we have a lot of the military career of alexander hamilton and his relationship with george washington, those that wayne new jersey, it's about an hour in ten minutes. welcome to the washington headquarters, i am so happy that all of you are here if you have not been here before these take a tour with our staff and just before

uncommon introduced our guest speaker today, just a few rules or bits of information, we do have light refreshments for you in the kitchen and, there is a coffee, tea, cheese crackers and cookies, please feel free to get up and take what you like on you not have to go to the visitors center, there is a door opened in the restrooms are over there our staff today, can who is in the back, there we have kelly and we have myself, i'm the director of the affairs for the county and by de facto i'm director of the say, so we are fortunate to have the guest speaker and historian to share his knowledge and expertise on alexander hamilton in his rise to fame and glory, he graduated

from the college with a bachelor degree and from colorado state university, mr. on berkow has been a historic, and researching writing and giving presentations from the northeast through 2000, seven he is a scholar of the american revolution, with research interests that have espionage during the war, he has published historical features and the rain corpse he has been here before and, without

further ado (applause). >> so it's wonderful to have everyone packed into every room that meets the 18th century converging with the 20th century, we can be high tech about this, let me say that i feel much the same as it is my wife because they've been the longtime reenactor you can see we trust as an officer, captain in the u.s. army with the appellate there i'm a shoulder, i have reenacted the battle three times in sweltering heat like today and there am

speaking twice for the awareness society which i'm a member and i've spoken twice that is grave which is attributed to the church in downtown manhattan a very challenging place to speak when you are dealing with construction noise and traffic and i wanted to briefly say that it is quite connection that i wrote an article about the six degrees of alexander hamilton and you can read that on the oz website and it's because my wife and i saw it on and on, and her famous younger brother the painter and then and his epithets on the road which went to auction a year, ago we attended the auction and we had been blown out of the

water and he was 2600 dollars for the pair, we went to ok, the hamilton and we know, there is so little that we know and there's so much and which we focus on his accomplishments as treasury secretary for the infamous dual, it's kind of like the titanic we know how this story ends and he is going to be killed by air in and then a few other things you know the so-called rumors about scandals and so forth and a little bit about his military accomplishments so that is what i'm focused on today because that is what we tend not know and here is a fortune and i should mention he also at one point serves as an aide during the revolution and he served the shortest he was there for about three weeks he was a talented artist so this is his portrait that was used for the ten dollar bill but there is a lot more to him than just that head is in there there is the

entire full length portrait that is in the hall that we have had the permission of city hall to produce to hang in our house i hope that's what you take from today is the appreciation for all the incredible accomplishments for him and his varied roles of military commander, not just as an aide to washington he starts out as a captain. later he is a lieutenant colonel. this is probably one of the best-known portraits of him in uniform. that is the hat of a light infantry officer in yorktown late in the war. this is the portrait you probably have not seen. how many of you know that he was a major general in the u.s. army? we will get to that story and while bit. there is someone else who comes from humble beginnings, rose up on a remote island, and then comes

to the mainland. becomes an incredibly famous military leader. napoleon bonaparte. there is an interesting comparison you can make between those two. it was the quickest way that you could rise in the military ranks. if you want to get to the majors quickly, do it like piazza did. get drafted as a catcher. what do we know about young hamilton? not a whole lot and forms of demonstration. he worked for a merchant in st. croix. his mother was a wonderful woman. a wonderful role model. a very bright woman. had a large collection of books. she was an inspiration to him. he became a you want to get to the majors quickly, do it like piazza did. get drafted as a catcher. what do we know about young hamilton? not a whole lot and forms of demonstration. he worked for a

merchant in st. croix. his mother was a wonderful woman. a wonderful role model. a very bright woman. had a large collection of books. she was an inspiration to him. he became a bookworm like her. on the right is a much more documented painting. it is at the columbia

rare books library. they no longer show that because of the popularity of the musical. you no longer have access. it was wonderful to get to see that. i thought maybe some of these guys would show up. these friends of mine who run an organization called the hearts of oak. this was his first military organization. beautiful, unusual bright green uniforms. as you notice from the photo on the right, they have been here. this is from their facebook page. where did he train his hearts of oak militia unit? in the churchyard

