author
William H. C. (William Howe Cuyler) Hosmer
1814–1877
An early American poet with a gift for historical subjects and frontier scenes, he wrote verse that tried to capture the mood of the young republic. His life was marked by public service, literary ambition, and deep personal loss.
1 Audiobook
An Address, Delivered Before the Was-ah Ho-de-no-son-ne or New Confederacy of the Iroquois Also, Genundewah, a Poem
by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, William H. C. (William Howe Cuyler) Hosmer
About the author
Born in Avon, New York, in 1814, William Howe Cuyler Hosmer became known as an American poet whose work often drew on Native American themes, regional history, and patriotic subjects. He studied at Hobart College and published widely in the mid-19th century, building a reputation through poems as well as longer narrative works.
Hosmer spent part of his career in government service, including work connected with the New York Custom House, but literature remained central to his life. He was associated with the broader literary culture of his time and is also remembered through family connections, including his cousin, the sculptor Harriet Hosmer.
His later years were shadowed by illness and personal tragedy, and he died in Avon in 1877. Today he is mainly remembered as a regional and historical poet whose writing reflects the interests and emotions of 19th-century America.