301To Alexander Hamilton from Marquis de Lafayette, 7 October 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
What is the matter with my dear hamilton And By what chance do I live in fruitless expectation of Some lines from him? does it begin to be the way in your, or rather in our Country to take European Airs, and forget friends as soon as they have turn’d theyr heels—indeed, My Good friend, I Cant help being Some what angry Against you, which shakes into My heart a Ridicu⟨lous⟩ fighting between...
302To Alexander Hamilton from Major General Nathanael Greene, 10 January 1781 (Hamilton Papers)
General du Portail being on his way to the Northward gives me an opportunity to write you; which I should have done before, had not my letters to his Excellency contained as full information of the state of things, as I was able to give from the little time I had been in the department. When I was appointed to this command I expected to meet with many new and singular difficulties; but they...
303From George Washington to Brigadier General Duportail and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, 18 October 1779 (Washington Papers)
I have been favored with Colonel Hamilton’s letter, mentioning your arrival early on the 11th at Philadelphia; and your being about to set off for Lewis town the morning on which it was written. I have attentively considered the object to which you more particularly refer, and am now to authorise you (provided the Count will not determine on a co-operation to the full extent of my...
304Lieutenant Colonel Robert Troup to Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton and James McHenry, 11 August 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Give me leave to congratulate you most heartily on the smiling Aspect our Affairs begin to put on. Yesterday Congress received Despatches from Mr. Bingham, their Agent, in Martinico, which confirm the Accounts of the Defeat of the British Fleet in the West-Indies. The Action was extremely severe; and if Byron , like Sir Henry Clinton , had not taken the Advantage of the Moon , it is more than...
305To Alexander Hamilton from Lieutenant Colonel John Laurens, 14 July 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Ternant will relate to you how many violent struggles I have had between duty and inclination—how much my heart was with you, while I appeared to be most actively employed here—but it appears to me that I shd be inexcusable in the light of a Citizen if I did not continue my utmost efforts for carrying the plan of black levies into execution, while there remains the smallest hope of success....
306To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Lincoln, May 1783 (Hamilton Papers)
I have been honored with your letter of the 9th. ultimo in which you request that I would communicate to you my thoughts on a military Peace establishment for the United-States. As the detail of the System, which I am about to recommend, will more properly rest with the executive Officers of the Engineer and Inspector General’s departments—I will confine my information to the following general...
307To Alexander Hamilton from Lieutenant Colonel Richard Kidder Meade, 13 January 1781 (Hamilton Papers)
What shall I say or think of my dear friend Hamilton, not a single line from him since we parted. I will not however charge you my dear fellow with not having done your duty, or at least of a want of inclination to do it. You may have complied fully with your promise & your letters miscarried; mine probably have shared the same fate. This is the third since I got home. The first was writ...
308To Alexander Hamilton from Philip Schuyler, 16 September 1780 (Hamilton Papers)
The great Scarcity of wheat before harvest and the drought Since has prevented the agent appointed to Collect the Supplys required from this State to deliver It to the Issuing Commissary and we are at least ten thousand barrels in rear. The wheat for all which is already assesed, a considerable quantity of it brought to the mills to be manufactured, and the remainder daily collecting, hence...
309To Alexander Hamilton from George Washington, 31 March 1783 (Hamilton Papers)
I have duly received your favors of the 17th. & 24th. ulto. I rejoice most exceedingly that there is an end to our warfare, and that such a field is opening to our view as will, with wisdom to direct the cultivation of it, make us a great, a respectable, and happy People; but it must be improved by other means than State politics, and unreasonable jealousies & prejudices; or (it requires not...
310To Alexander Hamilton from the New York Committee of Correspondence, 8 April 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
Yours of the third came safe⟨ly to hand⟩ this Day and gave us great Pleasure by certifying your Hea⟨lth. The scantiness of⟩ our Numbers will not permit the Loss of one useful ⟨citizen. It is⟩, therefore, a determined Point that sick or well, you are by no means ⟨to⟩ die. At this Distance it is impossible to determine what the Enemy can or what they can not do. But certainly if we can bring a...
311From George Washington to Brigadier General Duportail and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, 10 October 1779 (Washington Papers)
The only material intelligence which I have obtained from New York or respecting the Enemy since your departure, is contained in the inclosed account, which I received yesterday from Captain Monroe. This in your communications with His Excellency Count D’Estaing, you will be pleased to shew him. As we shall have occasion for a great many boats, in case a cooperation between the Count & us...