of st. paul's chapel on broadway. i don't know how you do that without multiple tripping hazards. that church has been there a long time. they were arty many headstones there in the 1770's. if you have not been there, i highly encourage that you do. it is the site of a memorial to a fallen general. ben franklin felt so bad about his passing that he had that elaborate memorial put up. was this the first meeting of george washington and alexander hamilton? this story that they met at fort bunker hill in

lower manhattan in april of 1776. we don't know. maybe they met there, maybe they didn't. it is more likely that they met later during washington's organized retreat through the state of new jersey. there have been a couple of illustrations of that. it is the highest point in lower manhattan. manhattan's contours have changed over time. you would

not know where that hill is now. i will show it to you on a map in a minute. one thing we do know is that alexander hamilton's artillery unit does fire on two british ships. the hms phoenix and the hms rose. this was just a week after the declaration of independence had been read by washington to the troops in lower manhattan. the hms rose was a fascinating ship that was later used as a reproduction and the filming of master and commander. it is likely that they did cover george washington in his or treat through manhattan. this is all of what new york city was as of 1776. greenwich village was actually a separate village. manhattan was just that little tip. we don't have substantial proof of it. this high-resolution map shows the location of the hell -- hill. that was used by alexander hamilton and his artillery. was he at the battle of white plains? probably not. thanks to the scholarship of a friend of mine who is also speaking today at another location, he is a scholar of alexander hamilton and has written not one but two books on hamilton. what he has been able to demonstrate with primary source evidence is that 9/10 of the artillery were not at the battle of white plains.

there is a nine out of 10 chance that he was not there. neither his commander nor george washington mention so there is a nine out of ten chance that hamilton was not there and furthermore neither his commander nor george washington had mentioned hamilton orders union by name, okay. now this we do know for sure, hamilton first full fledged combat, he is not shooting the two ships in the river and exposing your ham, this is for combat and as the grandson of an until early officer, my father was a marine and i can appreciate how dramatic this must have been, this is brunswick in new jersey and he's at the queens college campus, and it was queens

college just like columbia was known as kim college that is where hamilton was attending for a few years and would've graduated from if we are not broken out and my wife graduated from there so it was a nice link to have, the news during one of these reunions that i saw this beautiful plaque that says on the campus from the class of 1899, early december, 1770, six alexander hamilton, nod a graduate from the college as a sign says, had a four star artillery and we see across the fort delaying the advantage of the british across the river while washington withdrew from presented trenton and that is true, there are multiple eyewitness reports saying that hamilton's or into the unit delivered withering fire, the dramatically slow down the advance of the british forces there, are right where my wife wrote, i love to make references to the local, storm also alexander hamilton of course helping found american

industry just west of patterson falls where he worked of course, and crossing into delaware, the famous scene and not christmas 90 december of mourning up to 26, and a large life size painting but here is a realistic one, they came out much more recently in 2011 and debuted at the historical society, you can see that it was at night, time here is a different kind of craft, there is a can, and maybe it's hamilton's and so on and so forth, not good weather and similarly another painting by canada talented painter who is now retired, this is one of the last findings he did, victory or death it is hamilton washington others including the future president james monroe also an artillery officer under knocks for the battle of trenton and there they are, an early morning light treasury through the ice and snow and you can imagine how cold they

must have felt, hamilton's artillery was indeed at both battles of trenton, what do i mean? when you hear the battles, well it's just like there's two battles of this goes to battle of trenton, the second one is not as famous and a few days later it's known as the battle of creek and i'm showing that in a sketch, unfortunately not a color drawing you can be found and it is well documented, hamilton much like he did over the river uses his canyon fire to deliver withering fire on the british and this is a well documented battle that gets overshadowed by the surprise attack a few days later, as well as the second surprise attack which is the u.s. army at princeton, the problem is, yes hamilton's artillery at the battle and we don't know exactly, where there is no evidence whatsoever for the lofty legend but it tells a great story that he fires a

cannon with multiple shots and decapitated king georgia the third whose portrayed is hanging on the wall insight, makes for a great story, there is no evidence of this for such detail but it is a good one. >> now this is true, they were offers not from one, so just 75 feet at the church and he was an event marked so i think john for doing that, and multiple battles including the battle of new york and battle law mid is

