Title: Elements of the Tactics of the Infantry, [1799]
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To:

[1799]
The Elements of the Tactics of the Infantry consists of three branches.
The 1 comprehending the position of a soldier without arms and the motions of his head and body.
The second comprehending the position of the soldier with arms and the manual exercise.
The Third comprehending the principles of marching, of alignments, of conversions, and of changes of Direction.

As to the first branch.
The primary position shall be—1 The head erect with the Chin a little inward the eyes looking upon the ground directly before the person at the distance of about fifteen paces—2 The body square to the front, upright but with the breast somewhat inclining forward—the belly gently drawn in the shoulders back and falling equally—3 The heels in a line two inches apart the knees straight without stiffness, the toes equally turned out at an angle of about sixty degrees 4 The arms hanging with ease down the sides with the thumb of each hand in a line with the seam of the breeches and touching the thigh and the palm towards it, the hand otherwise in a natural position—Constraint to be avoided.

At these several commands these several motions shall be performed—
(Turning of the Head)
C-1 Head-Right
At the word right the soldier turns his head to the right, briskly but without violence, bringing his left eye in a line with the buttons of his wais[t]coat, & with his right eye looking along the breasts of the men upon his right.
C-II Head-Left
At the word left the soldier turns his head, in like manner, to the left, bringing his right eye in a line with the buttons of his waistcoat and with his left eye looking along the breasts of the men upon his left.
C-III Head-front
At the word front, the soldier resumes his primitive position.
(FACINGS)
C-IV Right-Face
The soldier turns briskly on both heels to the right, describing a quarter of a circle, and then brings back his right heel to its former relative position.
C-V Left-Face
The soldier turns briskly on both heels to the left, describing a quarter of a circle, and then brings up his right heel to its former relative position.
C-VI Right about-face
The Soldier places the hollow of his right foot opposite his left heel and turning briskly on both heels describes a half circle and then brings the right heel smartly back to the former relative position.
Each of these motions begins when the word face is pronounced.
As to the Second Branch
The primary position of the soldier under arms shall be as prescribed in the first Section except as to his left arm with which he is to carry his firelock before the hollow of his left shoulder in such manner that this shoulder may neither be raised advanced nor kept back more than the other and that the barrel of the piece may be perpendicular and turned to the front. Accordingly—The hand of this arm must grasp firmly the butt of the firelock the thumb above in front and the fingers under the butt—(the elbow must be turned a little inward and the wrist a little outward)—The arm must be so extended as to unite ease with the firm support of the piece. The inner flat of the butt pressed gently against the thighs; yet so that the motion of the thigh in marching may neither raise the piece nor occasion it to be unsteady.
Manuel Exercise
The manual exercise is to be performed according to the several commands and in the manner following
1 Support Arm
1   The soldier with his right hand seizes the piece at the slender point just above the butt & below the lock. 2 he places his left arm upon his right—the thumb at its ease & the fingers close and extended towards the bend of the elbow of the right arm.
2 Handle Arm
1   He returns his left hand to the butt and his right down his right side resuming his primary position.
III Order Arm
1   The left hand sinking the piece to the extent of the arm, the right seizes it at the height of the left shoulder. 2 The left quitting its hold, the right brings it round to the right side and lets it slip through that hand till the butt rests on the ground the exterior rim of it in a line with the point of the right foot then draws in the piece against the hollow of the right shoulder with the barrel behind and the Elbow of the right arm inward.
4 Shoulder-Firelock
1   The soldier taking a gripe of his firelock with his right hand at the swell of the Stock throws it up with one motion to its position against the left shoulder and with his left seizes it at the butt 2 he brings down his right hand to his right side and resumes his primary position.
7 Secure-Firelock
1   The soldier bringing up his right hand seizes the piece just below the lock. 2   Quitting the butt with his left hand, he with that hand seizes the piece at the swell of the Stock and brings the arm in contact with the lock; with his right hand keeping the piece firm and erect. 3   Quitting the piece with his right hand, he returns that hand down the right side at the same time with his left he brings the muzzle towards the ground his hand nearly in a line with his waistband; his arm covering the lock.
8 Shoulder-Firelock
1   The soldier with his left hand brings the piece up to the shoulder at the same time seizing it with the right hand under the lock as before. 2   he returns the left hand to the butt and the right down the right side.
5 Present-arm
1   The Soldier turning the piece with the left hand so as to bring the lock to the front, seizes it with the right hand at the slender part just below the lock. 2   with a quick motion he brings up the piece opposite his face turning the stock to the front and seizes it with the left hand just above the lock so that the little finger may rest upon the feather spring and the thumb lie on the Stock, the fingers in contact with each other and the left hand at an equal height with the eyes. 3   he steps back with his right foot four inches from the left heel and at the same time brings the piece as far down towards the right knee as the right hand will permit without constraint continuing with that hand to hold the piece with a firm gripe and pressing in the piece with the left hand ’till the barrel is perpendicular.
6 Shoulder Arm
1   The soldier replacing the right foot brings back the piece with his right hand to his left shoulder and immediately seizes the butt with his left hand. 2   he returns his right hand down his right side.
9 Advance-Arm
1   The same as the two first parts of Present 2   The soldier with his right hand brings the piece down to his right side as low as it can be done without constraint slips up the left hand at the same time to the swell of the stock and shifting the position of the right hand takes the guard between the thumb & forefinger and brings the three last fingers immediately under the hammer of the lock with the barrel to the rear. 3 Quitting the piece with his left hand he brings it down the left side to its primary position without arms.