312To Alexander Hamilton from James Duane, 23 September 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
I find I have given our Friends Tighlman and Meade an opportunity of exercising their Risibility . The whole Expence ought to be mine, and it is taking an ungenerous advantage to oblige you to contribute your Club. Tell them from me that however they may carry it at Head Quarters, if you and I could catch them at the Manour it is possible they might be convinced that my Enquiry was not...
313To Alexander Hamilton from Colonel Otho H. Williams, 30 August 1780 (Hamilton Papers)
About the 23d. Instant I wrote my Friend Harrison from Salisbury giving him a very hasty, particular account of the Defeat of Genl. Gates’s Army at Suttons near Campden the 16th Instant. We were truly unfortunate and compleatly routed. The infamous Cowardice of the Militia of Virginia and North Carolina gave the Enemy every advantage over our few Regular troops whose firm opposition and...
314To Alexander Hamilton from Robert Hanson Harrison, 26 March 1781 (Hamilton Papers)
I came here, My Dear Hamilton, on Friday night to bid adieu to the General, to you and to My other Friends as a military man, and regret much that I have not had the happiness of seeing you. Tomorrow I am obliged to depart, and it is possible our separation may be for ever. But be this as it may, it can only be with respect to our persons, for as to affection, mine for You will continue to my...
315To Alexander Hamilton from Vicomte de Noailles, [10 May 1781] (Hamilton Papers)
je Suis certain mon cher colonel de vous faire plaisir en vous aprenant que votre ami Laurence est arrivé a paris en bonne Santé après une traversée favorable. au depart de la frégate la concorde arrivée a boston avec Mr. de Barras amiral qui vient prendre le commandement de notre flote et Mr. le vicomte de Rochambeau. Mr. Laurence avoit dejà eu plusieurs conferences avec nos ministres; il...
316To Alexander Hamilton from George Clinton, 29 December 1782 (Hamilton Papers)
Before I was honored by your Letter of the 18th. Instant I had received a Line from Colo. Floyd on the same Subject. As my answer to his is forwarded by the present Conveyance I beg leave to refer you to it for Information. I hope it may prove satisfactory and I flatter myself no further Disappointment can take Place. Should I however be mistaken you have only to advise me of it & I will...
317To Alexander Hamilton from Colonel Charles Armand, 21 August 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Je suis arrivé hier au soir d’aupres de kingbridge; le gnl. howe desirant avoir des nouvelles sures de l’ennemy je me suis trouvé obligé de faire unne tres longue marche, par ces raisons je n’ai reçu vôttre lettre que ce matin et je m’empresse d’y repondre. Mr. de wanderburgh consent dites vous que le jugement de la Court martialle soit fait sur le rapport de la Cour d’enquiery. Vous me...
318To Alexander Hamilton from Edward Stevens, 23 December 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
Tho’ I have written you so repeatedly since my Arrival in Scotland, without having ever received an Answer, and ‘tho’ I am, at present, uncertain whether you have escaped those Dangers, to which you have been so long exposed in Defence of the glorious Cause in wh: you are engaged; yet so anxious am I to hear Something concerning you, and to convince you that I still retain the most sincere and...
319George Washington to Brigadier General Louis Le Bèque Du Portail and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, 21 October … (Hamilton Papers)
In my Letters of the 10th & 18th I transmitted all the intelligence I had obtained, respecting the Enemy from the time of your departure to those two periods; and by the present conveyance, I inclose you an Extract of a Letter from Major General Gates of the 15th. By this you will perceive he was fully persuaded, that the Enemy were preparing to evacuate Rhode Island and he expected from his...
320To Alexander Hamilton from Gouverneur Morris, 4 July 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
Your Letter gave me the Pleasure of knowing with Certainty what might be depended upon among the numerous Reports circulated Thro the Country with Relation to the Several movements of the Enemy. That Howe wishes to draw you to a General Action is highly Probable because certainly he hath no other Means of conquering the Country, but the time when he wishes to Engage must depend upon a General...
321George Washington to Major General Arthur St. Clair and Lieutenant Colonels Edward Carrington and Alexander Hamilton, [8 … (Hamilton Papers)
The powers herewith authorise you to proceed to Amboy on Thursday the 9th. instant to meet Commissioners on the part of the enemy for the purpose of settling a General Cartel. You will perceive what has been already done in this business by the papers accompanying this. The proposals concerted between Major General Phillips and Colonels Magaw, Mathews, Ely and Lt Col Ramsay, No. 1; the...
