Hiram Hoyt Richmond

Hiram Hoyt Richmond was born on May 8, 1843, in Lebanon, Madison County, New York. Contemporary biographical and memorial sources describe him as a Union veteran in the Civil War who later settled in Auburn, California, where he became known in local public life as well as in literary circles.

He is chiefly remembered as the author of Montezuma: An Epic on the Origin and Fate of the Aztec Nation, published in 1885 and preserved today through Project Gutenberg and the Internet Archive. A newspaper notice from 1894 says his work and portrait appeared in The Magazine of Poetry, and praised him as a contributor to current literature.

Richmond died in 1908. While surviving information about him is limited, the record that does remain suggests a writer with serious literary ambition, drawn to large historical subjects and long-form narrative poetry.