Charles Austin Fosdick 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 (town), New York

Randolph is a town in Cattaraugus County, New York, United States. The population was 2,681 at the 2000 census. The town was named after Randolph, Vermont....

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

Buffalo, New York

Buffalo is the second most populous city in the state of New York, after New York City. Located in Western New York on the eastern shores of Lake Erie and at the head of the Niagara River across from Fort Erie, Ontario, Buffalo is the seat of Erie County and the principal city of the...

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

American Civil War

The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

, acting as the receiver and superintendent of coal for the Mississippi River Squadron

Mississippi River Squadron

The Mississippi River Squadron was the Union 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 then known as the Western Gunboat Flotilla and sometimes as the...

. 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

Harry Emerson Fosdick was an American clergyman. He was born in Buffalo, New York. He graduated from Colgate University in 1900, and Union Theological Seminary in 1904. While attending Colgate University he joined the Delta Upsilon Fraternity. He was ordained a Baptist minister in 1903 at the...

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

Westfield (village), New York

Westfield is a village in Chautauqua County, New York, United States. USA. The population was 3,481 at the 2010 census.The Village of Westfield lies within the Town of Westfield in the northern part of the county...

.

Fosdick married Sarah Elizabeth Stoddard in 1873, and they spent most of their married life in Westfield. They are buried beside each other in the Westfield Cemetery.

Works Include

• “Frank on a Gun-boat”, 1864
• “Frank Before Vicksburg”, 1864
• “Frank on the Lower Mississippi”, 1867
• “Frank, the Young Naturalist”, ?
• “Frank on the Prairie”, ?
• “Frank in the Mountains”, 1864
• “Frank in the Woods”, 1865
• “Frank Among the Rancheros”, 1865
• “Frank at Don Carlos' Rancho”, 1868
• The Boy Trapper, ?
• “Elam Storm, The Wolfer, or, The Lost Nugget,
• “George at the Fort, or, Life Among the Soldiers”
• “Marcy The Blockade Runner” ?
• “Rodney The Partisan” ?
• “True To His Colors” ?
• “The Mail Carrier”, 1879
• “The Sportsman's Club: In the Saddle “, 1873
• “Frank Nelson in the Forecastle, or, the Sportsman's Club Among the Whalers”, 1876
• “The Sportsman's Club Among the Trappers”, 1874
• “Showed Up, or, The Sportsman’s Club in the Mountains”, 1876
• “The Boy Trapper”, 1878
• “The Sportsman's Club Afloat”, 1874
• “George at the Wheel, or, Life in the Pilot-house”, 1881
• “Joe Wayring at Home, or, The Adventures of a Fly-rod”, 1886
• "Our Fellows, or, Skirmishes with the Swamp Dragons", 1887
• “The Steel Horse, or, The Rambles of a Bicycle”, 1888
• “The Young Wild-fowlers”, 1885
• “The Buried Treasure, or, Old Jordan's Haunt”, 1877
• “A Rebellion in Dixie”, 1897
• “Rod and Gun Club”, ?
• “A Struggle for a Fortune” ?
• “Two Ways of Becoming a Hunter” ?
• “Julian Mortmer, ?
• “Oscar in Africa” ?
• “The Camp in the Foot-Hills”, 1893
• “Guy Harris, The Runaway”, 1887
• "A Ten Ton Cutter", 1897

External links