Abstract of <title>Marcy, the refugee Smith, Leanne Images scanned by Digital Collections, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. Text encoded by Gretchen Gueguen Digital Collections, J. Y. Joyner Library, East Carolina University. Greenville, North Carolina 2010

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Abstract of Marcy, the refugee Marcy, the refugee Castlemon, Harry, 1842-1915 PS1269.C74 M3 1892 1892

In his novel Marcy, the Refugee, Harry Castlemon, [pseudonym of Charles Austin Fosdick] charts the experiences of Marcy Gray, his mother, and his brother. The family supports the Union ideology during the Civil War, and conspires in various activities with fellow Unionist neighbors near New Bern. The novel's climax details Marcy's piloting of the Union fleet to the capture of Roanoke Island.

Author Biography

Harry Castlemon, (pseudonym of Charles Austin Fosdick) [16 Sep. 1842 - 22 Aug.1915], juvenile series author, was born to John Spencer Fosdick and Eunice (Andrews) Fosdick in Randolph, N.Y. Soon afterwards, the family moved to Buffalo, where John Spencer worked as a principal in a public school. Charles attended Central High School in Buffalo, and when the Civil War began, he traveled to Cairo, Ill., to join the Mississippi Squadron, which later participated in the Battle of Vicksburg. During the War, he served as superintendent of coal for the Mississippi Squadron, and afterwards he returned to the Cairo area and worked as a store clerk in Villa Ridge, Ill.

Charles married Sarah Stoddard in 1867, and in 1875, they moved to Westfield, N.Y., near where he had been born in Randolph. When Sarah died in 1904, Charles abandoned writing because she had been his copyist and proofreader. Afterwards, he traveled for some time before residing with a son in Hamburg, N.Y. until his death in 1915.

Some noteworthy relatives were his nephews Harry Emerson Fosdick, a liberal clergyman, and publicist Raymond B. Fosdick.

Charles Fosdick's popularity as a writer was short-lived and his career was never very profitable. At one time, he had been the most popular writer of those who catered to younger boys, and rivaled Alger, Henty, and "Oliver Optic." His success was not accompanied by comparable wealth because he sold his sets of three to six volumes, each centered around a particular theme, to his publishers for a lump sum without royalties. Combined, his series totaled about fifty-eight books. In his first book, Frank: The Young Naturalist, published in 1864, Fosdick introduces the character of Frank Nelson, whom he modeled after his boyhood self. Most of his early books were based on his experiences in the Civil War. Fosdick's style is consistently straightforward and realistic without sentimentality.

Some of his principal works, published between 1864 and 1904 are: Gunboat, Rocky Mountain, Sportsman's Club, Boy Trapper, Roughing It, Rod and Gun, War, Afloat and Ashore, and the Pony Express series. In his novels Marcy the Blockade Runner and Marcy, the Refugee, he takes up the stories of families in Nashville and New Bern, North Carolina.

Sources:

Buffalo Express (August 23, 1915) New York Evening Post (August 28, 1915). American Authors, 1600-1900, 1938