From Alexander Hamilton to Timothy Pickering, [1 January 1798]
To Timothy Pickering1
[New York, January 1, 1798]
Dr. Sir
By some unaccountable delay the inclosed2 which came in a letter to me3 has been extremely postponed. I hope not injuriously for the interest of the party concerned. Do me the favour to acknowlege its receipt.4
Yrs. with esteem & regard
A H
ALS, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.
1. For background to this letter, see the Marquis de Fleury to H, May 28, 1796; Oliver Wolcott, Jr., to H, September 1, 1796; H to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, September 12, 1796.
2. The “inclosed” is a letter from Fleury to Pickering, February 21, 1797 (ALS, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston), which contains copies of documents supporting Fleury’s claim for compensation for his services during the American Revolution. The enclosures, in Fleury’s handwriting, are in the Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston.
During the American Revolution, Fleury, who had served in the French army, was made a brigade major on the staff of Casimir Pulaski in 1777 after the Battle of Brandywine, and later that year he became a lieutenant colonel of engineers. He fought with Rochambeau at Yorktown in 1781. At the end of the war Fleury went to South America, and in 1784 he returned to France. See Fleury to H, October 15–19, 1777; August 4, 1784.
3. Letter not found.
4. Pickering endorsed this letter: “Inclosing Colo. Fleurys packet dated Feby. 21. 1797.”