To Alexander Hamilton from Edward Rutledge, 27 May 1795
From Edward Rutledge1
Charleston [South Carolina] May 27th: 1795.
Dear Sir
The Cause of the Execs of General vs. Harris & Blackford,2 has been decided; & we have lost it: The Argument lasted for three days, & I exerted every Faculty in favor of our Friend: but it was all in vain; & we shall have the enormous Sum of 11000 Sterling to pay in this infortunate Business. Mrs: Greene, (as well she might) relies implicitly on your Friendship for assistance. She means to make an application to Congress for Relief, & is sanguine in her expectation.3 The Delegates from this State in the Senate4 have offerd her their best Services: & she feels a Pleasure in observing that, most of her Enemies are out of Congress, & that their Places have been supplied by better Men. Mr. Warrington, the Agent of Harris & Blackford, has acted from the beginning, to the End of this Affair, with uncommon Humanity & kindness. His Success has not damp’d his virtues, & he is now as willing to oblige as ever he was. Mrs: Greene thinks his Testimony may be of considerable importance. He was one of those whose Debts the General originally guaranteed; was being to all the Transactions; & is able & willing to speak with great clearness on the Subject. He knew the Motives, by which our Friend was actuated: he will bear Witness to the patriotic Principles which gave rise to all his honourable Embarassments—Embarrassments, my dear Sir, which were too mighty for his independent Spirit; & which in a luckless Sham bereaved his Country, of one of her brightest Ornaments. As you are not only perfect Master of the Subject, but know full well the precise Objections, which were made to the Relief solicited by Mrs. Greene, I thought it best to place Mr. Warrington in your Hands, that you may obtain from him such ample Testimony, as shall be sufficient to remove every doubt with respect to the fairness of the Generals’ Conduct. This Business, happily terminated, will leave the Family in the Enjoyment of a very considerable Estate, & add to the Catalogue of Services which she has received from your disinterested Friendship.
I am dear Sir, with much Esteem, & Respect your very hble Servt
Ed: Rutledge
Mrs: Rutledge,5 who was once known to you & to Mrs. Hamilton, desires me to say that she has not lost the Remembrance of your friendly Attention, & hopes she still holds a place in the Esteem of those, whom she highly values. She congratulates Mrs. H: on your Return to private Life, & wishes you may reap your full Share of the Golden Harvest.
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. This letter deals with a case in which Rutledge, a member of the House of Representatives from South Carolina, served as an attorney for Mrs. Catharine Greene, widow of General Nathanael Greene. Rutledge was the executor of Greene’s estate. For background to this case, see “Report on the Petition of Catharine Greene,” December 26, 1791.
2. Section M of the “Report on the Petition of Catharine Greene,” December 26, 1791, states: “… the honorable General Greene did, in the month of April [1783] …, become security for us, John Banks, James Hunter and Robert Forsyth, as for themselves as others concerned, in the sum of thirty two thousand one hundred and twenty five pounds, sterling money, unto … Harris and Blackford, and James Warington, merchants, Charleston.”
On November 8, 1792, the House of Representatives considered a “petition of James Warrington, attorney in fact of Joseph Blachford, surviving partner of Harris & Blachford, late of Charleston, in the state of South Carolina, praying that the sum of seven thousand and fifty-two dollars and eighty-three-ninetieths of a dollar, with the interest thereon, which is due from the United States to the estate of John Banks, deceased, may be applied to the discharge of a claim of the petitioner’s constituents, against the estate of the late General Greene, on account of his security to them in behalf of the said Banks, on a contract to supply the late Southern Army with provisions” (, I, 615).
On February 20, 1793, “The House proceeded to consider the report of the committee on the petition of James Warrington, attorney in fact of Joseph Blachford, surviving partner of Harris & Blachford: Whereupon,
“Resolved, That the Accounting Officers of the Treasury cause the sum of nine thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight dollars and ninety cents, charged to John Banks on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, to be credited to the said John Banks, and that the sum so credited be charged to the account of such other person as in their opinion shall be justly chargeable therewith.
“Ordered, That a bill or bills be brought in pursuant to the said resolution….” (, I, 709.)
On February 28, 1793, the House passed “An act directing the officers of the Treasury to pass to the credit of John Banks the sum of $9,768.90” (, III, 898). The Senate, however, postponed consideration of the bill (, III, 663).
It was not until March 9, 1798, that the House “Resolved, That the Accounting Officers of the Treasury cause the sum of nine thousand seven hundred and sixty-eight dollars, eighty-one ninetieths, charged to the contract account of John Banks, on the thirty-first day of December, one thousand seven hundred and eighty-three, to be credited to the said John Banks; and that the sum so credited, be charged to the accounts of such other person as … shall be justly chargeable therewith; and that they charge the said contract account, with all such sums as have been paid by the United States to indemnify the estate of General Greene, for debts by him paid, or secured to be paid, of the said John Banks, or of John Banks and Company” (, III, 220).
3. On March 14, 1796, the House received “A memorial of Catherine Greene, widow of Major General Greene, deceased,… praying to be exonerated from the payment of a certain sum of money, which has been recovered at law, against the estate of the said General Greene, as security for the house of Hunter Banks, and Company, on behalf of the United States” (, II, 470). In accordance with a congressional resolution of May 23, 1796 (, II, 570–71), Congress enacted “An Act to indemnify the estate of the late Major-General Nathaniel Greene, for a certain bond entered into by him during the late war” ( 28 [June 1, 1796]).
4. Pierce Butler and Ralph Izard.
5. Mary Shubrick Eveleigh, Rutledge’s second wife.