From Alexander Hamilton to John Jay, 30 June 1792
To John Jay
Philadelphia June 30. 1792
My Dear Sir
The bearer of this is Lt Colonel Toussard, a French Officer, who lost his arm in our service during the late war.1 He is now Lt Colonel of the Regiment Du Cape,2 and lately from St Domingo with his family. Being desirous of purchasing some lands in our State, he is setting out on a journey to N York and has requested a line introducing him to you. This I readily comply with, as he is generally esteemed a man of real worth.
The attentions you may shew him will oblige Dr Sir Yr. Affect & Obed serv
A Hamilton
Chief Justice Jay
ALS, courtesy of the Alexander Hamilton Bicentennial Commission.
1. Lewis Tousard had served as a captain of artillery and later as aide-de-camp to Lafayette during the American Revolution. After he was wounded at Rhode Island in 1778, the Continental Congress granted him a life annuity. At the end of the war he held the rank of lieutenant colonel by brevet.
2. The Regiment du Cap-Français was to be disbanded under a decree of the National Assembly of France of September 29, 1791. The reorganization of the colonial special regiments did not take effect in Santo Domingo until December, 1792. Tousard returned to Santo Domingo and was sent back to France in the fall of 1792 with other officers of the Regiment du Cap-Français under suspicion of counterrevolutionary activities. In 1793 he fled from France to join his family in the United States.