at his house burned down but he had the beautiful state park there, so hamilton received a note from the lord can be an aide, and from daniel the quaker from north island and each time hamilton amazingly says things but now thanks, what is he yearn four battlefield command, he is worried that if he takes a desk job he doesn't rise it isn't achieve the (technical problem)

alexander the pageant in general and you're going to hear about him a little bit later, you can define transcriptions like this letter at the library of congress website, and the collection of the washington papers and the transcriptions are at founders archives dot borg, now a lot of authors will say that this is all happening when hamilton is 22 years old and he's actually 20, years been able to prove that he was not born in 55, he was born in 1757 so he was 20

years old think about your children and your grandchildren and yourselves. where were you at 20? were you helping washington at his chief of staff? he is the youngest aid by far. most are in their early 30's. the 19th eight already. there was a lot of turnover. there is a great book by a local author about washington's 32 aides. he serves as an aid to washington from 1757 -- 17 77 21781 -- 1777 to 1781. he has his headquarters set up not far from where -- here. there is a sign therefore it. the tavern burned down in 1914. secretaries were probably doing most of the writing side of

things. my assumption would be that when when washington was distinction between a secretary and an aid, the aid might have more varied activities. reconnaissance missions and so forth. the secretary will probably stay back at headquarters. that is probably how the labor is split up. most at any time was seven. can you imagine setting -- seven of them sitting in the same room during a hot day like today? the typical task is writing and copying letters for washington. copious is an understatement. copious amounts of writing letters. they were often dictated by washington to his aides, including hamilton. you have some aides he was particularly fond of. and one who became an honorary stepson.

those would be alexander hamilton, david humphreys, and tench tillman. he is the one you are least likely to have heard of. he was an incredibly talented man. he died in 1786, quite young. here is the blowup of that painting. it hangs in the maryland state house.

another interesting thing are the three officers standing on moorestown green. -- moorestown -- morristown green. hamilton in the middle. george washington on the right. was he 6'3'? probably not. he was probably more like 6'1" like myself. one thing that gets overlooked this is provisions mission.... it is late so you much feed the march especially if they're gonna go into entering camp, it's late september and hamilton is sent september and hamilton is sent by washington with other officers to go on horseback and

go into downtown philadelphia and gather as many horses, general supplies, food, clothing, blankets in the city of philadelphia. they know they are going to lose the city to the british. they decided they are not going to put up a fight. they will stay out toward whitemarsh and valley forge and receive the supplies there. what is key in hamilton's handling of the special operation is his discretion as to who he will take the supplies from. he does not just take them from everyone. if you are poor and you rely on your horse for your transportation, he does not take the horse. if you are a family who is a strong patriot and you are planning on evacuating what little you can put on a horse before the british come, he does not take from those people. that

discretion is quite telling. there are so many times in which we get overshadowed with later life scandals. many of which were refuted. to not realize how kindhearted a gentleman hamilton was. this mission really helps the state of the continental army during the winter and cam meant, particularly those blankets. another mission that gets overshadows is the emissary trip. he is sent as the official representative of george washington. he will serve as washington's proxy, leave the philadelphia region, washington needs his three brigades back to fight in the saratoga campaign. he would like to have daniel morgan's rifleman. this mission will take a while. it takes most of november into december. he meets them and outputting -- alanine -- albany. one of the challenges hamilton will encounter is that he is a

20-year-old aid born on an island. he is dealing with someone who is well-established with new england aristocracy who is very powerful, old enough to be his dad, and is a two star general. do you think he wants to hear from a 20-year-old colonel that washington would want three brigades back? does he have any respect for george washington? no. not at all. much like some of the politics that we witnessed or participated in an modern times, there is politics in that time around military. alexander hamilton's first attempts are fruitless. their futile. he finally decides he has been duped. he looks at

patterson's brigade and says, it is understrength. he does some detective work and finds out that patterson's brigade has already been wiped out at the saratoga campaign. there has been huge attrition numbers. he is conning me. he puts in writing and it heated exchanges. gates finally relents. it shows how much trust hamilton received from washington to go on this mission. he also has to meet with another incorrigible general. he does not want to listen to alexander hamilton either. putnam is old enough to be his grandfather. he does not want to give up his soldiers. he will eventually relent. hamilton knows what he has to

