welcome to the dimension washington headquarters. i'm so happy that all of you are here and joining us today for this program. if you have not been here before definitely after the lecture today please stay and take a tour with our staff. just before i come to introduce our guest speaker today in just a few rules, and bits of information. we do have light refreshments for you in the kitchen. coffee, tea, cheese, crackers, cookies. please feel free to get up and take what you like. restrooms are in this building. you do not need to go to the visitor center. we have staff here today. i am the director of the department of historic affairs

for the county of passaic. by de facto, i am the director of the site. we are fortunate enough to have a guest speaker and historian to share his knowledge and expertise on alexander hamilton and his rise to military fame and glory. mr. cregeau graduated from hillsdale college with a bachelors degree in history and from colorado state university with a masters degree in history. he has been an independent historian researching, writing, and giving presentations throughout the northeast since 2007. he is a scholar of the american revolution with research interests that include espionage in the war. he has published in the u.s. marine corps journal, financial history, and the journal of the

american revolution. he has given presentations on espionage in the revolution. he has been here before in 2017 with another wonderful presentation. he is a longtime resident of southern new jersey. he and his wife are long time reenactors. without further ado, damien cregeau. [applause] >> wonderful to have all of you here today. we have our flanking maneuvers in our joining rooms.

i have been a longtime reenactor. you can see me there dressed as an officer. i have reenacted the battle of monmouth three times in sweltering heat. there i am speaking for the alexander awareness society. a very challenging place to speak when you're dealing with construction noises. i wrote an article about the six degrees of alexander

hamilton. that is because we own this house. it is pictured on the left. her famous younger brother was a painter. we went to an auction but we got blown out of the water. the hamilton we know, there is so little that we know. there is so much in which we focus on his accomplishments as treasury secretary. the infamous dual. we know how the story ends. he is going to be killed by ehrenberg -- aaron burr.

and a little bit about his military accomplishments. here is a portrait. like alexander hamilton, he also at one point served as an aide to general george washington during the revolutionary war. he serves the shortest. he was there about three weeks. there is the entire full-length portrait. it's it's in new york's city hall. i hope you take away an appreciation of his roles. not just as an aid 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 he did, get drafted. get drafted as a catcher. what do we know about young hamilton? not a whole lot and forms of illustration. we have something here in black and white, it's alexander and what we think. there is no provenance of that. we also do not know where the painter is. it is simply attributed to hamilton as subject as a teenager. born on nevis and raised and working for a merchant in st. crow. 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 the access the 12 of us had a decade ago. 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. on the red heart on the caps it

says liberty or death. beautiful, unusual bright green uniforms. as you notice from the photo on the right, they have been here. this is from their facebook page. they have been as you see in the center photo, at the grange, hamilton's a state in a port manhattan. 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. with the headstones that church has been there a long time. they were 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. he was killed in the attack on quebec city.

ben franklin felt so bad about his passing that he had that elaborate memorial put up. you can see it in front of the church. was this the first meeting of george washington and alexander hamilton? i'm talking about 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. this is possible. there have been a couple of illustrations of that. it is the highest point in lower manhattan. hrxñif you know about the manhan project years ago, unfortunately manhattan contours have changed over time. we have lost our hills and dales substantially. 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 in the filming of master and commander. it is likely that they did cover george washington and his retreat through manhattan. this is all of what new york city was as of 1776. greenwich village was actually a separate village. bloomingdales was a separate residential area. manhattan was just that little tip. we don't have substantial proof of it.

this high-resolution map shows the location of the 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. hamilton the formative years and discovering 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. so there is a nine out of 10 chance that he was not there. furthermore, neither his commander nor george washington mention hamilton or his unit by name.

this we know for sure, hamilton's first full-fledged combat, not just shooting it to ships in the river, this is full combat. the grandson of an artillery officer, i can appreciate how traumatic this must've been. this is that rutgers. it was known as queens college. columbia was known as king's college. my wife graduated from rutgers. it was during one of the reunions that i saw one of these beautiful plaques. early december, 1776, alexander hamilton had a battery of horse artillery and crossed the ford of the raritan.