10 Shoulder Arm
1   The soldier with his left hand seizes the piece at the swell & shifting the position of the right hand to that which it had immediately before it was shifted in the last case he with that hand brings his piece to the left shoulder withdrawing at the same [time] his left hand and with it seizing the butt—2   he returns the right hand down the right side.
17 Reverse-arm
1   The soldier sinks his left hand to the extent of his arm—with his right he seizes the piece backhanded at the swell the thumb in front and the four fingers behind—2   Jerking inward the butt with the left hand in the act of letting go its hold, he with his right hand inverts the piece so that the butt is above, the muzzle below and with his left he seizes it just below the lock his fore finger near the feather spring, holding the barrel perpendicular & the stock to the front. 3 With his right hand he throws the piece under his left arm the butt obliquely upwards and at the same time letting go his right hand throws it round behind his back and takes hold of the pi[e]ce with the back of his hand inwards.
18 Rest upon Arm
1   Letting go the right hand and Dropping the muzzle the soldier with his left brings the piece round to the center of his body—turning it so as to bring the lock outward 2   placing his right hand upon the butt end he with that hand sinks the muzzle to the ground and then placing his left hand upon the right leans with his left cheek upon that hand.
From the Reverse12 Shoulder firelock
1   The soldier with his right hand seizes the piece about the swell and brings it to the left shoulder with the muzzle above—the left arm at the same [time] changing its position and seizing the piece at the butt 2   The soldier returns the right arm down the right side.
11 Fix bayonet
1   The same as the two first parts of the Secure-firelock 2   The soldier quitting the piece with his right hand sinks it with his left down the left side nearly to the ground the butt being on the left side of the left foot the lock outwards—at the same time he seizes the bayonet with his right hand draws and fixes it upon the piece; immediately slipping that hand down the Stock and pressing in the piece to the hollow of the shoulder the barrel to the front.
12 Shoulder-Arm
1   The soldier quitting the peice with his right hand brings it up to the shoulder with his left and seizes it with the right at the slender part under the lock 2   He brings the left hand down to the butt and returns the right hand down the right side.
19 Shoulder Firelock
1   The soldier with his left hand seizes the piece about four inches below the feather spring and raises it so as to bring the hammer about the height of the Chin. 2   With his right hand he seizes it backhanded just below the butt inverts the piece by a lateral motion towards the left but obliquely to the front brings it to the shoulder receiving the butt in the left hand 3   he returns the right hand down the right side.
13 Unfix bayonet
1   The same as the two first parts of the secure firelock. 2   Quitting the piece with his right hand sinks it with the left down the left side as before and at the same time with his right seizes the bayonet at its handle unfixed and returns it into the scabbard 3 he then seizes the piece with his right hand and presses it to the hollow of the shoulder.
14 Shoulder Arm
1   The same as in the last case.
15 Charge BayonetAs front rank
1   The same as in the first part of the secure 2   The soldier brings round the butt of the piece under his right arm at the same time letting it fall on the palm of his left hand which recovers it at the swell of the Stock, the barrel pointing to the front and the butt pressed against the side just above the hip. In bringing down the piece the soldier turns upon both heels so that the left foot may be directly to the front and the right foot at a right angle to the left.
As Center rank
The same as in the last case except that The barrel points obliquely upwards so as to be clear of the head of the man in front.

From the Reverse20 Shoulder firelock
1   The soldier letting go his right hand, with the left brings the piece towards the center of his body turning the lock to the front. 2   With his right hand he seizes it backhanded at the slender part below the butt and letting go the left inverts it as in the last case—brings it round to the shoulder—& seizes it with the left hand at the butt 3   returns the right hand down the right side.
16 Shoulder Arm
1   The soldier with his left hand raising the muzzle of the piece with his right brings it to his shoulder turning upon both heels to the front seizing it with his left hand at the butt 2   he brings his right down his right side.
21 Prepare to prime
1   The soldier throws up his piece with a smart spring of the left hand directly before the left breast turning the barrel inward, catching it with the right hand below the lock then brings up the left hand with a rapid motion so as to seize the piece with that hand just above the lock the little finger touching the feather Spring the left hand at an equal height with the eyes the hammer close to the left breast but not in contact and the barrel perpendicular. 2   he brings the piece with both hands over to the right side the lock near the right breast the muzzle directly to the front at the height of the eyes and holding the piece firmly in his left hand the palm below he places the thumb of the right hand against the face of the steel the fingers clenched and the elbow somewhat turned out so that the wrist may be clear of the lock.
22 Prime firelock
1.   The soldier opens the pan by pressing back the steel with his thumb 2   Bringing his right hand to his pouch he seizes a cartrige lifts it to his mouth bites off the top covers the pow[d]er with his thumb and brings the cartrige down to the pan the elbow down—3   Turning up his right hand he shakes the powder into the pan covers the cartrige again and places the three last fingers of his right hand behind the steel with the elbow up. 4   he shuts the pan by pressing back the steel with his fingers and at the same time brings the elbow to the butt of the firelock.

