Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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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 the fashion of the day, necessitated a vast expenditure of paper, ink, and blotting sand; and some of his characteristic letters are presented. His attentions to Miss Schuyler met with the hearty approval of her father, who wrote to him as follows:
You cannot my dear Sir, be more happy at the connection you have made with my family than I am. Until the child of a parent has made a judicious choice his heart is in continual anxiety; but this anxiety was removed the moment I discovered on whom she had placed her affections. I am pleased with every instance of delicacy in those who are dear to me, and I think I read your soul on that occasion you mention. I shall therefore only entreat you to consider me as one who wishes in every way to promote your happiness, and I shall.
Shortly after this he wrote to his future mother-in-law the following:
Alexander Hamilton to Mrs. Philip Schuyler
Madam : The inclosed letter came to hand two days ago, and I take the earliest opportunity of forwarding it. I cannot forbear indulging my feelings, by entreating you to accept the assurances of my gratitude for your kind compliance with my wishes to be united to your amiable daughter.... I leave it to my conduct rather than expressions to testify the sincerity of my affection for her—the respect I have for her parents—the desire I shall always feel to justify their confidence and merit their friendship. May I hope Madam, you will not consider it as mere profession, when I add, that though I have not the happiness of a personal acquaintance with you, I am no stranger to the qualities which distinguish your character—and these make the relation in which I shall stand to you, not one of the least pleasing circumstances of my union with your daughter. My heart anticipates the sentiment of that relation and wishes to give you proof of the respectful and affectionate attachment with which I have the honor to be
Madam
Yours
Alexander Hamilton.
Hd. qr. Apnl 14. 80.
But few letters remain which enable us to mark the advance of Hamilton's wooing, but a little verse is in my possession which was found in a tiny bag hanging from his wife's neck after her death, and which she had evidently always worn, and it was quite probably given to her when they were together this winter. What is apparently a sonnet was written upon a piece of torn and yellow paper, fragments of which had been sewn together with ordinary thread.
ANSWER TO THE INQUIRY WHY I SIGHED
Before no mortal ever knew
A love like mine so tender—true—
Completely wretched—you away—
And but half blessed e'en while you stay.
If present love [illegible] face
Deny you to my fond embrace
No joy unmixed my bosom warms
But when my angel's in my arms."
The letters written to his sweetheart varied much in their nature—some were ardent and full of the extravagant language of the time, others were of greater interest to the historical student of to-day, because in narrative form they gave a graphic idea of the happenings at this important period. It is impossible to separate them, and, as the dates are sometimes omitted, identification is difficult. It is hoped, however, that their presentation will at least afford some idea of what Hamilton felt and did during the time he was paying his addresses to Elizabeth Schuyler.