delaying the advance of the british, while washington withdrew through princeton to trenton. that is indeed true. hamilton's artillery unit delivered withering fire that dramatically slow down the advance of the british forces. i love to make references to the local stuff. alexander hamilton helped found american industry. we are just west of patterson falls. washington crossing the delaware, famous scene on christmas night, december 25. a large life-size painting. here is a realistic one. it came out much more recently, in 2011. it was at nighttime. it was a different kind of craft. there is a canon.

maybe it is hamilton's. not good weather. this was another painting. one of his last paintings he did, victory or death. it is hamilton, washington, james monroe. there they are in the early morning light. you can imagine how cold it must've felt. hamilton's artillery was at both battles of trenton. what do i mean? just like there are two battles of saratoga, there were two battles of trenton. the second one was not as famous. it is well documented that hamilton used his cannon fire to deliver withering fire on the british.

much like he did at brunswick. this is a well-documented battle that gets overshadowed by the other battle of trenton hamilton's artillery is somewhere in the battle of princeton, we just don't know exactly where. there is no evidence for the lofty legend that he fired a cannon with multiple shots and decapitates king george the third, whose portrait in oil is hanging on the wall inside. makes for a great story, but there is no evidence according to other scholars. now this is true, there were offers not from one or two but three very well-known generals in the american revolution. the one on the left is one you may not have heard of.

and if you are from new jersey so maybe you have. it is general william alexander. he is buried just 75 feet from alexander hamilton at trinity church. he is not even marked. it is my friend who followed up my suggestion to put up u.s. flags there because it is important that we market. an incredibly brave general in multiple battles, including the battle of new york and the battle of monmouth. he lived not far from here. he had a huge estate and the only reason we do not remember him is because his house burned down. hamilton received offers from different people. he said thanks but no thanks. what does he yearn for?

he's worried if he takes a desk job he will not afforded the prestige that he would get on the battlefield. he will achieve that heroism that he yearns for on the battlefield. in the meantime, someone named george washington comes along. that is an operating cannot refuse. he is like a good attorney. he becomes an attorney later. he says let's wait for a few weeks and think it over. he finally says yes, he made the offer in january of 77 and i think hamilton was convinced. this will definitely be well worth it. our first proof of this agreement is washington's orders to march. it reads, headquarters, morristown. alexander hamilton is appointed aid to camp. just to be respected and obeyed as such. you will hear about this guy a little bit later during the siege of yorktown. you can find transcriptions

like this letter on the library of congress website. a lot of authors will say this is all happening when hamilton is 22 years old. he is actually 20. he was not born in 55, he was born in 1757. he is 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? could you have risen and battles many times as he did? he is the youngest aid by far. most are in their early 30's. the 19th aid 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 to 1781 he has his headquarters set up not far from where -- here. jacob arnold's tavern on the green. in morristown. there is a sign there for it. the tavern burned down inf+/z 1. washington had five aids or secretaries. secretaries were probably doing most of the writing side of things. my assumption would be that when when washington was distinguishing 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 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 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.

there has been some new scholarship on his height. one thing that gets overlooked this is provisions mission. this is very important. you have to feed mars of the army's going to go anywhere it needs to march on its stomach. you must feed it, especially when they're about to go to winter encampment. it's late september 77 and hamilton is sent by washington with other officers to go on horseback and go into downtown philadelphia and gather as many courses, horses, general supplies, food clothing and blankets and the city of philadelphia. why? 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 discussion 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 discussion is quite telling. there are so many times in which we get overshadowed with later life supposed scandals. r refuted. to not realize how kindhearted a gentleman hamilton was. this mission really helps the state of the continental army during the winter encampment, 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 in 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 gates have any respect for george washington? no. not at all. much like some of the politics that we witnessed or participated in any 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. when gates says ok he can have patterson's brigade. 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 as in person, face to face, 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 when 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 discretion 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 -- 1788. it is cozy. you can see the marble fireplace and the beautiful wood paneling. everyone has to pack in there.

