Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 Prentiss Ingraham (December 28, 1843 – August 16, 1904) was a Colonel in the Confederate Army, a professional military officer throughout the 1860s and a fiction writer.

Biography

Prentiss Ingraham was born near Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez, Mississippi

Natchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...

 in Adams County

Adams County, Mississippi

As of the census of 2000, there were 34,340 people, 13,677 households, and 9,409 families residing in the county. The population density was 75 people per square mile . There were 15,175 housing units at an average density of 33 per square mile...

. He studied at St. Timothy's Military Academy, Maryland, and at Jefferson College, Mississippi

Jefferson College (Mississippi)

Jefferson College was an all-male military college in Washington, Mississippi. It was the first educational institution of higher learning in Mississippi, being chartered in 1802. Its sister school was the nearby Elizabeth Female Academy...

.

Later he entered the Mobile Medical College, but soon left to enter the Confederate Army

Confederate States Army

The Confederate States Army was the army of the Confederate States of America while the Confederacy existed during the American Civil War. On February 8, 1861, delegates from the seven Deep South states which had already declared their secession from the United States of America adopted the...

 where he became a Colonel

Colonel

Colonel , abbreviated Col or COL, is a military rank of a senior commissioned officer. It or a corresponding rank exists in most armies and in many air forces; the naval equivalent rank is generally "Captain". It is also used in some police forces and other paramilitary rank structures...

 in the Adacus Company Regiment. He was also commander of scouts in Lawrence Sullivan Ross

Lawrence Sullivan Ross

Lawrence Sullivan "Sul" Ross was the 19th Governor of Texas , a Confederate States Army general during the American Civil War, and a president of the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Texas, now called Texas A&M University.Ross was raised in the Republic of Texas, which was later annexed to...

' Brigade, the Texas Cavalry. After the close of the war, he went to Mexico

Mexico

The United Mexican States , commonly known as Mexico , is a federal constitutional republic in North America. It is bordered on the north by the United States; on the south and west by the Pacific Ocean; on the southeast by Guatemala, Belize, and the Caribbean Sea; and on the east by the Gulf of...

 and fought with Juárez

Benito Juárez

Benito Juárez born Benito Pablo Juárez García, was a Mexican lawyer and politician of Zapotec origin from Oaxaca who served five terms as president of Mexico: 1858–1861 as interim, 1861–1865, 1865–1867, 1867–1871 and 1871–1872...

 against the French

French intervention in Mexico

The French intervention in Mexico , also known as The Maximilian Affair, War of the French Intervention, and The Franco-Mexican War, was an invasion of Mexico by an expeditionary force sent by the Second French Empire, supported in the beginning by the United Kingdom and the Kingdom of Spain...

, and still later went to South America

South America

South America is a continent situated in the Western Hemisphere, mostly in the Southern Hemisphere, with a relatively small portion in the Northern Hemisphere. The continent is also considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered on the west by the Pacific Ocean and on the north and east...

.

He saw service on General Hoffmann's

Max Hoffmann

Max Hoffmann was a German officer and military strategist during World War I. He is widely regarded as one of the finest staff officers of the imperial period....

 staff in the Battle of Sadowa

Battle of Königgrätz

The Battle of Königgrätz , also known as the Battle of Sadowa, Sadová, or Hradec Králové, was the decisive battle of the Austro-Prussian War, in which the Kingdom of Prussia defeated the Austrian Empire...

, Austria

Austria

Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...

, in 1866 was in Crete

Crete

Crete is the largest and most populous of the Greek islands, the fifth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea, and one of the thirteen administrative regions of Greece. It forms a significant part of the economy and cultural heritage of Greece while retaining its own local cultural traits...

 against the Turks

Turkish people

Turkish people, also known as the "Turks" , are an ethnic group primarily living in Turkey and in the former lands of the Ottoman Empire where Turkish minorities had been established in Bulgaria, Cyprus, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Georgia, Greece, Kosovo, Macedonia, and Romania...