turn the screws a little bit and forcibly speak on behalf of george washington. it is for that reason that we can have this quote here. by granting hamilton discussion in his mission, washington entire course of the war and possibly its outcome in the hands of his

youngest aid. hamilton had already earned washington's complete trust. at that point, gates is getting all of the success, which he did not deserve. the rivals and critics of washington included dr. benjamin rush and many other powerful people like john adams. these three individuals are seen as the three who have the ear of washington. why do i want to mention the three of them? look at how hamilton is only a 20-year-old aid. he is already seen as influential as to senior generals in the american revolution. that says a lot about hamilton's leadership ability. we all know the story of valley forge. here is washington's headquarters. isaac potts was a wealthy quaker who lived in philadelphia must the time.

this is a summer house. it only has one working fireplace in the main part of the house. washington and his family of aids and secretaries, not literally his biological family, but those who are living with him day in and day out working together. they will live at this house for quite some time. december 1777 to june of 7078. -- 1778. it is cozy. you can

see the marble fireplace and the beautiful wood paneling. everyone has to pack in their -- there. there re-organizing the army is often overlooked. he drafted in the bleak midwinter. january of 1778. he composes a massive document of 16,000 words. that is quite a lot of writing. hamilton was verbose in speech and writing. the detailed the necessary steps by congress to completely reorganize the army. congress was in shambles. the army was in shambles. we have plenty of historic precedent to draw from. there were ideas contributed by various generals, including nathanael greene, to create this blueprint. the wording is mostly by alexander hamilton. it is a harbinger of all the words he will pour into other documents, most noticeably the federal papers. there are a variety of tasks for him as an aid. correspondence with generals taking up most of the volume. correspondence with generals taking up most of the volume. correspondence with congress.

you are talking about all of the presidents of congress, starting with john hancock and then samuel huntington, john adams, john jay. there were negotiations for prisoner exchange. hamilton was very skilled at the nuances. at one point, some 600 soldiers were exchanged from the british back to the americans. i believe it was at elizabeth. hamilton handled all of that. there were diplomatic measures for him to handle with france. both alexander hamilton and his good friend were fluent in french. for that reason, they could be sent by washington and the

middle of the war to meet with the fleet harvard off the coast of new jersey. there was my favorite topic, the intelligence in the american war. hamilton had to help george washington, who is a spymaster. with handling all of the different generals in case officers and independent agents who were feeding him all kinds of intelligence. some good, some not so good. constantly suspicions of double agent or moles. two spy rings were important. one operated out of new york city. there was another one that was just as effective. that was right out of here in new jersey. at the same time, they were trying to get the same intelligence about new york city. what washington figured out is you have to have redundancy. what if one of the

rings is compromised? what if one can't send it out punctually? great quote here by hamilton's former college roommate. the pen for our army was held by hamilton. that is why we so -- notes and much of hamilton's washington's inner thoughts during the revolution. washington is quoted as saying, hamilton was his principal and most confidential aid. that pretty much says it all. hamilton is not only buried near lord stirling at trinity church but also the same spy hercules mulligan. he was more of an independent agent. they knew each other from manhattan

days. when hamilton was a king's college. it just so happens that he would be improving or providing new uniforms for british leadership. that is a great eavesdropping opportunity to pick up information. his home where he and his wife lived had officers from a regiment. he was able to receive some information from that. he talks about this in his narrative later in life. it is the reason why we know his younger brother was involved in gathering intelligence. he was a merchant at a nearby marketplace. he could gather information from the british. they did a great job through hamilton to washington to provide timely intelligence in addition to the

to provide information to bring. it's also possible, we have some proof that herculean somali can get not only safe washington's life once but twice, there circumstantial evidence that you can read about. washington also has hamilton assigned to help a major general. why? because he can speak german, but his second language is french. they're able to help him with this rather shoddy army, famously so at valley forge, and he has doing the drills mostly interspersed with french curse words and other things, and hamilton has to be judicious and how he translates. he was a bit of a hothead, had

eaten all the things he claimed before the war, probably not. he was documented as a major impartial army but, he was not a two star army. just as importantly, he was the editor of the drone book that historians and ran actors love to study. there's a painting of him by the famous row thorough. hamilton is also a translator as the 19-year-old boy general took him under his very. who was also working at valley forge. one thing i like to