there are some events, lots of people who are packed in there. hamilton's blueprint for 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. he 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 work he will pour into other documents, most noticeably the federal papers. there are a variety of tasks for him as an aide. 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 with the british. at one point, some 600 soldiers were exchanged from the british back to the americans.

i believe it was at elizabeth. sometime in the middle of the war. 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 who anchored 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 know so much of

hamilton's washington's inner thoughts during the revolution. washington is quoted as saying, hamilton was his principal and most confidential aide. 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 as a tailor. that is a great eavesdropping opportunity to pick up information. his home where he and his wife

lived at 23 queen street had officers from a regiment. he was able to receive some information from that time as well. he talks about this in his narrative later in life. it is the reason why we know his younger brother hughe 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 core of the ring. it is quite possible, we don't have strong proof, but we have some circumstantial proof that he did not save washington's life but twice. there is circumstantial evidence that you can read about. washington also has hamilton assigned to help another major general. because he can speak german but

his second language is french. alexander hamilton, being a fluent french speaker, are able to help him with this shoddy army into proper professional shape. famously so at valley forge. he is doing the drills in russian, interspersed with french curse words. hamilton has to be judicious in how he translates. he was a bit of a hothead. if he had done all of the things he had claimed to do back in prussia, probably not. he was probably not a barren or a two star general. hamilton serves as translator and editor of the drill book that historians and reenactors

love to study. hamilton is also a translator for the marquee the lafayette. he was like a son to george washington. lafayette was a charming young aristocrat. washington took him under his wing. hamilton will help with another lesser-known general. he was an army engineer who worked at valley forge and other places such as monmouth. something i like to study and i'm writing a scholarly article about this, are washington's many councils of war during the revolution. there are two in particular that i find fascinating. let's read through the list and imagine them all crammed into one living room. we have george washington, charles lee, nathanael greene, benedict arnold who is the military governor of philadelphia at the time.

lord sterling, markey lafayette, baron von steuben. that is quite a list. who is taking notes and making suggestions off the record? alexander hamilton, who will later become a major general. it is a who's who. that is the moment i would pick to go back to. just being in the room at that time. they are meeting to figure out the strategy for the summer of 1778. this becomes the battle of mon mouth courthouse. hamilton does reconnaissance.

for both washington and lafayette this is long before any encounters with charles lee on the battlefield. it is very helpful in order to set up the placement of lee, lafayette, and eventually washington. in the famous confrontation between lee and washington, it was just prior to that, an altercation between hamilton and lee. again, hamilton handled pretty well. he is incredulous. he cannot believe that lee would be retreating in a disorganized fashion when he should be attacking the rear of the force, crawling through the middle of nowhere, new jersey. the account of bravery is accounted by lee and his trial weeks later. the quote from hamilton was, "i will stay here with you, my dear general, and die with you, rather than retreat." it is a testament to hamilton's bravery and thinking on his feet as

well as he is rallying the forces, which was largely successful just as washington comes onto the scene. similarly, we have another aide to washington, futures secretary of war james mchenry writing, "i am happy to have it in my power to mention colonel hamilton. he was incessant in his endeavors." there are typos here. "in the rallying and cheering. but whether he deserves our commendations is doubtful. both had their horses shot out from under them. both exhibited similar proofs of bravery. this is another testament to hamilton's bravery in battle. here are two scenes fairly well-known from the battle. the one on the left more famous than the one on the right. one on the right showing the altercation between lee and

washington. something that is largely overlooked, and it could have been incredibly impactful, hamilton and lawrence's regressive idea that we can progressive idea for african-american shoulders in the army. lafayette was also an advocate for this. hamilton and laurens will ask several times, will you allow blacks to enlist in southern regiments in the army? there was a manpower shortage. it would help fill the numbers shortage. they both believe, hamilton and laurens, as well as lafayette, that african-americans were both very bright and very brave in battle. unfortunately, it fell on deaf years. so many of the congressmen were in fact slave owning plantation

owners from the south, like john lawrence's own father. now we can get into dayton's ring. this will be one of the last colonel promoted to brigadier general during wartime. his communications to hamilton. there is a key one on july 21, 1780. on that date, he informs washington of a british fleet leaving to newport. there is one problem. george washington is out on an errand of some sort. lafayette receives the letter, realizes i much dispatch this news to connecticut, to get it to him is enough of a challenge. lafayette has to get it from there over to rhode island.it is complicated, but it works quickly enough, and they were able to warn the french. by the way, the british do not wind up attacking newport. they decide to call it off.

