author
Charles Wesley Alexander
1837–1927
A prolific 19th-century Philadelphia publisher and writer, he is best remembered for popular historical pamphlets and sensational fiction written under his own name and the pen name Wesley Bradshaw. His work ranged from Civil War-era pieces to books on American landmarks and household life.
1 Audiobook
Angel Agnes The Heroine of the Yellow Fever Plague in Shreveport
by Charles Wesley Alexander
About the author
Charles Wesley Alexander was an American writer and publisher born in 1837 and died in 1927. Library and authority records identify him with a substantial body of work issued in Philadelphia, and several of his books remain cataloged under his own name.
He wrote in more than one mode. Some publications were practical or historical, including Alexander's Family Friend and History and Legends of the Old Liberty Bell in Independence Hall, at Philadelphia. Other works were much more dramatic and popular in tone, and records from the Gilder Lehrman Institute note that he also used the pen name Wesley Bradshaw.
That pen name is especially tied to vivid Civil War-era stories and pamphlets, including the widely circulated General McClellan's Dream. Taken together, the surviving records suggest a versatile, entrepreneurial author who moved easily between publishing, patriotic history, domestic writing, and sensational storytelling for a broad 19th-century audience.