Frederick Whittaker

Biography
      Frederick Whittaker (December 12, 1838–May 13, 1889), who usually signed his work as “Capt. Frederick Whittaker,” was born in London, the son of Henry Whittaker and his wife Catharine Maitland.  His father was a solicitor who, having endorsed some papers for a noble client who defaulted, was obliged to flee to the Continent to escape being imprisoned for debt.  He lived with his family for several years in various towns and in 1850 came to New York City, where he obtained a position as managing clerk in a law office.  Frederick’s education was limited to six months in a private school in Brooklyn, conducted by a Mr. Walker.  His father wished him to become a lawyer and at the age of sixteen he was entered in the law office of N. Dane Ellingwood, as office boy.  He was, however, not interested in law and several years later was working in the office of Henry G. Harrison, an architect; but a defect in his eyesight compelled him to relinquish this work, too.
      Just before the breaking out of the Civil War he had had an article published in The Great Republic Monthly, and hoped to become a writer.  When war broke out, he enlisted November 11, 1861, at Camp Scott, Staten Island, as a private in Company L, 6th New York Cavalry.  He was transferred to Company D in the same regiment February 16, 1863, and was honorably discharged December 15, 1863, as a corporal, to enable him to enlist as a veteran volunteer.  He re-entered the same organization December 16, 1863.  In the Battle of the Wilderness in May, 1864, he was shot through the left lung and was promoted to 2nd Lieutenant on February 12, 1865, in Company A.  He was mustered out and honorably discharged August 9, 1865, as 2nd Lieutenant, Company A, New York Provisional Cavalry.  Nothing has been found in official records to show he ever received the rank of Captain but there is a letter in the files of the National Archives, from James D. McClelland, a member of the New York State Senate, dated October 10, 1911, in which he stated that Frederick Whittaker “was made Brevet Captain after the War for bravery in action.”
      After the war he worked as a book agent for a while and then taught school.  When Mayne Reid established his magazine Onward in 1869, Whittaker wrote for it, the first item published being a little song entitled “Starlighted Midnight.”  This was followed by several other poems and a sketch, “Shot by a Sweetheart,” but when Reid’s magazine ended in February, 1870, Whittaker began to write for Frank Leslie's story paper.  After inheriting some money from English relatives, he married and bought a house in Mount Vernon, New York, where he lived the remainder of his life.  He settled down to steady literary work and wrote for various journals.  In the Army and Navy Journal for January 21 and June 3, 1871, he had a series of articles: “Volunteer Cavalry: The Lessons of the Decade, by a Volunteer Cavalryman,” in which he gave personal experiences during the war.  He also wrote for the Galaxy, the Fireside Companion, and for Beadle’s Young New Yorker, Saturday Journal, and Banner Weekly, and turned out a great many dime and nickel novels, mostly stirring stories of adventure of the swashbuckling type.  They were well written, without padding, and were about the best of the kind.  In 1874 he was made National Guard editor and later assistant editor of the Army and Navy Journal.  He resigned for the year 1876 to write his Complete Life of General George A. Custer, but in 1877 he was back with the Journal and remained connected with it until his death.
      About two years before he died he became interested in spiritualism and was an enthusiastic worker in the cause.  He was almost insane on the subject and, according to the May 15, 1889 New York Tribune, “of late had frequently commanded that every member of his family should think as he did.  His argument was that there should be harmony between his wife and children and himself in order to have close communication with the spirits.”  He was always of an excitable disposition, irascible, and at times became extremely violent.  He was interested in the international language Volapuk, and shortly before his death had asked those interested to meet at his home.  On the thirteenth of May, 1889, returning home from the office of the Mount Vernon Record, for which he wrote, he met his wife at the door, said a few pleasant words to her, then ran up stairs.  He always carried a revolver in his pocket and, apparently taking it out to put it away as was his custom on returning home, when he reached the head of the stairs his cane seems to have caught in the banisters, tripped him, and he fell, breaking the rail.  His pistol exploded and he was shot in the head, dying in half an hour without regaining consciousness.  His wife, three daughters, and a stepson survived him.
      Whittaker also wrote over the pseudonym “Launce Poyntz” and is said by some to have written the novels credited to “Thomas Hoyer Monstery.”

Bibliography
      Complete Life of General George A. Custer (1876)
      Hawk-Eye the Hunter (Beadle’s Frontier Series, 1870s)
      Wapawkaneta; or, The Rangers of the Oneida (Beadle’s Frontier Series, 1870s)
      The Forest Avenger (Beadle’s Frontier Series, 1870s)
      The Brave Boy Hunters of Kentucky (Beadle’s Frontier Series, 1870s)

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