To Alexander Hamilton from Benjamin Goodhue, 8 December 1798
From Benjamin Goodhue
[Philadelphia] Saturday Evg Decr 8th. 98
Dear Sir
I have paid all the attention in my power the short time allowed me would admit on the subject of your letter,1 as I was wholy unacquainted with almost the whole of the names handed me I found it necessary to call together in confidence Messrs Otis2 Parker3 Sewal4 and Dwight Foster.5 The result of our consultation will be found in the list markd, in which
No | 1 stands for good |
2 middling | |
3 Bad | |
M would in our opinion accept of a Majority | |
C would do accept of a Captaincy | |
S for Subaltern | |
E for Ensign | |
DK for dont know their character |
We have made some additions from our own Knowledge; in confidence let me remark that some of us are of opinion that Hunewell6 & Walker7 have the preference of Gibbs8 as Lieutenant Colonels and that Walker would accept a majority in case you take Elliot9 for a Lieutenant Colonel in his room which We think would be a judicious arrangement, for Elliot tho I am not much acquainted with him I have heard him very highly spoken of by Messrs. Cabot10 Ames11 and a number of others of our best characters.
I am with sincere esteem Yr Affectionate Friend
B Goodhue
my Brethren seem very desirous to Know if Elias Parker12 is on the list of Majors for Virginia as they esteem him a valuable Character.
Genl. Hamilton
ALS, George Washington Papers, Library of Congress.
1. Letter not found.
2. Harrison Gray Otis.
3. Isaac Parker, a Federalist and a lawyer in Castine, District of Maine, was a United States Representative from Massachusetts from 1797 to 1799. On March 5, 1799, he replaced John Hobby as United States marshal for the District of Maine ( , 144, 258, 325, 327).
4. Samuel Sewall was a Federalist member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1796 to 1800.
5. Foster was a Federalist member of the House of Representatives from Massachusetts from 1793 to 1800.
6. Richard Hunewell, a veteran of the American Revolution, was sheriff of Penobscot, District of Maine.
7. John Walker.
8. Caleb Gibbs.
9. Simon Elliot was a Boston merchant.
10. George Cabot, who had been a Boston merchant and a Federalist member of the United States Senate from 1791 to 1796, had retired to Brookline, Massachusetts, in 1798.
11. Fisher Ames.