23 Load Firelock
1   The soldier turns upon both heels to the front throws the piece keeping hold with his left hand towards the left side the lock being to the front and the muzzle at the height of the Chin and he brings up the cartrige to the piece immediately below the muzzle. 2   Turning up his hand he puts the Cartrige into the piece & shaking the powder into the barrel seizes the butt of the rammer with the thumb and four finger of his right hand the other fingers clenched and the elbow down 3   Drawing the rammer half out he seizes it backhanded at the middle & drawing the rammer out inverts it and enters it into the muzzle of the piece. 4   He rams the Cartrige down the barrel and afterwards drawing it briskly half way out seizes it as before at the middle, draws it quite out inverts it and enters it as far as the lower pipe raising his right hand as it descends to the butt end of the rammer and pressing it down. 5. He throws up the piece with his left hand so as to bring the lock opposite the right breast the barrel inward, and in doing this lets go his left hand and with the same hand catches the piece again just above the feather spring at the same time seizing it with his right hand at the slender part just below the lock.
24 Make readyAs front rank
1   The soldier sinks down upon the right knee keeping the left foot fast and letting the butt of the firelock fall to the ground about four inches to the right of the left foot slipping it as it descends through the left hand which taking a firm hold about the middle of the part, between the lock and the swell of the Stock, keeps the piece upright and steady. While the butt is descending to the ground, the thumb of the right hand placed upon the hammer of the lock draws it back to a full cock. As the body sinks the right knee is thrown so far back as that the left leg may be perpendicular—the right foot being a little turned out the head and body erect.
As center rank
The soldier raises the right elbow a little placing at the same time the thumb upon the hammer and with that thumb draws it back to a full Cock.

As rear rank
The soldier steps about 8 Inches to the right placing his instep behind the left heel of the man on his right & keeping the body erect and square to the front: at the same time he brings the piece to a full Cock as in the last case.
25 Take aimAs front rank
The soldier drops the muzzle and at the same time brings up the butt of the piece against his right shoulder slipping forward and the left hand to the swell of the stock and placing the forefinger of the right before the trigger and with the right eye looks along the barrel from the breech pin to the muzzle keeping the piece at a horizontal level.
As center & rear ranks
The same is done as in the last case except that the muzzle of the piece is declined below a horizontal level about   inches.
26 Fire
The soldier pulls the trigger and immediately after comes to the primary position as by the order “Prepare to prime” and seizes the lock with the forefinger and thumb of the right hand the back of the hand upward. The front rank rises and the rear rank draws back the right foot.
27 Take care to fire obliquely.
This is a cautious preliminary to the oblique firings. These are performed by the same words of command & in the same manner as the direct firings except that the word Right or Left is prefixed to the command Fire upon which the soldier of each rank directs his piece obliquely to the right or left as the command may require—when to the right the soldier of the front rank inclining his left knee towards the right, the soldier of the second rank standing firm and the soldier of the rear rank advancing his left foot about six inches towards the right foot of the man in his front and also projecting his body a little by bending forward his left knee. The latter in returning to the primary position draws back and replaces his left foot.

28 Half lock Firelock
The soldier bends back the hammer to a half Cock and brings down the Elbow to the butt of the firelock.
29 Shoulder Firelock
1   Shifting his right hand, he with that hand seizes the piece at the slender part just below the lock and raising it with both hands to a perpendicular, he throws it round with the right hand to the left shoulder and seizes the butt with his left hand. 2   He returns his right hand down his right side and resumes his primary position under arms.
30 Take care to pile Arms
This is merely an explanatory caution.
1 Left Face
The soldier faces to the left as before directed.
2 Pile
The soldier letting go the butt with his left hand seizes his piece at the slender part just below the lock—then with his right he seizes it near the muzzle sinks it to the ground and interlocks his piece with the piece or pieces on his flanks.
As to the Third branch1 Marchings
The direct and oblique step[s] have been defined in the second Section. These are applied to the movements hereafter described pursuant to the commands by which they are respectively preceded; observing that marchings uniformly begin by the left foot; except those with the side Step.
I Forward March
At the word march, The soldier steps out with his left foot the distance of a pace passing it near the ground, the knee straight but without stiffness, the toe gently turned out and pointing a little downward and brings the foot flat to the ground exactly upon the spot which is immediately under it when it begins its descent—(the heel and ball touching at the same time). He then advances in like manner his right foot to the distance of a pace from the other and then continues to move on—the body inclining forward, its weight bearing on the foot which successively comes to the ground—the legs never overlapping—the shoulders always square to the front and the head erect and turned neither to the right nor left. The motion is to be from the hips the body being kept steady & Each movement is to be prompt and firm but easy & graceful avoiding violence & noise. The line of the step ought to be direct and perpendicular to the position of the body.
II Quick March
The soldier performs the quick step of 100 in a minute.
III Fast March
The soldier performs the quickest step—120 in a minute. But there are cases in which these steps are appropriate to particular movements and are to be performed by the word March simply and will be elsewhere explained. They may commence from the standing position or from the march and in the last case with either foot indiscriminately. But whenever the soldier being in march a change is to be made in the kind or degree of the step care must be taken to give the command just as one or the other foot comes to the ground.
IV Common Step
The soldier resumes this step.
V Obliquely to the right—March.
1   The soldier steps out with his left foot obliquely to the right to the distance of Twenty two Inches 2   he advances his right foot in like manner to the distance of Eighteen Inches; the diagonal of the two movements making with the [per]pendicular of the primary position an angle of about   degrees. Thus he continues repeating these steps in succession till ordered to halt or change his direction.
VI Obliquely to the left March
1   The soldier steps out with his left foot obliquely to the left Eighteen Inches 2   he advances his right foot in like manner Twenty two Inches. In other particulars this movement corresponds with the former.
VII Forward March
The foot which at the word march is about to be raised whether right or left relinquishing the oblique takes the perpendicular direction. The other does the same and the direct step is resumed.
If the soldier be in march when the command for the oblique step is given, he begins it with that foot which is about to be raised when the word is pronounced.