, and in the Khedive's army in Egypt

Egypt

Egypt , officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, Arabic: , is a country mainly in North Africa, with the Sinai Peninsula forming a land bridge in Southwest Asia. Egypt is thus a transcontinental country, and a major power in Africa, the Mediterranean Basin, the Middle East and the Muslim world...

. In 1869 he went to London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 but soon came back to the United States and took up with the Cuba

Cuba

The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...

n rebels against Spain

Spain

Spain , officially the Kingdom of Spain languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Spain's official name is as follows:;;;;;;), is a country and member state of the European Union located in southwestern Europe on the Iberian Peninsula...

, running the blockade in the Hornet

USS Hornet (1898)

The sixth USS Hornet was a gunboat in the United States Navy. Hornet, the former yacht Alicia, was built by Harlan and Hollingsworth, Wilmington, Delaware, in 1890; purchased from Henry Morrison Flagler on 6 April 1898; and commissioned at New York 12 April 1898, Lieutenant James Meredith Helm in...

several times before it was surrendered to the U. S. Navy

United States Navy

The United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...

. He was a Colonel in the Cuban army as well as a Captain in their navy, and was captured, tried as a filibuster

Filibuster (military)

A filibuster, or freebooter, is someone who engages in an unauthorized military expedition into a foreign country to foment or support a revolution...

 and condemned to death by the Spaniards, but escaped. Ingraham moved to the West where he met up with Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...

. Ingraham soon worked as an advance agent for Buffalo Bill

Buffalo Bill

William Frederick "Buffalo Bill" Cody was a United States soldier, bison hunter and showman. He was born in the Iowa Territory , in LeClaire but lived several years in Canada before his family moved to the Kansas Territory. Buffalo Bill received the Medal of Honor in 1872 for service to the US...

's Wild West Show

Wild West Shows

Wild West Shows were traveling vaudeville performances in the United States and Europe. The first and prototypical wild west show was Buffalo Bill's, formed in 1883 and lasting until 1913...

.

Writing career

Ingraham's literary career began in London in 1869. The author of The Masked Spy (1872) and is best known for his Buffalo Bill series. Other major works include the Buck Taylor series, Merle Monte series, and Dick Doom series. Ingraham claimed in 1900 to have written over 600 novels.

Pen names

As well as writing under his own name, Ingraham published under a number of pen name

Pen name

A pen name, nom de plume, or literary double, is a pseudonym adopted by an author. A pen name may be used to make the author's name more distinctive, to disguise his or her gender, to distance an author from some or all of his or her works, to protect the author from retribution for his or her...

s including:

• Dr. Noel Dunbar
• Dangerfield Burr
• Major Henry B. Stoddard
• Colonel Leon Lafitte
• Frank Powell
• Harry Dennies Perry
• Midshipman Tom W. Hall
• Lieut. Preston Graham

Death

Prentiss Ingraham spent his final days at the Beauvoir Confederate Home in Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi, Mississippi

Biloxi is a city in Harrison County, Mississippi, in the United States. The 2010 census recorded the population as 44,054. Along with Gulfport, Biloxi is a county seat of Harrison County....

 where he died of Bright's Disease

Bright's disease

Bright's disease is a historical classification of kidney diseases that would be described in modern medicine as acute or chronic nephritis. The term is no longer used, as diseases are now classified according to their more fully understood causes....

, known to modern medicine as nephritis, on August 16, 1904, aged 60.

External links

• Biography at House of Beadle & Adams Online hosted by Northern Illinois University
  Northern Illinois University
  Northern Illinois University is a state university and research institution located in DeKalb, Illinois, with satellite centers in Hoffman Estates, Naperville, Rockford, and Oregon. It was originally founded as Northern Illinois State Normal School on May 22, 1895 by Illinois Governor John P...
  
  Libraries