often, they are given credit for warning the french. that is not the case because their intelligence came in two days later. the same intelligence that the british were leaving, it just was not as punctual in its announcement as dayton. now, the infamous treason, as hamilton called it, of benedict arnold. major general benedict arnold is of course from connecticut, born in norwich, lives as a wealthy merchant in new haven. he is beginning his communication -- one of the common misunderstandings is that his trader activities are confined to 1780. that is not the case. it had been going on for 16 months, beginning in may of 1779. it goes on for 16 months. this portrait to the right is the only known proven portrait of benedict arnold from life.

all the other portraits you have seen are based on this one, or just simply fakes. they are not actually of an benedict arnold. this was done by a french portrait painter in philadelphia. washington is with lafayette, hamilton, and henry knox and others at the hartford conference in downtown hartford conferring for three days with french general rochambeau. it is the same stretch of time, the three days, the 21st, 22nd, 23rd, the same 22nd is when alexander hamilton -- benedict arnold, is meeting with john andre, a.k.a. john anderson, and they are meeting south on the same day. uncanny timing. after that conference in hartford, washington is

returning with hamilton and lafayette and others back to west point to meet with them to go over the fortifications at west point. arnold is absent, he is gone. washington is trying to figure out, why isn't he here? something is amiss. it is very clear that arnold has decided he is going to escape on the hms vulture. that is a great one for a traitor. hamilton, the quick thinking officer he is, washington decides he must prepare the army for a counter attack. first, he attempts to capture arnold himself. he jumps on horseback with the aformentioned james mchenry. they galloped down the east bank for 12 miles along the hudson to verplanck's ferry. after this, he writes of this attempt to his boss and it says he is planning on writing to general greene and general meigs.

he does that, he writes to general greene. and also to colonel meigs, which is the light infantry regiment. they both quickly respond to the area that will save not only west point, but george washington and the rest of headquarters. here is hamilton's letter to greene. there has been unfolded at this place a scene of the blackest treason. arnold has fled to the enemy. andre, the british general, is in our possession as a spy. i came here in pursuit of arnold, but was too late. i advise you putting the army under marching orders and detaching a brigade immediately this way. quite dramatic. hamilton and the fetching peggy shippen and john andre, a charming man and charming woman. peggy shipman was the kardashian of her day. she had her own crush on john

andre, a man of many talents. he could sing, dance, write poetry, spy for the british, and yes, he drew her. and as the kiddies, would say, a selfie the night he is hung. she will keep a lock of his hair the rest of her life in a drawer. it is found when she dies. what is the point of this? both benjamin and alexander hamilton are tasked with having to keep an eye on john andre. they are impressed by the amazing personality of john andre. he pleas, would you please shoot me with a volley of execution fire rather than hang me as a spy? of course, that attempt fails, and he is indeed hung. you can tell by the writings that they were touched by their time with andre.

and he happened to be hung, which was payback for the hanging of nathan hale years earlier. when washington and hamilton were here, it was two long visits of about a month each, july 1780. i mention it now so you can think about how washington and hamilton were responding still to the aftershocks from arnold's treason when they were here the second time. if these walls could talk. here is july 1781. the final turning point. alexander hamilton had got married december 14 to the fetching elizabeth a.k.a. betsy skyler in albany at her dad's beautiful mansion, a beautiful brick mansion like this one. seven months later, hamilton finally gets what he always wanted, a field command. washington's orders. the light companies of the first and second regiments of new york will form a battalion under command of lieutenant