The measures which have been prescribed for the oblique steps are intended only as a general standard. In practice they must be deviated from according to circumstances which may render it necessary to gain ground more or less rapidly to the right or left. When therefore the Soldier shall have learned to perform the oblique march well according to the standard measures he must be taught to practice it with variations—so as to exemplify what is proper in different situations.
It is a general rule that there is to be no acceleration of the oblique step.
VIII Mark Time
The soldier being in march when the command is given, he continues to step out alternately, but without gaining ground, bringing back each time his heel to a line with the other and observing the due cadence of the common step.
IX Forward March
He advances as before directed.


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from William North, 1 January 1800
From: North, William
To: Hamilton, Alexander

New York 1st Jany 1800
Sir,
Under the impression, That frequent Inspections are of the utmost consequence, that they tend to give & preserve discipline, & economy: & in fact, that without them, & the consequent returns, no uniformity can be established, nor the real strength, or situation of an army be known, I have laboured to form returns relative to this Object which I hope embrace every thing necessary to be known respecting the seperate parts, or the agregate of a Regiment. Without precedents before me, & with scarcely any recollection of the forms used in the army last war, It is with a degree of diffidence I offer the forms accompanying this, to your notice; they are submitted for correction, I shall be ready to give my reasons in support of the different Columns & be happy to amend them, in any way which may be pointed out. When the forms are perfected I should presume they ought to be printed, & it is submitted whether the Returns of Inspection, may not, as they embrace every thing, do away the common monthly returns. In this event, if no Division or Brigade Inspector was present, a regulation might be made Authorizing the Commanding Officer of One Regt or Corps, to Inspect another; making it the duty of a regular Inspector, at all events, to Inspect the whole of the force under the Command of his General, at least once in three months.
With the greatest respect   I have the honor to be,   Sir,   Your Obed Servt

W NorthAdjt Genl.


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to Tobias Lear, 2 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: Lear, Tobias

N. York Jany. 2d. 1800
Dr. Sir
Yr. letter of the 15 of Decr. last was delayed in getting to hand by the circumstance of its having gone to N. York while I was at Phila. and of its having arrived at Phila. after I had set out on my return to N. York.
The very painful event which it announces had, previously to the receipt of it, filled my heart with bitterness. Perhaps no man in this community has equal cause with myself to deplore the loss. I have been much indebted to the kindness of the General, and he was an Aegis very essential to me. But regrets are unavailing. For great misfortunes it is the business of reason to seek consolation. The friends of General Washington have very noble ones. If virtue can secure happiness in another world he is happy. In this the Seal is now put upon his Glory. It is no longer in jeopardy from the fickleness of fortune.
Adieu &c

P.S. In whose hands are his papers gone? Our very confidential situation will not permit this to be a point of indifference to me.


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 2 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: McHenry, James

N Y Jan. 2. 1800
Sir
Application has been made to me on the Subject of Chaplains. I find by recurrence to the laws that four of these characters are provided for. This will furnish one to each brigade. I doubt not you will feel with me strong motives which recommend the speedily going into these appointments. The Revd. Mr. Hill has been proposed by Col. Parker and I now offer him to you as a Candidate. It appears from the letter of Col. Parker that this Gentleman has been officiating in the character of Chaplain for some time.
S of War


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to William S. Smith, 3 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: Smith, William Stephens

New York Jany. 3rd. 1800
Sir
Your different letters of the 23rd 24th and 28th. of December have been delivered to me.
It is always difficult in contracts to define the quality of the articles which are to be furnished, and hence has arisen the silence of which you complain in the contract with the Agent for New Jersey. It is however implied in the nature of the transaction that the articles be good according to the common acceptation of the term, and when this is not the case the Agent violates his engagement, and the US. are at liberty to refuse the articles, provide them otherwise, and look to him for damages. When bread is furnished in lieu of flour it ought to be made of flour and not of midlings. The bread should undoubtedly be made of the article for which it is given as a substitute. The attention which you have paid to this subject has my warm approbation. I shall write to the contractor pointedly respecting it, and you will make the ideas contained in this letter your guide in your future transactions with him.
I am much pleased with your dispositions, and with the Soldierly conduct of the troops in paying the funeral honors to our departed Chief. I am likewise much pleased with your resolution of erecting a monument as a testimony of reverence for his character and only regret that I can not make the expence a public instead of a private charge. No alterations occur to me as proper to be made in the inscription except that I would submit to you whether a more dignified simplicity would not be given to it by leaving out the verses. Altho they certainly have merit yet they appear to me to interfere with that simplicity which should be studied on such occasions.
It is true that I said nothing with respect to extra expence. This proceeded from the supposition that no expence would be necessary independently of the articles furnished by the public, and from a conviction which experience has produced in my mind of the extreme caution to be observed with respect to every object that involves an expenditure of money out of the regular course.
You will be pleased however to send me an account of the expences that were incurred. Such of them as were necessarily incident to the celebration I will press the payment of with the S of War, and to the rest I will give every attention in my power.
The trial of Lieutenant Hoffman was postponed on account of the absence of Lieutenant Wands. I do not, however think it proper to put off the trial for an indefinite period on this account. Unless therefore the Court of which you speak has definitively adjourned, and you have received information which leads you to suppose that Lieut Wands will be speedily released from confinement, you will cause the trial of Mr. Hoffman to come on without delay. If this court has definitively adjourned you will name to me some person to act as President of another Court which I will constitute.
Col. Smith