322To Alexander Hamilton from Marquis de Lafayette, 23 May 1781 (Hamilton Papers)
I have Been long Complaining that I had Nothing to do and want of employment was an objection I had to my going to the Southward. But for the present, my dear friend, my Complaint is quite of an opposite nature, and I have so many Arrangements to make, so many difficulties to Combat, so many Ennemies to deal with that I am just that much of a general as will make me an Historian of...
323From George Washington to Brigadier General Duportail and Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Hamilton, 30 October 1779 (Washington Papers)
I inclose You an Extract of a Letter of the 26th which General Greene has just received from Mr Bowen D.Q.M. Genl, dated in New port, announcing the evacuation of Rhode Island by the Enemy on Monday night last. The intelligence is not to be doubted, although by some means or another it has happened, that I have not received any advices from Genl Gates upon the subject, or a Letter from him...
324To Alexander Hamilton from Robert R. Livingston, 10 August 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
I was much disappointed at not hearing from you by the return of the express, which I attribute in great measure to his negligence in not calling for an Answer to my Letter. I am sorry to inform you that things wear a more gloomy aspect here than ever, that our army instead of being increased daily diminishes, that the Troops of which it is composed are so dispersed, as to be unable to stop...
325To Alexander Hamilton from Marquis de Lafayette, 29 June 1782 (Hamilton Papers)
How it Happens that I still am in Paris, I Hardly Can Myself Conceive and What is More Surprising, there are two frigates Going, Neither of Which Will Carry Your friend to America. Don’t think However, dear Hamilton, I Am So Much Alterd as to Be Kept Here By pleasure or private Affairs. But in the present Circumstances the American Ministers Have insisted Upon My Remaining some time longer at...
326From John Jay to Alexander Hamilton, 18 September 1779 (Jay Papers)
Your favors of the 25, 26, & 30 July last ^ & 12 Inst ^ have lain by me thus long ^ unnoticed remained unanswered ^ . You have Reason to think ^ This Circumstance ^ would naturally lead you to think me inattentive; others will induce you to ascribe
327To Alexander Hamilton from William Gordon, 25 August 1779 (Hamilton Papers)
Upon my return home from a visit on the monday evening I received yours without a date. However common the principle may be, on which you urge me. to an immediate direct & explicit answer , as tho’ the least hesitation or reserve might give room for conjectures, which it can be neither your wish nor mine to excite —it is certainly a false one. In many cases a gentleman may receive information...
328To Alexander Hamilton from Major General Henry Knox, 24 July 1782 (Hamilton Papers)
I have been waiting my dear Hamilton, for a Crisis in the case of the intended retaliation for the murder of Huddy before I answer’d your favor of the 7th of last month. But it has yet to have arrived. A Captain of Cornwallis’s Army was brought up to the Jersey line by a mistake of General Hazens in lieu of an unconditional prisoner as a subject for execution. As this person is of considerable...
329To Alexander Hamilton from Major Sebastian Bauman, 13 August 1780 (Hamilton Papers)
I cannot help laying before you a few of my thoughts which lately have engrossed my whole attention on the review of our changeable government at West Point. However I hope you will make no other use of them, but such as may be of advantage and whatever may be improper or improperly stated, impute to my inability only, and there you’ll please to let it rest, and take in good part of what I...
330To Alexander Hamilton from Marquis de Lafayette, 26 August 1778 (Hamilton Papers)
J’ai recu votre lettre, cher colonel, et j’y aurois repondu plutôt si l’absence de la flotte ne m’avoit pas mis hors d’etat de vous parler d’autre chose que de ma bonne volonté, dont je ne crois pas avoir besoin de vous assurer. Mais j’ai vu Mr le Cte d’estaing, et je puis à present vous parler en son nom. La veneration, la tendresse qu’il a pour notre cher general, joint au sentiment que vous...
331From George Washington to Alexander Hamilton, 16 April 1783 (Washington Papers)
My last letter to you was written in a hurry, when I was fatigued by the more public—yet confidential letter which (with several others) accompanied it; possibly, I did not on that occasion express myself (in what I intended as a hint) with so much perspicuity as I ought—possibly too, what I then dropped might have conveyed more than I intended; for I do not, at this time, recollect the force...
332To Alexander Hamilton from George Washington, 30 October 1777 (Hamilton Papers)
It having been judged expedient by the Members of ⟨a⟨ Council of War held yesterday, that one of the Gentlemen of my family should be sent to Genl: Gates in order to lay befor⟨e⟩ him the State of this Army; and the Situation of the Ene⟨my⟩ and to point out to him the many happy Consequences that will accrue from an immediate reinforceme⟨nt⟩ being sent from the Nothern Army; I have thought ⟨it⟩...
