From Alexander Hamilton to Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, Nathan Rice, and William S. Smith, 26 March 1800
To Charles Cotesworth Pinckney,
Nathan Rice, and William S. Smith1
New York March 26. 1800
Sir
Inclosed is a plan of the Formation of a Regiment for Exercise or Battle,2 of which I request your mature consideration, and that you will favour me as early as may be with the result of your reflections. The more careful and particular your criticism, the more will it oblige me.
ADf, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. In the margin of this letter H wrote: “Two copies as in the original draft. One as altered by interlineations.” The “copies as in the original draft” were sent to Smith and Rice. The copy “as altered by interlineations” was sent to Pinckney in the letter printed above.
2. Although the enclosure has not been found, evidence indicates that it was an extract of H’s “Plan of the Formation of a Regiment for Exercise or Battle,” December, 1799–March, 1800, which provided for equalization of platoons. On April 25, 1800, Pinckney wrote to H that equalization had not been mentioned in the plan he had received. H replied on May 14 that equalization was part of his plan but that it had not been included in the extract sent to Pinckney.