Title: General Orders, 4 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To:

[New York] January 4th, 1800.
The General Court Martial, of which captain Amos Stoddart was President, having found James, alias Parker Hosmer, a private in the 2d Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers, guilty of repeated desertion, and having sentenced, that the pay now due him be made answerable for the expenses attending his apprehension; that he receive ninety-nine lashes upon his naked back, at three different times, within two days, thirty-three lashes at each time; have one half of his head shaved, and one eye-brow; and be publicly drummed out of the garrison with a halter round his neck, and rendered incapable ever again to serve in the army of the United States: major general Hamilton confirms the sentence and orders its execution.
Major general Hamilton takes this opportunity to remark, that not only a stoppage of pay equal to the expenses attending the pursuit or apprehension of deserters, should form part of every sentence, but that, agreeably to an act of Congress, dated May 30th, 1796, the absence of the culprit from his regiment or corps should be ascertained, and the full number of days intervening between the time of desertion and the sentence of the Court be added to the term, for which he was bound to serve.
Whether whipping and a discharge from the service, even in the most disgraceful manner, is the mode of punishment best calculated to prevent the crime of desertion, is a question which demands the consideration of future Courts Martial.
Hardened in infamy, and lost to shame, the discharged deserter waits only the moment when the disgraceful marks of his punishment shall disappear, to reinlist himself in some other corps, again to receive a bounty, and defraud the United States. Against offenders of this description what guard can be placed, or what punishment can be inflicted, sufficient to prevent a crime so ruinous to an army a desertion. Major general Hamilton is strongly inclined to believe, that hard labour for the term which remains to them to serve, and confinement in such manner as to clog all attempts if not bar all hope of escape, gives the fairest prospects of success. Should this opinion be adopted, Fort Independence, in the harbour of Boston, Ellis Island, in the harbour of New-York, and Fort Mifflin in the Delaware, are designated as places of safe confinement. Major General Pinckney will point out such places within the district under his command, as to him shall appear most proper; and Brigadier General Wilkinson will indicate those within the limits of his command. Punishment deferred, looses its intended effect; it is therefore ordered, that sentences of Courts Martial, when approved, shall immediately be carried into effect.
The commanding officers of Corps, Districts, and Posts, to whom the execution of such sentences shall belong, will be answerable that this order is complied with, and to prevent in future, milit[a]ry offenders from pleading ignorance of their duty, the commanding officer[s] of regiments, troops, and companies are made responsible, that the rules and articles for the better government of the troops of the United States are regularly read to the troops under their command, comformably to the first article of the eighteenth section.
Officers having in their service, soldiers, who do not belong to the regiment, battalion, or company under their immediate command, or to which they are attached, will return them to the corps from which they are taken. The practice, as injurious to the service, is forbidden in future.
All attestations of recruits, are to be sent to the deputy paymaster general at New-York.
On all letters, written on public service, the rank as well as the name of the writer, is in future to be endorsed.
The title of Ensign and Cornet being changed to Second Lieutenant, the change must be attended to in all returns and documents. It is also directed that returns not only specify the time when, but the place where the return is made; and no return, in future, will be received, if not signed by the commanding officer of the district, regiment, or corps, which it may concern. Where it may be found necessary, to deviate from this rule, information will be given.
Deviations from the rules established for the recruiting service, having been observed in several instances, commanding officers of regiments and districts are charged to be particularly attentive to this object, and by calling officers to account, prevent as far as may be, the United States from suffering by the disobedience or inattention of those to whom the recruiting service may be committed, and in order to deter persons enlisting into the army of the United States from imposing upon recruiting officers by concealing disabilities which render them unfit to serve—it is ordered, that in future every article of clothing issued to a recruit, who upon inspection shall be found to have been unfit for service at the time of his enlistment, shall be taken from him and returned to the United States.


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to Rufus King, 5 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: King, Rufus

New York January 51800
It is indeed a long time, My Dear Sir, since I have written to you, and I feel my obligation to you for the continuance of your correspondence notwithstanding my delinquency.
Had it been true, that I had left every thing else to follow the Drum, my delinquency would not have been so great. But our military establishment offers too little inducement and is too precarious to have permitted a total dereliction of professional pursuits. The double occupation occasionned by these added to Military Duties, and the attentions which circumstances call me to pay to collateral objects, engage my time more than ever and leave me less leisure for communication with distant friends.
If the projected cypher was established I should now have very much to say to you. But for this the arrangement is not yet mature. Soon however, I hope, to make it so, by forwarding to you the counterpart, which is in preparation. I must however give you some sketch of our Affairs.
At home, every thing is in the main well; except as to the Perverseness and capriciousness of one and the spirit of faction of many.
Our measures, from the first cause, are too much the effect of momentary impulse. Vanity and Jealousy exclude all counsel. Passion wrests the helm from reason.
The irreparable loss of an inestimable man removes a controul which was felt and was very salutary.
The leading friends of the Government are in a sad Dilemma. Shall they risk a serious scism by an attempt to change? Or shall they annihilate themselves and hazard their cause by continuing to uphold those who suspect or hate them, & who are likely to propose a course for no better reason than because it is contrary to that which they approve?
The spirit of Faction is abated no where. In Virginia it is more violent than ever. It seems demonstrated that the leaders there, who possess completely all the powers of the local Government, are resolved to possess those of the National, by the most dangerous combinations, & if they cannot effect this, to resort to the employment of physical force. The want of disposition in the people to second them will be the only preventive. It is believed that it will be an effectual One.
In the two houses of Congress we have a decided Majority. But the dread of unpopularity is likely to paralise it and to prevent the erection of additional buttresses to the Constitution: a Fabric which can hardly be stationary and which will retrograde, if it cannot be made to advance.
In the Mass of the People the dispositions are not bad. An attachment to the system of peace continues. No project contrary to it could easily conciliate favour. Good Will towards the Government in my opinion predominates—though a numerous party is still actuated by an opposite sentiment and some vague discontents have a more diffused influence. Sympathy with the French Revolution acts in a much narrower circle than formerly; but the jealousy of Monarchy, which is as active as ever, still furnishes a hand by which the factious mislead well meaning persons.