colonel hamilton. after the formation, colonel hamilton will join the core under the orders of colonel scammell. he is so happy. there will be four light infantry commanders we need to acquaint ourselves with. we know what alexander hamilton looks like. he works with the affirmation john laurens in this beautiful jeweled frame in the left. in the center is an illustration of colonel scammel, and on the right is ebenezer huntington, whose house we own. the complication here is that alexander scammell, in the middle, is the highest ranking officer killed during the siege. he is unfortunately killed in a surprise attack. he is shot in the back, winds up dying in williamsburg, and writes to ebenezer huntington to take over the light infantry or regimen. the three of them knew each

other well, and the unfortunate twist of fate for heroism is ebenezer huntington decided he instead would like to serve the narcoleptic major general benjamin lincoln, the second ranking general, as his acting aide to camp. alexander hamilton will be tasked with helping to lead -- he is going to lead, but he is helping the general assault. read out 10 will be taken by the americans. they are adjacent to each other of about 500 yards apart. we have been on that original ground as reenactors. the french will take theirs. hamilton is tasked with readout 10. alexander hamilton decides, we are not going to wait for the minors to clear the space safely for us to stream through as light infantry with our bayonets and sabers. no shots fired., bandits and sabers it is a nighttime

attack. here is one painting on the right. this is how he would have been dressed this evening on the left. here is another alternate view, which shows the energy of what it would be like. it is interesting, i have stormed a redoubt. it is interesting to do, even when you are doing it fake without real gunfire. then we have the famous painting of john trumbull. there are three versions of this painting, one at yale, one i am showing, one at hartford, and another at the capitol rotunda. they get bigger as they get re-created. in that particular painting, i would show on the right, are ebenezer huntington on horseback, scammell cannot be portrayed because he had already been killed, and john laurens and alexander hamilton. i will briefly point them out here on the right. huntington is up there, hamilton and laurens are there.

i don't want to go to the bejeweled laurens. i pale in comparison. alexander hamilton does not get enough credit. you know how the war ends, the patriots win. yorktown is not the actual end of the war. but that is how it turned out to be in terms of major battles. now let's turn to 1790. we know that hamilton is already been working as treasury secretary. he also founds the u.s. revenue cutter services. he is considered the father of the coast guard. i go there every year to give an award at that spot right there. i was there for the unveiling of this beautiful sculpture by benjamin victor, who donated it by the class of 1963 last fall.

it is the appropriately named hamilton hall, the main administered hall at the coast gard academy in connecticut. there is a painting inside hamilton hall, and that is of him running the service. you can see an early u.s. flag in the background, a full sail, and a lighthouse. that is by this chinese painter. some illustrations of the covers service at the time, there was one named after hamilton -- alexander scammell. you can see in the painting i have shown on the right, and what we can consider the seal for the cutter service. always ready is the motto for the coast guard. tied in with that is the u.s. customs. the collecting of taxes and import duties, along with the revenue cutter service intercepting privateers, and so forth. around this time, 1780 nine, washington had just become president. he asked his old friend,

hamilton, and others, to serve as port of customs collector at new london, which included not just the river in a southeastern connecticut, but the connecticut river itself. that is a lot of commerce. here is a lighthouse that still stands from that era. it was built around 1800. there are many letters between jedediah huntington and alexander hamilton dealing with whale oil for the lighthouse lamps and so forth. then there is this quasi-war with france. many of you have not heard of it. it takes place in 1798 to 1799. it begins in 1798 among when a french privateer captures several american vessels. that is embarrassing. hamilton is ever offering his opinions and is quoted, "this is too much humiliation. " he says this in a letter to

his friend and former secretary of war james mchenry. john adams realizes he has a potential military crisis on his hands. there are shots fired in open ocean on the atlantic. he needs a military commander. he goes to george washington by letter. "would you please return to military service? " george washington was the only one who had ever did this. commander in chief, then president, then back to running the u.s. military. that had never happened before. washington says yes, but on one condition. alexander hamilton must be my second on command. john adams is incredulous. he says, how dare you make such an imposition on me? that is preposterous! it takes many weeks for adams to eventually calm down and realize, if i am going to get washington, i have to put my personal agenda aside and my personal feelings about