study. there are two in particular that i find very fascinating, because of who is there. let's read through the list and imagine the all crammed into isaac pot living room. here we go. we have george washington, but daniel green, benedict arnold, he's limping in because he said military governor of philadelphia at the time. lord sterling. henry knox, jedi darlington and we just mentioned duke forte, that's a last. alexander hamilton become a major general later in life, it's a who's who, and that's a moment i would take if i had to

go back in time. i would pick being in the room at that time, just to think of who was in there. so. they're meeting to figure out the strategy, eventually, it becomes what we know in new jersey as the battle of mammoth. alexander hamilton right out in advance of the battle and doing reconnaissance, advance intelligence operation on horseback for both washington. and, yes they had the hamilton.

they will be retreating, crawling through the middle of nowhere in new jersey. the quote was, quote, i will stay here and dive with you. let us all die here rather than retreat. a testament to bravery and thinking on his feet as well. as he is rallying the forces, just as washington comes onto the scene. suddenly, we have another aid to washington, riding and, quote, i'm happy to have it in my power. he was incessant in his endeavors. we don't know why, but in the army and rallying

and cheering, we want to hear colonel lawrence. both exhilarated -- exhibited the bravery in battle. to scenes fairly well known from the battle and showing. one of the things that has been overlooked, hamilton and lawrence progressive idea that they could have african american soldiers in the continental army. how progressive. hamilton will ask congress and writing several times, would you please allow blacks to enlist in the

army and there was a civil war, and it would help fill the storage. african americans were both very bright and brief and battle. and unfortunately, it fell on deaf ears. forehand they believe that dayton informed washington of a british fleet and lafayette,

who is in connecticut to get it from there over from rhode island and works quickly enough and were able to warm the friends. they have been tipped off, we just don't, know but often he has been given credit, that is not the case because their intelligence came in two days later. the same intelligence that the british were reviewing, it wasn't just as punctual in the announcement. >> now, the famous of benedict arnold. major general is from

connecticut, born in norwich and is beginning his communication, that is traders activities are all confined to september, that is not the case, and actually had been going on for 16 months beginning in may, just a month, it has gone on from life, all the other portrait are based off of this one, or are simply fakes. they are not of benedict arnold. this was done by french portrait painter while he was military governor in philadelphia. and washington is with lafayette, and others at the heart for conference in downtown hartford, informing for three days with his--. the

same stretch of time, the same 22nd is win alexander hamilton, benedict arnold, is meeting with john andre and they are meeting just south of west point, it's on the same day after that conference, back to west point to meet with arnold to go over there fortifications at west point. arnold is absent, gone and wondering. it's clear that he has decided he wants to escape on the vulture and hamilton decides immediately

that he must prepare the army for a possible counterattack. first, he attempts to capture arnold himself. he dumps on horseback with james mchenry and gallop at top speed for 12 miles, along the river ferry. that's a helpless mission, but right after that, he writes this attempt to george washington's boss and tells them is also planning on writing to general green. it is just that, he writes general green 30 miles south of west point and also to return to the connecticut regiment and quickly responded to the area that will save not only west point. here is hamilton's letter to green. quote andre,

the general i came here in pursuit of arnold and detaching immediately this way. quite dramatic. hamilton fetching, a charming man and woman, the paris hilton or kardashian of her day, quite the dashing figure, and had her own crush on a man of many talents, he could saying, he could dance, he could read poetry and spy for the british and he drew are a selfie the night before he is hung. he's a very would keep a lock over here for the rest of his life. they are tasked with

having to keep an eye on him, and there am pressed, charmed by the amazing personality of john andre. he pleads, would you please shoot me with a volley of execution. that fails and he is indeed how. you can tell and the writings that they were touched by their time with andrea, and his having to be hung, payback for the hanging of nathan hail. i have to mention, when they were here, too long visits of a month each, july of 1780 i mention it now so that you can think about how washington and hamilton were responding to the aftershocks when they were here the second time, if these walls could talk. here's a live 1781. the