In our Councils there is no fixed plan. Some are for preserving and invigorating the Navy and destroying the army. Some, among the friends of Government, for diminishing both on pecuniary considerations.
My plan is to complete the Navy to the contemplated extent—say Six Ships of the line, Twelve frigates and Twenty four Sloops of War—to make no alteration for the present as to the Military Force—And finally to preserve the Organs of the existing force; reducing the men to a very moderate number. For this plan there are various Reasons that appear to me solid. I much doubt however that it will finally prevail.
The recent depredations of British Cruisers, sanctionned in various instances by the Courts, have rekindled in many breasts, an animosity which was fast extinguishing. Such persons think they see in the circumstance a new proof that Friendship towards this Country on the part of Great Britain will always be measured by the scale of her success. A very perplexing conflict of sensations is the result of this impression.
I must hasten to a Conclusion. It was unnecessary for me to have told you that for the loss of our illustrious friend every heart is in mourning. Adieu God bless you

P S   Who is to be Commander in Chief? Not the next in Command. The appointment will probably be deferred.


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to Nathan Rice, 6 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: Rice, Nathan

N. Y. Jany. 6th. 1800
Sir
I have received your letter of Decr. 17th. It was not my intention that the relative rank of your officers should have been finally determined on, and made known to them unless you had arranged it according to the list I forwarded, but as your motives have no doubt been just in so doing, I shall sanction the arrangement.
The Gentlemen of your regiment who have received subsequent appointments, and are in consequence of it junior Officers, must consider it in no other light than that of justice to those appointed before. The principle has appeared to me so just that I have invariably followed it, and whatever cases may have happened in the Army, contrary to that principle, have never come within my view.
The intent of the Contract in giving the Contractor the option of issuing rye or wheat flour is to be considered as an indulgence to him, at the same time trusting in his good faith that the one will never be issued except when the other cannot be procured without great trouble and extraordinary expence; Should however he supply the troops with rye instead of wheat flour you will demand his motives in writing for so doing and forward them to me.
Col. Rice


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from James McHenry, 7 January 1800
From: McHenry, James
To: Hamilton, Alexander

War Department 7th January 1800.
Sir,
Being much pressed to prepare information called for by Congress, I can at present only notice the subject of your letters of the 2nd & 4th inst.
Not considering the question whether rations can be issued to Officers’ Servants (who are not Soldiers) as within the Executive Competency to determine, I have embraced it in my report to the President as a subject for a Legislative provision.
I shall not object to your calling on one of the Cavalry Officers, not in actual service, to aid the Deputy Paymaster General in the execution of his functions. Altho’ the law does not contemplate an assistant to a Deputy, yet on your Representation one would seem indispensible. With respect to extra allowance to the Assistant, I am more at a loss. I incline to the opinion however that it ought not to exceed 24 Dollars, or the Extra Allowance which the law provides for a Brigade Quarter Master or Brigade Inspector, and that the Officer who is called upon must consider this allowance as excluding him from any claim for travelling expences.

I take this occasion to observe that several General Courts Martial have been held by your order; for instance those on Major Hoops & Captain Fry—the proceedings of which have not been forwarded as the Articles of War require, to this office.
I have the honour to be,   Sir,   Your most obedient servant

James McHenry
Major Genl. Alexander Hamilton.


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from William S. Smith, 7 January 1800
From: Smith, William Stephens
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Union Brigade [Scotch Plains, New Jersey] Jany. 7th, 1800
Major General Hamilton,
Sir.
I have the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your Letter of the 3d. inst. I have communicated with the Contractor on that part of its contents, which relates to his department—and I flatter myself I shall have no more grounds of complaint, if I have however, I shall not be silent.
On the subject of the funeral expences—there is no other account to be presented, excepting the price of two pieces of Linen for sca[r]fs one piece of black Ribbon to tye them, two yards of Black broad Cloath, to cover the urn, and the necessary black Crape, & the expences of the Expresses to the Paul Bearers, which amounted to ten dollars, the Contractor having furnished them. I think this will not be thought extravagant or superfluous, the bills of the articles are not yet presented; when they are, with your Leave I will give an order on the Contractor, who will take the receipts of those who furnished them, & I doubt not but by a line from you, to accountant of the War Office, they will be passed as correct.
I shall give the necessary directions to the Judge Advocate, relative to the Tryal of Lt. Hoffman, & I hope Col. Ogden will be sufficiently recovered by the time Lt. Hoffman arrives, to proceed on the business.
I have the honor to be Sir,   Your most Obedt. Humble sert.