hamilton aside and recognize that i must put up with major general alexander hamilton as part of the deal. here is a quote from john adams as to hamilton's influence at this time, late 1790's. "such was the influence of mr. hamilton in congress that without any recommendation for the president, they passed a bill to raise an army." that is from page 553 of chernow's seminal engrossing biography of hamilton. i have to say, chernow does the best job of going through hamilton's later military service. adams is just incredulous. you have to keep in mind, hamilton had served as a congressman from the state of new york at that point before becoming treasury secretary. here is the letter to george washington from hamilton in which he is negotiating about how he will take this role on. "if you command, the place in which i, hamilton, should hope to be most useful is that of inspector general." he wants

the field command. washington was done with doing field command at 66 years old. he wanted it to go to hamilton. "this i would accept." the other generals who were going to serve in the war were incredulous. they were as in shock of john adams. i have to serve under alexander hamilton? i am henry knox, i was already a general in the revolution. i have to serve under hamilton? again, a testament to how high hamilton had climbed,, and deservedly so, in the eyes of former president george washington. here is hamilton's letter around that. same time we are talking late 1798. hamilton says to walcott, while

you are preparing for war, take out a large loan. finally, establish an academy for naval and military instruction. wow, that's a lot. ok. walcott has his hands full. speaking of people who were jockeying for position, aaron burr. aaron burr wanted to be a brigadier general. he is playing footsy with the federalists. maybe i don't like those jeffersonian republicans anymore. he had already been so critical of george washington that that effort did peter out. there is a portrait of major general hamilton that is not well known. we don't know who the artist was, we don't know when it was painted, even what decade. he does have a federal era uniform on with the high

collar. it's us army. we don't know what the medal is on his lapel. it was donated around 1960 by john laurens hamilton, and it hangs in washington, d.c., otherwise known as hamilton house. one general who was not mentioned nearly as much as jockeying for position is the second owner of our house, ebenezer huntington, who writes to his friend alexander hamilton and successfully receives an appointment from john adams to serve as a brigadier general in the war. this is a painting again by john trumbull. there are two of these, one at princeton art museum here in new jersey, and also one down at anderson house in d.c. there are five key weeks in philadelphia probably spend at the famous city tavern, i would imagine, and. alcohol may have been involved, november, december. generals washington and hamilton will meet with pickney. they need a good federalist who had military experience from the south because they were afraid the french might attack

the south, whether it be savannah or charleston. he will come up from charleston for this meeting, along with secretary of war james mchenry. they will converse there for five weeks, and hamilton breaks out detailed charts for regiments. he has worked out how everything will work with regimens and battalions. it shows how upset of compulsive hamilton was with detail, including designs for uniforms and the soldiers'huts. he was an amateur architect, perhaps. after the five weeks are over in philadelphia, hamilton will return to his office at 36 granite street in manhattan. he is trying to operate the u.s. army from that office space. there is an encampment not far from here, the only one that we are aware of, and that is in new jersey. it is a site picked by new jersey's own, on officer from elizabeth, just like all the others i have mentioned, like

elias putino, and that is aaron ogden. he has picked this site probably because of the strategic heights with the mountains. about 2000 shoulders were encamped there. hamilton does review the troops sometime in the fall of 1799. as we begin to wrap it up, one other thing that gets overlooked is alexander hamilton's membership in the so-called diamond eagle. this was a gift to general washington. it was presented from officerrs of the french navy in 178 it was part of that tavern in philadelphia. it was owned by george washington until his death on december 14, 1799, at mount

vernon. it has some 2000 diamonds and other jewels that make it up. upon his death, betsy skyler, the widow -- i'm sorry, martha washington, the widow, will send the metal to alexander hamilton for his safekeeping because he is the second at that point president general of the society. for many, many decades, it has been owned by the society of cincinnati. beautiful piece. i end on a very poignant note, which is the last letters between george washington and alexander hamilton. george washington does not know he is about to die. my father-in-law was a graduate in 1956, and i give the sword award every graduation. this is poignant, these letters. they involve the creation of a military academy that washington is suggesting. he writes, enclosed is a copy of the letter i've written to