333Continental Congress Nomination as Minister to Russia, 15 December 1780 (Hamilton Papers)
Philadelphia, December 15, 1780. On this date John Mathews nominated Hamilton Minister to Russia. JCC Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, 1904–1937; Reprinted, New York, 1968). , XVIII, 1155–56. Mathews was a delegate to the Continental Congress from South Carolina. Francis Dana of Massachusetts and Arthur Lee of Virginia were the other nominees ( JCC Journals of the...
334Commission as Delegate to the Continental Congress, [25 October 1782] (Hamilton Papers)
State of New York. The People of the State of New York by the Grace of God free & Independent: To all whom these presents shall come send Greeting. Know Ye that we having inspected the records remaining in the Secretary’s Office of our said State do find there a certain Commission in the words following to wit “The people of the State of New York by the Grace of God free & independent: To all...
335A Proposition, [18 March 1780] (Hamilton Papers)
That the Exchange of the first Division of the Troops of Convention according to the proposed Plan given in shall have immediate Operation with the Exchanges of Officers for Officers Prisoners of War, and that the Exchange of the second Division of the Troops of Convention according to the proposed Plan given in shall, also, have immediate Operation so far as the Estimate of American Officers,...
336Appointment as Delegate to the Continental Congress, 22 July 1782 (Hamilton Papers)
Poughkeepsie, New York, July 22, 1782. On this date the New York legislature passed the following resolution: “ Resolved , That the Honorable James Duane, William Floyd, John Morin Scott, Ezra L’Hommedieu and Alexander Hamilton, Esquires, be, and are hereby declared duly nominated and appointed Delegates, to represent this State in the United States in Congress assembled, for one Year, from...
337Admission as Attorney before the New York Supreme Court, July 1782 (Hamilton Papers)
[ Albany ] July, 1782. In July, 1782, Hamilton was admitted to practice as an attorney before the Supreme Court of the State of New York. MS “Roll of Attornies of … Supreme Court of … New York, 1754–95,” Hall of Records, New York City.
338Enclosure: From Robert Morris, [15 April 1782] (Hamilton Papers)
Whereas Alexander Hamilton esquire in conformity with an Act of the United States in Congress assembled passed the 2d of November 1781, hath been duly appointed by Commission under my Hand and Seal, Receiver of the continental Taxes within the State of New York. And whereas it is doubtful whether a Receiver of the continental Taxes hath yet been recognized by the Legislature of that State, In...
339Commission as Lieutenant Colonel, [25 October 1780] (Hamilton Papers)
The United States of America In Congress Assembled To Alexander Hamilton Esq. Greeting. We, Reposing especial trust and confidence in your Patriotism, Valour, Conduct, and Fidelity, DO by these presents constitute and appoint you, to a Lieutenant Colonel in the Army of the United States, to take rank as such from the first day of March A. D. 1777. You are therefore carefully and diligently to...
340Continental Congress Nomination as Minister to France, 9 December 1780 (Hamilton Papers)
Philadelphia, December 9, 1780. On this date John Sullivan nominated Hamilton “for the office of minister to the Court of Versailles.” JCC Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789 (Washington, 1904–1937; Reprinted, New York, 1968). , XVIII, 1138. For background to this document, see Marquis de Lafayette to H, December 9, 1780, note 7 ( PAH Harold C. Syrett, ed., The Papers of Alexander...
341Poems by Colonel Samuel Blachley Webb, [January 1780] (Hamilton Papers)
To Colonel Hamilton AD , Yale University Library. Webb, who was a colonel of one of the Sixteen Additional Continental Regiments at the time of his capture on Long Island, December, 1777, was on parole when this poem was written. On the last page of this manuscript, Webb wrote: “To Lt Col Hamilton, on his being attentive to C. Lott, Jany, 1780.” This is a reference to Cornelia Lott who was the...
342Appointment as Receiver of Continental Taxes, [15 April 1782] (Hamilton Papers)
To Alexander Hamilton Esquire Reposing especial Trust and Confidence in your Zeal, Integrity and Abilities I do hereby in Consequence of the Authorities vested in me by an Act of the United States in Congress assembled of the second Day of November last appoint you Alexander Hamilton Esquire to be the Receiver of the continental Taxes for the State of New York. Given under my Hand and Seal in...