Frederick Whittaker

Born in London on December 12, 1838, and raised in New York after his family emigrated, Frederick Whittaker grew up to be a remarkably versatile man of letters. He worked as a journalist and became a prolific author, writing adventure fiction, dime novels, military nonfiction, and biography.

Whittaker also served in the Civil War as a cavalry officer, an experience that shaped much of his writing. He is especially remembered for A Complete Life of Gen. George A. Custer, one of the earliest full biographies of Custer, as well as for his popular fiction and his writing on military subjects.

His life seems to have been as colorful as his books: he moved between literature, reporting, soldiering, and public debate, and later became known as a spiritualist as well. He died in 1889, leaving behind a body of work that captures both the excitement and the rough edges of American popular writing in the late nineteenth century.