Charles Fenno Hoffman (7 February 1806-7 June 1884), poet, novelist, and editor, was born in New York City and died in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania. His family on both his mother's and his father's sides was socially and politically distinguished and included judges and a newspaper editor. At the age of eleven Hoffman suffered an accident in which a ferryboat crushed one of his legs, which then had to be amputated above the knee. Despite the handicap, he had a lifelong interest in the outdoors and was an active horseback rider and swimmer. He was educated in schools in New York and New Jersey and at Columbia University, where he was in the lower fifth of his class. At the end of two years Hoffman left Columbia to study law with Harmanus Bleecker in Albany. At the age of twenty-one he returned to New York City to practice law with his father...