W. S. Smith, 12th. Regt.


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from William S. Smith, 8 January 1800
From: Smith, William Stephens
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Union Brigade [Scotch Plains, New Jersey]Jany. 8th. 1800.
Major General Hamilton
Sir
Yesterday I received a letter from Lt. Baldwin, wherein he states, that the present situation of his Health, obliges him to make a second application for a furlough, for such length of time, as may be thought sufficient, for the better recovery of his health, and refers me for further information, respecting the necessity of his making the application, to Doctor Douglass. I immediately enclosed Lt. Baldwins Letter to Doctor Douglass, and requested him to favour me with an accurate statement of his Complaints, the causes from whence they orriginated, whether they are of long standing, and what time he supposed, would be necessary to grant him leave of absence, for the restoration of his health. Doctor Douglass answers, that Mr. Baldwin’s Complaint is a Siphylis Luis Venerea of several years standing, which has so contaminated his whole system, and enfeebled his Constitution, that he conceives him unfit for military Service. He observes, it would be difficult to calculate the precise time, that Mr. Baldwin, would require, to effect a radical cure, and to restore his enfeebled Constitution to that degree of health, which would enable him to discharge the duties of an officer. He supposes at least several months.
I have this day informed Mr. Baldwin that he has leave of absence for six days to go to new york, where he must apply to you for an indulgence of a longer time. I could not refrain from observing to Mr. Baldwin that considering his case, I was astonished at his not retiring from service, as he must be fully convinced that his health, would not permit him to discharge the duties of his Station, and that there was a very good probability if he continued, he would early fall a sacrifice. I suppose however, he will go to new york, & will of course apply to you, for an extention of his furlough. I feel as if I have done my duty, in giving you a candid detail of his case before he applies. I have diffinitively mustered him, & I cannot conceive why an officer may not be reported as not passing muster as well as a soldier, and be struck of[f] the list as a Continental hard bargain.
I have the Honor to be Sir,   With great respect,   Your most obedt Humble Sert

W. S. Smith 12th Regt


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 9 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: McHenry, James

New York, January 9, 1800. “… The Adjutt: General is busied in preparing the Return you require. But his materials are unavoidably defective. The monthly returns heretofore sent you contain the substance of our information. All that is possible will be done.”


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from William North, 9 January 1800
From: North, William
To: Hamilton, Alexander

New York, Jany. 9th. 1800
Sir,
Under cover to you, I have the honor to transmit the Return of the Troops in the service of the United States. From the unsettled state of Military affairs, from new dispositions recently made in the Army, from the distance, and scattered situations of Military posts, and the want of regular communication, the Return is rendered less complete and satisfactory than I could have wished. I am, however, induced to believe, that it is not very far from a correct estimate.
The two Corps of Artillery are perhaps reported rather defective in point of numbers, as no regular Returns have, as yet, been furnished from all the different posts, within the limits of Major General Pinckney’s District, and which embrace some Troops belonging to these Corps. The same observation will apply with different degrees of force, to the four Regiments of Infantry, part of which, particularly of the third & fourth, have been considered within the sphere of his command. With regard to these Regiments, I availed myself of the Report made of them, some months ago by the Brigadier General Wilkinson, aided and corrected by such Returns as were in the Office. Of the fourth Regiment, however, there were the most scanty and defective materials, as in Brigadier General Wilkinson’s Report, it was left an entire blank, and but few traces of it could be found in the Office, and I was constrained to borrow the number of privates assigned as its actual strength from the Returns of Parties Recruiting for it, the addition to be made to this number, as it would have been a mere matter of uncertain conjecture, was not inserted. The Officers of these four old Regiments, as well as those of the two Corps of Artillery, have been supplied in some instances, by information, and inofficial knowledge, than by Returns furnished. The surgeon’s Mates, not annexed to any particular Regiment, are added to the foot of that column. There are likewise some other additions made, of which absolute certainty could not be obtained.
I am thus explicit in detailing the difficulties occurring in the way of a correct statement, in unfolding the sources from which results are drawn, & the materials of which the Return is formed, to prevent any undue reliance being placed upon its accuracy, or any misled calculation founded upon it, in the Report of the Army under contemplation. With these observations and explanations, you will properly appreciate the Return enclosed.
With regard to the twelve new Regiments, the information received is more complete and correct; all but the fifth Regiment, which has but newly commenced ye. Recruiting Service, have made their monthly Recruiting Returns to the Office, and under the column of dates, you will find the last months for which any Return has been transmitted. The Non commissioned Officers are not specified in the Recg. Returns, but, of course, must be taken out of the Total Residue of the enlisted, and are included in the General Return presented under the head of “Total Non Commissioned Officers & Privates.”
It is to be hoped that a more settled state of Military Affairs, and a more complete organisation of the Army, will obviate any uncertainty or incorrectness, in any future Returns required.
With great respect   I have the honor to be   your most obed. sert.

