1. The enclosures were three letters: 1) William E. Cochrane to Capt. Archibald W. Hamilton, 5 Mar. 1816 (3 pp.), commending his refusal to fight Americans at New Orleans as highly “patriotic” and supporting his claim for a commission in the U.S. Army; 2) William Flood to Hamilton, 12 Apr. 1816 (2 pp.), similarly praising Hamilton for not being “shaken by British preferment or British Gold”; and 3) Louisiana senator James Brown to Secretary of War William Harris Crawford, 23 Apr. 1816 (1 p.), testifying to the good character of Cochrane and Flood.

2. Born in New York, Hamilton enlisted in the British army in the West Indies in 1809 and rose to the rank of lieutenant. He refused to do duty and resigned his commission upon learning that his regiment was bound for New Orleans in 1814. He was imprisoned by the British and his pay discontinued after 24 Feb. 1815. Claiming that his only motive for entering British service was “to acquire a knowledge of his profession,” he came to Washington in 1816, seeking both an appointment in the American army and compensation for arrears of pay. The House Committee of Claims considered his case in March 1818 and decided it was “utterly inadmissible upon principle” (Sutherland, His Majesty’s Gentlemen, 178; ASP description begins American State Papers: Documents, Legislative and Executive, of the Congress of the United States […] (38 vols.; Washington, D.C., 1832–61). description ends , Claims, 584–85).