final turning point, alexander hamilton got married december 14th to the fetching elizabeth in albany at her father's beautiful mansion there. and, seven months later, july 31st, hamilton gets what he always wanted, a field command washington's orders, quote, we will form a battalion under command of lieutenant colonel hamilton. after the formation, we will join the eighth advanced core under the orders. deal before light infantry commanders that we need to equate ourselves with. we already know what he looks like, he works with the after mentioned john lawrence in this beautiful befooled frame and the left. there's an illustration of that and, on the right is lieutenant colonel

seventies or huntington of connecticut, whose house we own. now, the complication is that alexander in the middle is the highest ranking officers killed during the siege. he has unfortunately killed in the surprise attack, shot in the back, and winds up dying, he writes in his dying words to take over the light infantry battalion. the three of them to each other well and the unfortunate twist of fate, i suppose it's at ebony's or huntington decides, the second ranking member. alexander hamilton will be tasked with helping read out nine. they are

adjacent to each other. we have been on that original round for the anniversary as reactors. the front will take there's. hamilton is tasked with readout and. it will take a while. that's a plan. it actually takes ten minutes because alexander hamilton decides, what are going to wait for the minors to clear the space safely for us to stream through as light infantry. no shot fired. that's how he would've been dressed on the left. there's another alternative you, it's interesting to do, even when you're just doing it without real gunfire. then we have to famous painting, three versions of this, the one i'm

showing, another and hartford, and the thirties at the u.s. capital. in that painting, i will show on the right our avenues are huntington and then john lawrence and alexander hamilton. i will point them out here on the right.. i don't want to look like the jeweled john lawrence with diamonds, i pale in comparison. alexander hamilton does not get enough credit, we all know how the war ends, the patriots when it's, your county is not the end of the war, they could not have anticipated that but that's how it turned out to be, in terms of major battles. now let's

turn 1790. we know that hamilton has been working as treasury secretary, but he also finds the revenue service, and it's considered the father of the u.s. coast guard. i go there every graduation to give an award right there on that spot, and i was there for the unveiling of this beautiful sculpture, who was donated last fall at the coast guard academy. it is a painting inside of hamilton hall, and that is of him that by the chinese painter, and what we could consider the

field always ready. the collecting of taxes and import duties along with the revenue cutter service and people ask his old friend to serve as, and the connecticut river itself. that is a lot of commerce and there's a lighthouse that still stands from that. there many letters between jeddah huntington and alexander

hamilton, dealing with well oil for the lamps and so forth. then there's this war. and that's embarrassing, so hamilton is ever offering his opinions and it's quote it, this is too much after all that has passed, he says in a letter to his friends and former fellow aide. there's a major problem with a potential military crisis on hand. shots fired on the atlantic, he needs a military commander. he goes to do as washington, would you please? commander in chief, then president and then back to running the u.s. military. that

has never happened before. and washington says he has put on one condition, alexander and command must be my second commander. he says, how do you make such an imposition on me. that's preposterous and it takes many weeks for adams to eventually calm down and realize, okay, if i'm going to get washington out of this deal, i need to put my personal agenda aside of my personal feelings about hamilton aside and recognize that i must put up with major general alexandra hamilton, was part of the deal. here's a quote as to hamilton's influence at this time. quote, such was the influence of mr. hamilton and congress that, without running the recommendation for the president again, congress, passed a bill to raise an army, and that from paid 53 and his

biography of hamilton, i have to say it is the best out of going through military service and adams is just incredulous. you have to keep in mind hamilton served as a congressman already. before becoming treasury secretary. here's a letter to george washington in which he is negotiating about how he will take this on as major general. quote, if you command washington the place in which i should hope to be most useful is that of expected general. washington was not doing field command. this so i would accept, and it included the rank of major general. the other generals that would serve were just as in shock. i'm henry

knocks, and a testament to how far he had climbed in the eyes of former president george washington. here's his letter. were talking late 1798 who had succeeded hamilton as treasury secretary. hamilton says, the u.s. should have taxes and take out a large loan. that's a lot. he is politicking for position..

