A. R. (Alfred Rochefort) Calhoun

Born in Louisville, Kentucky, in 1844, Alfred Rochefort Calhoun served in a Kentucky Union regiment during the Civil War. Accounts of his life say he was seriously wounded twice, captured and held at Libby Prison, and later escaped during his imprisonment.

After the war, he built a varied career as a railway survey artist, photographer, journalist, and writer. He was associated with western survey work in the 1860s and contributed sketches that were published by Harper’s Weekly. By the late 19th and early 20th centuries, he was publishing fiction and nonfiction, including Reunited: A Story of the Civil War, Business Hints for Men and Women, and Healthful Sports for Boys.

Calhoun died in Brooklyn in 1912. What makes him memorable now is the breadth of his work: he wrote with the practical tone of a self-help author, the pace of a storyteller, and the experience of someone whose life had already read like an adventure book.