Charles Wesley Alexander

Charles Wesley Alexander was a Philadelphia publisher and writer whose popular moral narratives often drew on public events. Angel Agnes; The Heroine of the Yellow Fever Plague in Shreveport tells the story of Agnes Arnold, a young woman who remains in Louisiana to nurse people during the devastating 1873 epidemic. Alexander frames her service through scenes of family separation, civic fear, religious conviction, and practical care. This nineteenth-century inspirational work is tied to a documented disaster that transformed Shreveport. Alexander issued books under his own name and through the publishing business C. W. Alexander, connecting authorship with the production of inexpensive works for broad readership. In this book, the central action is not military adventure or romantic pursuit but sustained responsibility during a public emergency. Agnes's choices allow Alexander to examine courage as repeated work, especially when institutions are strained and ordinary routines have collapsed.