the secretary of war on the subject of a military academy. washington will then reply on december 12. he will die two days later. he writes to hamilton, sir, i have duly received your letter of the 28th enclosing a copy of what you had written to the secretary of war on the subject of military academy. the establishment of an institution of its kind on an extensive basis has been considered an object of importance to this country. while i was in the chair of government -- meaning president, i omitted no proper opportunity of commending it in public speeches to the attention of the legislature, but i never undertook to go into detail of the organization of such an academy, leaving this task to others whose pursuits in science and attention to the arrangements of such institutions had better qualified them to the

institution of it. washington closes, i sincerely hope the subject will meet with due attention as to the reasons of its establishment, which you have so clearly pointed out in your letter to the secretary will prevail upon the legislature to place it upon a permanent and respectable footing. with very great esteem and regard, i am your servant, george washington. that is the end. thank you, everyone. [applause] >> we are going to do a q&a, but i wanted to announce, all the equipment. we do have c-span taping this event. if you want to have a question, we will have a mic brought to you so they can capture what you are saying. questions? anybody? >> including from the flanks. i did not pay to ask the first question.

>> i am just curious, i believe one of your slides depicted a private home that was used as military headquarters at one point. you are well familiar with the ford mansion -- the ford mansion. did general washington solicit homeowners to use these facilities, or did he walk in and say, i am taking over? i am just curious how that worked. >> kind of a blend of the two. i am not an expert of that dynamic, but depending on the nature of the time of the year and who owned it, sometimes he was acquainted with the owner, sometimes it was a pretty quick convincing. i really don't know the details to answer it. >> we have a question on the side. >> ok, from the right flank. >> did they give any consideration to the whiskey rebellion, when washington leaves office and hamilton goes as well?

is there any evidence what they were doing? >> it crossed my mind briefly that i should mention it. we are talking about the whiskey rebellion, which was them brewing -- or i should say, distilling whiskey in the iowa territory. americans always had a very independent spirit, haven't they? they were rebelling that they would have to pay some kind of tax. hamilton had no problem putting taxes on people because he felt it was the only way we could build ourselves as a country, the financial foundation to ensure our independence and standing in the united states. on the military side of things, we do have an illustration of this, a beautiful painting that hangs in the museum of art which shows george washington going out at a later age, and it is washington inspecting the troops at fort cumberland. i believe alexander hamilton is also in uniform in two with -- in tow with perhaps james

mchenry. i was not sure how i would have the time to incorporate it, so i left it out. you can read about it in newton and chernow and others. but it is part of the theme of the federal government using the military to back up the strength they are trying to exert with its citizens. it is a federalization model, something that someone like jefferson would have abhorred. other questions? there must be more, it's alexander hamilton. >> was hamilton-related -- hamilton a naval commander in the great lakes? >> i have no idea, i have never looked into that. i know there are several descendents of alexander hamilton who took on great leadership roles in the military. it is incredible when you read about it.

but that particular leader, you would have to look it up or ask a descendent. yes, sir? >> i may be dense, but what did washington die from? >> he had gone out on his horse that day in virginia and it was a cold, rainy day, and he got sick from the wet clothing and, of course, what do you do in 1799 when you get sick and have a doctor? they bring in leeches and do bloodletting. that is not going to do better, it is going to make you worse. it had exacerbated what would have probably been a preventable cold with something simple in its day. tragic. and yet, so symbolic that he died at the very end of that century. i have a patriot ancestor named private justin hitchcock who was a fighter, and he wrote in his memoirs the day that the news arrived of washington's

death, he said, my goodness. what shock we are all in. we loved our beloved founder of this country. it brings tears to my eyes, historians will do justice, which i cannot. it is wonderful as a descendent to be able to try to do that as a historian. thank you, everyone, for your rapt attention. (applause)

mr. brands represents a different standard than your politician to a collection of letters between aronberg and his daughter, theodosia. this is about an hour and 15 minutes. >> i am delighted to speak here. i always like to speak in washington where the audiences are well informed and engaged. having just finished teaching a semester for the ye