Traders, or, The Sportsman Club Among the Boers", 1877 * Rod and Gun Series ** "Don Gordon's Shooting Box", 1883 ** “The Young Wild-fowlers”, 1885 ** “Rod and Gun Club”, 1883 * Non-series books ** “Elam Storm, The Wolfer, or, The Lost Nugget", 1895 ** “Joe Wayring at Home, or, The Adventures of a Fly-rod”, 1886 ** "Our Fellows, or, Skirmishes with the Swamp Dragoons", 1872 ** “The Steel Horse, or, The Rambles of a Bicycle”, 1888 ** “A Struggle for a Fortune” 1902 ** “Two Ways of Becoming a Hunter” 1892 ** “Julian Mortmer, A Brave Boy's Struggle for Home and Fortune", 1887? ** “Oscar in Africa” 1882, 1894 ** “The Camp in the Foot-Hills”, 1893 ** “Guy Harris, The Runaway”, 1887 ** "A Ten Ton Cutter", 1897 ** "Carl the Trailer", 1899 ** "The First Capture, or, Hauling Down the Flag of England", 1900? ** "The Haunted Mine", 1915? ** "The Missing Pocketbook, or, Tom Mason's Luck", 1895 ** "The Pony Express Rider", 1898? ** "Snagged and Sunk, or, The Adventures of a Canvas Canoe", 1888 ** "The White Beaver", 1899? ** "Winged Arrow's Medicine, or, The Massacre at Fort Phil Kearny", 1901? ** "The Camp in the Foothills, or, Oscar on Horseback", 1893 ** "Five Hundred Days in Rebel Prisons", 1887?

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Castlemon, Harry American children's writers 1842 births 1915 deaths People from Randolph, New York People from Westfield, New York