Founding Fathers: Complete Biographies, Their Articles, Historical & Political Documents. Emory Speer
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the closing scene should not be forgotten by his patriotic young countrymen. It was at Yorktown. It had been determined by Washington to carry by assault two of the British redoubts from which had flamed an enfilading fire on the allied entrenchments. Two columns of attack were formed. The one a regiment of French grenadiers, which had for long borne the proud title "Auvergne without stain." The other was a detachment of Americans commanded by LaFayette, who had given the honor of leading the advance to his own aide-de-camp, Lieutenant-Colonel Gimat. This wounded the military pride of Hamilton, whose tour of duty it was. He instantly protested to Washington, who directed that he should, as was his right, command both columns of assault. At eight o'clock in the evening, when the rockets flared the signal, the forlorn hope instantly swarmed to the attack. The royal regiments of France waited for the sappers to remove the abatis, while Hamilton's veteran bush-fighters, in rough and tumble style, pulled down the abatis themselves. First to mount was Hamilton himself. Placing one foot on the shoulder of a soldier who knelt on one knee for the purpose, sword in hand he sprang over the parapet. Instantly his veterans dashed headlong after him, and without firing a shot turned out the British with the bayonet's point. The gallant Frenchmen with much heavier loss were also successful.
It is interesting to reflect that this was Washington's as it was Hamilton's last battle. It was now a quarter of a century since the patriot commander had written to his brother after his first fight, "I heard the bullets whistle, and believe me, there is something charming in the sound." "He would not say so," said George the Second, "if he had been used to hear many." No bad judge of such matters, was this dapper little King George. Thackeray, in his charming lectures, tells us that he had a famous spirit of his own and fought like a Trojan. He called out his brother of Prussia with sword and pistol, and a duel was only prevented by the representations, made to the two, of the European laughter which would have been caused by such a transaction. "At Dettingen his horse ran away with him, and with difficulty was stopped from carrying him into the French lines. The King dismounted from the fiery quadruped, said bravely, ‘Now I know I shall not run away,' and placing himself at the head of the foot, drew his sword, brandishing it at the whole French army, and calling out to his own men to come on, in bad English, but with the most famous pluck and spirit."
On public festivals he always appeared in the hat and coat he wore on the famous day of Oudenarde, and the people laughed, but kindly, at the odd old garment, "for bravery," wrote the kindly satirist, "never goes out of fashion."
It is probable that the contemporary monarchs of the House of Hanover always underestimated the fighting spirit of the great Virginian, or perhaps amid the smiles and cajolements of their fat and lean mistresses they did not trouble themselves to think of him at all; forgetting perhaps how his riflemen with terrible loss, desperately lighting from every tree and log, protected the shattered remnant of Braddock's army from massacre and torture. Surely, the Third George did not know the man who, riding to take command at Cambridge, met the courier, and heard the great news how fifteen hundred minute-men of New England, with Starke and Prescott, Warren and Putnam, had obeyed orders, stood their ground, reserved their fire, and in the presence of anxious thousands in Boston, the roaring flames of Charlestown, the thunders of the enemy's fleet, and the deadly fire of the crack regiments of the King, before their slender works were carried, had shot down a thousand and fifty-four, or one-third of the attacking column. The King did not hear the Virginian planter as those firm lips exclaimed, "The liberties of our country are safe." Long Island, White Plains, Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Monmouth, and other stricken fields, where the redcoats of King George and his own "ragged Continentals yielding not" had met in the shock of battle, were all now behind him. He was now at the fruition of his hopes, and to the last he maintained the intense, but calm, intrepidity in hours of extremest moment which has ever marked our greatest military leaders. As Hamilton's command advanced to storm the redoubts, Washington had dismounted, and had taken his stand in the grand battery with Generals Knox and Lincoln and their staffs. As the columns swept on, he watched them through an embrasure. One of his aides suggested that his situation was very exposed. "If you think so," he coldly replied, "you are at liberty to step back." A musket-ball struck the cannon in the embrasure, rolled along it and fell at his feet. General Knox grasped his arm. "My dear General," exclaimed his friend, "we cannot spare you yet." "It is a spent ball," replied Washington quietly, "no harm is done." When all was over and the redoubts were taken, he drew a long breath, turned to Knox and said, "The work is done and well done." Five days later the British army marched mournfully from their works with slow and solemn steps, and colors cased, their drums thumping out, and their fifes wailing an old-time air, entitled, "The World Turned Upside Down," and grounded their arms. The country gave way to transports of joy. Lord George Germaine was the first to carry the news to Lord North, the Prime Minister of King George, at his office in Downing Street. "And how did he take it," was inquired. "As he would have taken a ball in the breast," was the reply.
