Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander

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СКАЧАТЬ to me that would have been beyond a doubt. —The reduction of Canada since the Indians are generally become hostile is a matter certainly of the first Importance, as we shall have no alternative left in the ensuing Campaign but that of abandoning the present frontiers from Virginia to New Hampshire Inclusive, or keeping a body of troops for their protection equal to the Conquest of Canada.

      I was on the point of commencing my Journey to Hartford when the british on Lake Champlain a second time reached this quarter, that and their manoeuvre on the Grants prevented me from prosecuting It, and It is now too late. Mr. Benson' paid me a visit a few days before he set out for Hartford. The conversation we had together I hope will tend to public utility. He is strongly Impressed with the necessity of Immediately and permanently compleating the army, and of another matter which I formerly mentioned to you. Both appear to me so necessary that I form no great expectations from the first without the latter.

      I have advised the Governor to call the Assembly at any early day. I think It of great importance that a final surrender should be made with the people on the Grants. They are capable of strengthening the army and aiding In the defense of the pontoons, and I do not despair of rendering them useful in both ways. If I can bring the legislature to adopt my Ideas.

      Be assured that we shall be happy to see the Gentlemen you mention, and such others as you may bring with you.

      Mrs. Schuyler joins me in the most affectionate wishes.

      Adieu. I am Dear Sir Most Sincerely,

      Your serv. etc.

      Ph. Schuyler,

      Colo. Hamilton.

      The "grants" here referred to were those allotted to the settlers by Governor Wentworth, the territory being that which now forms the States of New Hampshire and Vermont, but at that early time was a disputed region not comprised in the lands deeded to New York by Massachusetts and Connecticut, and lying above the division line.

      Hamilton's duties were most engrossing, and the available correspondence that passed between him and his superiors and friends makes us wonder that he found time for any social distractions whatever. It appears that he was sent to meet Rochambeau, and again was despatched to West Point to capture Benedict Arnold, while his connection with the trial of Major Andre at about the same time shows that his billets were numerous and important. However, he found sufficient opportunity to fall in love with Miss Elizabeth Schuyler, who was the second of the General's daughters, a girl of about his own age, she having been born in 1757.

      In the winter of 1779-80 Washington was for the second time encamped at Morristown, under very much better conditions than when he was there previously, and, thanks to the provisions made by Robert Morris and General Schuyler and the help afforded by France, the troops were better clad and housed, although there was still great destitution and, later, great discontent. This, in measure, was due to the fact that they had not, for a long time, been paid, and a mutinous spirit was engendered which had been taken advantage of—without any success, however—by British emissaries.

      In spite of all this, as well as the proximity of the British, who came over from Staten Island to Elizabethtown, there may be said to have been a breathing spell for the little American army.

      Washington and his officers, despite their discomfort and sufferings, managed to extract a considerable amount of pleasure from life, and there appears to have been a great deal of gayety, which was participated in by a merry collection of young people, among whom were the Frenchmen attached to head-quarters.

      Governor William Livingston, who had befriended Hamilton upon his arrival in America in 1772, occupied his large, comfortable house known as Liberty Hall at Elizabethtown, which was built in 1776. With him were his pretty daughters, one of whom, Sarah, married John Jay, and the youngest, Kitty, who was an attached friend of Elizabeth Schuyler. These charming young women with their neighbors. Lady Kitty Stirling and her sister, and Susan Boudinot, vied with each other in making the routine life of the young army officers more bearable.

      In the neighborhood were the quarters of Generals Greene, Knox, Philip Schuyler, and Surgeon-General Cochran.

      Routs and balls were common, and the letters of the time detail in the quaint style of the period much of the camp gossip. The military family, as it was called, of Washington planned many entertainments, and the chief spirits were Hamilton, Tilghman, and McHenry.

      On March 18, 1780, McHenry wrote to Hamilton, who had been sent off to exchange prisoners:

      The family since your departure have given hourly proofs of a growing weakness. Example I verily believe is infectious. For such a predominance is beauty establishing over their hearts, that should things continue to wear as sweet an aspect as they are now beheld in, I shall be the only person left, of the whole household, to support the dignity of human nature. But in good earnest God bless both you, and your weakness, and preserve me your sincere friend.

      The Vicomte de Chastellux, afterward marquis, was one of the many French noblemen who risked their lives in the War of Independence, and have left us unique impressions of the men, manners, and customs of that period, and especially of the Morristown encampment.

      During the winter of 1780 he took advantage of the lull in operations to go on a journey from his post in Rhode Island to visit General Washington at his head-quarters in Morristown, then to visit General Schuyler at Albany, and to inspect the various scenes of the struggles in which he himself had not participated.

      Bad weather, still worse roads, the intense cold, and difficulties in obtaining shelter for man and beast could not dampen his spirits, or lessen his interest in all he heard and saw, and it may be the contrast with the forlorn outer world that prompted him to give so vivid a picture of the home comforts and pleasant intimacy that he found at Morristown.

      Amongst other delightful comments upon his arrival and welcome he describes the first dinner and says: "I adapt myself very well to the English toast; one has very small glasses—one pours for oneself the quantity of wine desired without being urged to take more, and the toast is but a kind of refrain to the conversation; and again: " I observed that at dinner the toasts were more ceremonious: some were for etiquette, others were suggested by the General and named by whichever aide-de-camp was doing the honors; for every day one of them sits at the end of the table beside the General in order to help all the dishes and dole out the bottles; now, that night the toasts were called by Colonel Hamilton and he gave them just as they occurred to him, haphazard and informally.

      "At the end of supper the guests are always asked to give a sentiment, that is, any woman to whom they may be attached by some sentiment, either love, friendship, or simple preference. This supper or conversation lasts from nine to eleven at night, always easy and agreeable."

      Notwithstanding Chastellux's stories of the prodigality of Washington's table, and the apparent luxurious mode of life during his visit, it may be stated on the authority of Tre-velyan that the entire cost of maintaining the Head-quarters' Staff, and the obligatory hospitality to outsiders during four and one-half months, and of a hungry army for the same time, was less than £500.

      Washington's head-quarters were in the old Jacob Ford place. According to Lossing the General and his family occupied the whole of the house except two rooms on the eastern side which were reserved for Mrs. Ford and her family. Two log additions made to the house were used as a kitchen, and as an office for Washington, Tilghman, and Hamilton, while near the head-quarters were huts erected for the life guard, then commanded by General William Colfax, who had succeeded Caleb Gibbs.

      Hamilton's love-making was evidently pursued with the same activity as everything else he did, and his addresses, as was СКАЧАТЬ