author
Augustus C. Buell
1847–1904
Best known for lively Civil War reminiscences and biographies of American figures, this late-19th-century writer had a career as colorful as the stories he told. His books found readers in their day, even as later historians questioned the accuracy of some of his work.
1 Audiobook
The Memoirs of Charles H. Cramp
by Augustus C. Buell
About the author
Born in New York on September 4, 1847, Augustus Caesar Buell became an American author whose writing mixed war memories, biography, and historical storytelling. He was widely known for The Cannoneer, a book drawn from his claimed Civil War experience, and he went on to publish biographies of figures including John Paul Jones and William Johnson.
Buell also worked in engineering and journalism, and his books were written in a dramatic, readable style that helped them reach a broad audience. A number of his works have remained accessible through public-domain collections, which has helped preserve his place in the long shelf of American historical writing.
His reputation, however, is complicated. Later research and reference sources have described parts of his historical writing as unreliable or fabricated, so he is remembered both as a popular author of his era and as a cautionary example of how persuasive storytelling can outpace careful scholarship. He died on May 23, 1904.