It is interesting to recall that at Yorktown Hamilton no longer belonged to Washington's military family. The incident which occasioned the separation had occurred on the 18th of the previous February. It is described by Hamilton himself in a letter to his father-in-law, General Schuyler. "An unexpected change," writes Hamilton, "has taken place in my situation. I am no longer a member of the General's family. This information will surprise you, and the manner of the change will surprise you more. Two days ago the General and I passed each other on the stairs; he told me he wanted to speak to me. I answered I would wait on him immediately. I went below and delivered Mr. Tilghman a letter to be sent to the commissary, containing an order of a pressing and interesting nature. Returning to the General, I was stopped on the Way by the Marquis de LaFayette, and we conversed maybe about a minute on a matter of business. He can testify how impatient I was to get back, and that I left him in a manner which but for our intimacy would have been more than abrupt. Instead of finding the General, as is usual, in his room, I met him at the head of the stairs, where, accosting me in an angry tone, ‘Colonel Hamilton,' said he, ‘you have kept me waiting at the head of the stairs these ten minutes; I must tell you, sir, you treat me with disrespect.' I replied without petulancy, but with decision, ‘I am not conscious of it, sir; but since you have thought it necessary to tell me so, we part.' ‘Very Well, sir,' said he, ‘if it be your choice,' or something to this effect, and we separated. I sincerely believe my absence which gave so much umbrage did not last ten minutes."
The exquisite judgment and profound magnanimity of Washington was not ruffled by the punctilios of his young friend. An ordinary man would have resented Hamilton's immovable refusal to accept an accommodation. Notwithstanding this, Washington determined at once to retain in the service of the country that astonishing capacity, "formed for all parts, and in all alike shining variously great." We have seen how just he was to Hamilton at Yorktown. The truth is the great Virginian loved him like a son. It is indeed probable that no man ever surpassed Hamilton in his power to gain the affectionate devotion of very great men. "He was evidently," said one of his most engaging biographers, "very attractive, and must have possessed a great charm of manners, address, and conversation, but the real secret was that he loved his friends and so they loved him. All his comrades on the staff and all the officers young and old who knew him, and were not hostile to Washington, loved him and were proud of his talents. The same was true of the young French officers with whom he was much thrown, on account of his perfect command of their language, a very rare accomplishment in the colonies. To these attributes we may ascribe that personal following in after years, which for culture, force of character, lofty ability, and devotion to his leadership, are surely unsurpassed in American political history."
It is incontestable that in the practical application of the science of government, the educative results of Hamilton's duties as military secretary were most potential. His persuasive and constructive powers were now to be trained for years in the salvation of an unorganized people, and the making of a nation. That Washington is himself entitled to the substantial credit for the enormous correspondence which had emanated from his headquarters during the war cannot be fairly denied. It was he who directed the movements of armies, who protested against the incapacity of officers, native and alien, and who baffled the schemes of those vile and envious marplots who would detract from the just renown of every man who, through motives their infinitesimal natures cannot embrace, yet labor for the happiness of the people and the betterment of their times; who imparted to Congress an account of his necessities, and who as unceasingly