that effort did not peter out. there's a fortune that is not known, we don't know when it was painted.. we don't know what the medal is on his lapel. it was donated around 1960, and it hangs in washington d.c., also known as anderson house. one general who is not mentioned is the second owner of the house, attorneys are huntington and successfully receives a, painting by john travel, there are two of these,

what are princeton and one down on anderson house in d.c.. they're five key weeks in philadelphia, probably spent at the famous city tavern, i imagine, and alcohol may have been involved. the generals washington and hamilton will meet with general charles picked, needing a good federalist, because they were afraid the french might attack the south. whether be savannah or charleston. so he will come up from charleston for this meeting, along with secretary james mchenry. they will converse there for five weeks. and will break out the start for regiments. they've figure out how things will work with voters and companies and regiment, it's very organized, and shows how obsessive compulsive hamilton was with the detail, including designed for uniforms, and even the soldiers huts. he was a little bit of a amateur architect and,

after the five week four over, they wouldn't return to the office. there's an encampment not too far from here. it is the site picked by new jersey's own, and officers, like the others i mentioned. serving as a colonel in the revolution, he had this site because of the strategic height, about 2000 soldiers were there and did review the troops in the fall of 1799. >> as we begin to wrap it up, we will see how the membership in society, this is the

so-called diamond eagle, a gift to general washington, presented from officers of the french navy, that was their first meeting and was owned by george washington until his death at mount vernon it has 200 diamonds and other jewels, and upon his death sometime after, martha washington, the widow will still and the metal to them for safekeeping. for many decades, it has been owned by society of cincinnati, held very safely, as you can see. i end on a poignant don't, which is the last letters between

george washington and alexander hamilton, obviously george washington doesn't know he's about to die, and as my father in law, and i give an award, this is quite poignant, these letters, and they involve the creation of a military academy. he writes to washington from new york, sir, enclose is a copy of the letter on the subject of a military academy. washington will then reply on december 12th. he will die two days later. this is one of his first and in closing a copy of what you have returned to the secretary of war on the subject of a military academy. establishment of an institution is fine, has ever been considered by an object of

primary importance. while i was in the chair of government, but i never want to go into the detail, leaving the others. i better qualified them for the execution of it. washington close it, i hope the subject will meet that the reason for their establishment i am, and that's the end. thank you.

so we are going to a cue and a, but i would like to announce we have seaspan taping, so if you want to other question, we will have a mic brought to you so that they can capture what you are saying. >> including from the flanks, i'm just curious, i believe one of your slides depicted a private home, use as military headquarters, and you're well familiar with that, sort of general washington solicit military headquarters a duty walk in and say i'm taking over. you are there and i'm over there, i'm just curious out that worked. >> i'm not an expert on that but i'm sure that depending on

the nature of rwanda, he was acquitted with the owner, other times it's a pretty quick convincing, i really don't know the details to answer it. >> there's a question on the side. >> do you give in a over the whisky rebellion, were no washington leaves office as hamilton goes as well. is there any evidence of what they were doing militarily in that? >> it crossed my mind briefly that i should mention those questions, were talking about the whisky rebellion which has been brewing out in the ohio territory and americas always had a very independent spirit, haven't day, so they were rebellion that they would have some kind of tax. hamilton had

no problem having taxes on people, because he felt the only way they could build their way as a country, a financial foundation to ensure our independence and standing in our united states, on the military side of things we do have an illustration of this, beautiful painting that hangs in the modern museum of art, initially just washington and we believe he is in uniform and i really wasn't sure how i would have the time to incorporated also, left out, but you can read about. it's part of that whole theme of the federal government is going to use the military to back up the street they're trying to exert. for something.

>> people say naval commander in the great war? >> i never looked into that, i know there were it's incredible when you read about this, but for that later, you have to look at up or ask a descendant. >> what are the washington die from? >> he had gone out on his horse and he got sick from the wet clothing and, of, course what do you do and 1799 when you

have a cold? they bring unleashes and bloodletting, and that's not going to make you better, that's going to make it worse and exacerbate what would have been a tragic day. he died at the end of the century, i have an ancestor name private hitchcock, who was riding in his memoirs, the day that the news arrived of washington's death, he said, michael tennis, i'm paraphrasing, what shocked we are all and, we all loved our beloved founder of this country, it brings tears to my eyes, historians will justice, which i cannot and it's wonderful to do that. >> thank you everyone fear rapt attention.

tonight, we will welcome michael newton, who will present new discoveries and alexander hamilton, his friends, family and colleagues. he's a historian specializing and the american revolution, and the expert on alexander hamilton. be aware that during the queue in, our guest seaspan as here, so before you start asking your