William L. (William Leete) Stone

Born in New Paltz, New York, in 1792, William Leete Stone became a prominent New York journalist, publisher, author, and public official. He learned the printer’s trade when he was young and went on to build a career in newspapers, eventually becoming closely associated with the New York Commercial Advertiser. He was often known as “Colonel Stone.”

Stone wrote on politics, history, and public affairs, but readers today most often know him for his historical works. Among his best-known books are Life of Joseph Brant—Thayendanegea and Border Wars of the American Revolution, works that helped shape nineteenth-century popular interest in Revolutionary-era history and in the history of Indigenous leaders and frontier conflict.

He died in 1844 at Saratoga Springs, New York. Although some details of his early life are reported differently in reference sources, the broad picture is clear: he was a busy and influential man of letters whose journalism and historical writing left a lasting mark on early American print culture.