The Camp in the Foot-Hills; or, Oscar on Horseback

"The Camp in the Foot-Hills; or, Oscar on Horseback" by Harry Castlemon is a novel written in the late 19th century. The story revolves around the adventures of Oscar Preston, a young and inexperienced hunter embarking on a journey to the Western frontier to collect specimens for a museum, all while grappling with homesickness and the challenges of life in the wilderness. The opening portion introduces readers to Oscar standing at a station in Julesburg, feeling a pang of homesickness as he watches a friend depart. Despite his initial enthusiasm for his expedition, he quickly reflects on his longing for home and the friendships he left behind. As he enters the colonel's headquarter, we learn about the preparation he must undertake and the expedition that lies ahead. The narrative sets the stage for Oscar's adventures by establishing his motivations and the characters he will encounter, including Big Thompson, his guide, and the challenges posed by the landscape and weather of the plains. (This is an automatically generated summary.)

Charles Austin Fosdick, better known by his nom de plume Harry Castlemon, was a prolific writer of juvenile stories and novels, intended mainly for boys. He was born in Randolph, New York, and received a high school diploma from Central High School in Buffalo, New York. He served in the Union Navy from 1862 to 1865, during the American Civil War, acting as the receiver and superintendent of coal for the Mississippi River Squadron. Fosdick had begun to write as a teenager, and drew on his experiences serving in the Navy in such early novels as Frank on a Gunboat (1864) and Frank on the Lower Mississippi (1867). He soon became the most-read author for boys in the post-Civil War era, the golden age of children's literature.