Charles Fletcher Allen

Born in 1849 and dying in 1914, Charles Fletcher Allen was an American banker, poet, and author. Surviving catalog and library records consistently connect him with that mix of careers, suggesting a life divided between practical business work and literary interests.

He is chiefly remembered today for David Crockett, Scout: Small Boy, Pilgrim, Mountaineer, Soldier, Bear-Hunter and Congressman; Defender of the Alamo, a spirited retelling of the life of the American folk hero. The book helped preserve Crockett's legend for later readers and remains the work most closely associated with Allen.

Although not a widely famous literary figure now, Allen represents the kind of versatile public writer who helped shape popular historical reading in his era. His surviving work offers a glimpse of how biography, patriotism, and storytelling were blended for general audiences in the early 1900s.