Complete Works. Hamilton Alexander
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Revolution, he thus speaks of the family: "It consisted of Mr. Schuyler, his second daughter, whose face is gentle and pleasing; a Miss Peggy Schuyler, whose features were animated and interesting; and another charming daughter only eight years old, and of three boys, the oldest of whom is fifteen, and who are the finest children possible, and then he is himself a man of about fifty, but already ailing and subject to gout. He has a considerable fortune, which will increase for he owns an immense extent of territory, but his talents and acquirements gain him greater respect than his wealth." General Schuyler always suffered from this disease, which seems to have been the curse of his adult life, and there is scarcely one of the later letters written by him that does not contain some allusion to his sufferings and incapacity. It seriously interfered with his various military campaigns, and more than one of his malignant enemies had intimated that he made it an excuse for his reluctance to meet the enemy! It certainly led to his being carried upon the shoulders of men, or by more comfortable conveyances, to the scene of his active operations in the northeastern part of the State during the border operations. He gloomily writes to his daughter, July 28, 1795: "I have not drank any champagne since I experienced Its pernicious effects upon me—and shall not venture on It again." He also announces his intention of going to the Lebanon Springs for a cure.
The children referred to by Chastellux and others grew up and married and went their various ways, none of them, however, achieving any great distinction. The daughters, especially Angelica, as has been said, were witty and attractive. Between Elizabeth Schuyler, her husband, and her brothers and sisters, there always existed a pleasant relation, but none of them entered into the intimate life of the Hamiltons except General Schuyler, Angelica Church, his daughter, and Philip, son of John Bradstreet Schuyler, who spent most of his early life with them.
The children of Elizabeth and Alexander Hamilton were eight in number, the first Philip being born January 22, 1782, while a second Philip came June 2, 1802, and was named after his elder brother, who had been killed in a duel the year before. Between these two were,
| Angelica, | born | September 25,1784. |
| Alexander, | " | May 16,1786. |
| James Alexander, | " | April 14, 1788. |
| John Church, | " | August 22, 1792. |
| William Stephen, | " | August 4, 1797. |
| Eliza, | " | November 20, 1799. |
Philip, the first child, seems to have been the most beloved and the most written and spoken about of all, for he was evidently the flower of the family. In a letter to General Meade, from Philadelphia, dated March, 1782, when Hamilton had left the army and was preparing to take up his professional work, an amusing allusion is made to the birth of this child.
Alexander Hamilton to Richard K. Meade
Philadelphia, March, 1782.
A half hour since brought me the pleasure of your letter of December 1st. It went to Albany, and came from thence to this place. I heartily felicitate you on the birth of your daughter, I can well conceive your happiness on that occasion, by that which I felt on a similar occasion. Indeed, the sensations of a tender father of the child of a beloved mother, can only be conceived by those who have experienced them.
Your heart, my Meade, is peculiarly formed for engagements of this Kind. You have every right to be a happy husband—a happy father. You have every prospect of being so. I hope your felicity may never be interrupted. You cannot imagine how entirely domestic I am growing. I lose all taste for the pursuits of ambition. I sigh for nothing but the Company of my wife and my baby. The ties of duty alone, or imagined duty, Keep me from renouncing public life altogether. It is, however, probable I may not any longer be engaged in it. . . .
Imagine, my dear Meade, what pleasure it must give Eliza and myself to Know that Mrs. Meade interests herself in us. Without a personal acquaintance, we have been long attached to her. My visit at Mr. Fitzhugh's confirmed my partiality.
Betsy is so fond of your family that she proposes to form a match between her boy and your girl, provided you will engage to make the latter as amiable as her mother.
Truly, my dear Meade, I often regret that fortune has cast our residence at Such a distance from each other. It would be a serious addition to my happiness if we lived where I Could see you every day; but fate has determined it otherwise.
I am a little hurried, and can only request, in addition, that you will present me most affectionately to Mrs. Meade, and believe me to be, With the warmest
And most unalterable friendship
Yours A. Hamilton.
On many occasions we find in letters that passed between his father-in-law and himself, as well as others, frequent references to the career of this promising boy, who, at the time of his death, was, evidently, dearer to Hamilton than any of his other children, and this feeling seems to have been shared by the family. Many years after the Meade letter Angelica Church wrote from London:
"I have received with inexpressible pleasure your long letter, and thank my Eliza for the agreeable details respecting your children. Philip inherits his father's talents. What flattering prospects for a mother! You are, my dear sister, very happy with such a Husband and such promise in a son."
Philip, like his father, had attended Columbia College, where he graduated with high honors in 1800, and was intended for the bar, but in a discussion with one George I. Eacker regarding a political matter, a challenge passed between them, and the young man, who was less than twenty, fell November 23, 1801, at the same place where Hamilton himself met his death three years later.1 It would appear that, like his father, he too was forced into an encounter which was in conflict with all his principles.
Many accounts of the circumstances which led to the affair have been given, but none of these are capable of verification, although the most probable is the one which states that the quarrel grew out of a Fourth-of-July speech made by Eacker in praise of Burr, and in which he incidentally reflected upon Alexander Hamilton.
In the duel, which was fought at three o'clock in the afternoon, Philip received a mortal wound, but lingered on until the morning of the next day.
The event attracted a great deal of newspaper discussion, and as at that time the American Citizen and General Advertiser was bitterly inimical to Hamilton, it was its endeavor to show that his son was to blame. The Evening Post, however, took the ground that the affair was due to the intolerable provocation of Eacker. It appears from this description that Philip Hamilton and a young man named Price were at the theatre in a box adjoining that of Eacker, and that they indulged in satirical comments upon a Fourth-of-July oration. Eacker, overhearing them, invited the young men to step into the lobby, and called some one a d-d rascal. They adjourned to a public house, where an explanation was demanded, and when asked whom the offensive expression was meant for, he declared that it was intended for each. As they parted Eacker said, " I shall expect to hear from you," when they replied, "You shall." A challenge followed. Eacker met Price on the following Sunday, and four shots were exchanged without harm to any one. The seconds interfered, and the parties left the field. On the next day Hamilton met Eacker, and received a shot through the body at the first discharge, and fell without firing.
Angelica Church wrote to her brother, who was in Albany: "His [Hamilton's] conduct was extraordinary during this trial. I cannot reach particulars now, my sister is a little composed, and the corpse will be removed from