W NorthAdj General


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 9 January 1800
From: Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Head Quarters at Shepherdstown [Virginia] Jany: 9th: 1800.
Dear Sir
I shall not expatiate on our great loss. Not a man in America has more severely felt it than myself.
Lieut. Walbach presented me your Letter, I find him diligent & intelligent and well acquainted with Cavalry service. He will be of very important service to me. You may be assured we shall not be idle; but I doubt whether we shall be able to finish before the end of April for I do not expect Brigr: Genl: Washington and Colo: Watts to be here till the 17th: of February. I have written to the Secretary of War to permit two Troops of Cavalry to be immediately raised and stationed here; they will be really necessary to enable us to form a perfect system.
Lt: Colo: Hall of the 9th: had great doubts concerning your letter relative to the arrangement of the Officers of his Regiment. I considered it as a request which he ought to comply with. He this morning showed me his alterations and asked my opinion, as I am yet but little acquainted with them I am no judge whether they are judicious or not, but, from his knowledge of them I should suppose they were. I see he has changed Lieut: Eliott from the 5th: 1st: Lieut: to the 9th:. I have been since informed he served in the Western Army and is a good Officer. He appears a very genteel man and is intelligent. I think as the determination by Lot is recommended by the Colo: in several cases Lieut: Eliott should at least have a chance of keeping his station or being near it. But I am not acquainted with the comparative merits of the Officers and Colo: Hall I presume is.
The great drought has greatly retarded the hutting as the Mills could not work for want of Water, and we have been obliged to haul some of the planks the distance of forty miles. This business is however nearly finished. I laid out the dimensions of my hut yesterday morning. In the interim I occupy when at the Cantonment Colo: Parkers who is gone to the North Western Territory. I found great difficulty in making the men of different Regiments march exactly to the regulated time, but I have lately had recourse to pendulums and doubt not but they will soon march well and together. I am determined to ground them well in their Rudiments. There are one hundred and one French prisoners at Frederick Town. The guard belongs to my division, but they are within your district. I sent the Brigade Inspector to see their situation. He says some of the Rooms in the Barracks are repairing for them, but he does not understand that there are Iron gratings to the windows which I think necessary. The guard have no Ammunition and there is none at the Cantonment, so that I cannot send them any. And I have no person acting as division or Brigade Quarter Master here to procure any. As they are only 25 Miles from this place and twenty from the Cantonment any orders which you will issue respecting them I will have immediately executed. Mrs: Pinckney is getting strength and flesh. My Daughters are well and I am afraid I shall be as fat as Genl. Lincoln. We all desire our respects to Mrs. Hamilton & I always am
Yours sincerely and affectionately

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
Major General Hamilton


Title: General Orders, 10 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To:

[New York] January 10th. 1800
Gambling, a vice destructive to the reputation of an army, and fraught with every evil not only to those who suffer themselves to engage in it, but to the army in which it is tolerated, is strictly prohibited; and it is pointedly ordered that no officer or soldier play at any game with cards or dice, at or within one mile of the camp, garrison, or post, at which he may be stationed, nor for money at any game whatsoever.

William North,Adjutant General.


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to Martha Washington, 12 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: Washington, Martha

New York Jany. 12. 1800
I did not thing it proper, Madam, to intrude amidst the first effusions of your grief. But I can no longer restrain my sensibility from conveying to you an imperfect expression of my affectionate sympathy in the sorrows you experience. No one, better than myself, knows the greatness of your loss, or how much your excellent heart is formed to feel it in all its extent. Satisfied that you cannot receive consolation, I will attempt to offer none. Resignation to the will of Heaven, which the practice of your life ensures, can alone alleviate the sufferings of so heart-rending an affliction.
There can be few, who equally with me participate in the loss you deplore. In expressing this sentiment, I may without impropriety allude to the numerous and distinguished marks of confidence and friendship, of which you have yourself been a Witness; but I cannot say in how many ways the continuance of that confidence and friendship was necessary to me in future relations.
Vain, however, are regrets. From a calamity, which is common to a mourning nation, who can expect to be exempt? Perhaps it is even a privilege to have a claim to a larger portion of it than others.
I will only add, Madam, that I shall deem it a real and a great happiness, if any future occurrence shall enable me to give you proof of that respectful and cordial attachment with which I have the honor to be
Your obliged & very obedient servant
Mrs. Martha Washington


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, [13] January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: McHenry, James

New York Jany. [13] 1800
Sir,
Some of the maxims which obtain with the Officers at the seat of Government, charged with the adjustment of the accounts of those Agents who have to furnish supplies and make disbursements for the Military service are of a nature to produce much perplexity & inconvenience. To me they appear mistaken, such as are to be found no where else, and such as must render it impracticable to discharge military duties with satisfaction or success. It is one thing to have and enforce rules which check improvident expenditure & secure a due accountability. It is a very different thing to practice when such as embarrass & retard the settlement of proper charges, as refuse credit for expenditures regularly made, as keep Agents out of money to which they are intitled, as subject to painful animadversions and harrass with unnecessary explanation officers who in the exercise of a reasonable discretion direct measures which incur expence.
Specimens of the operation of those rules are to be seen in the communications here with transmitted from E Stevens Esqr & from Majors Toussard & Jackson.
It is perhaps impossible in military affairs to devise any system of Regulations so perfect as to embrace all the cases in which expenditures by the order of particular Officers for current occasions are necessary. Some discretion must be allowed. This must be the case with regard to officers of inferior rank detached to remote stations. But it must be frequently and extensively the case as to a commanding General. In time of war nothing will proceed without this discretion upon a large scale. In time of peace incidents of a more limited nature constantly arise, involving expence which could not be deferred for a special resort to the head of the War department, without real injury to the service, while the Officer by the necessity of that resort in matters of minutiae would be placed in a situation extremely humiliating & irksome.
When in pursuance of this discretion directions for the disbursement of money are given to a subordinate Agent in cases in which there has been no special restriction upon him, his charges ought to be admitted without difficulty and the superior Officer made responsible for improper direction in his office in his pocket or in both according to circumstances.
Though it may be necessary to confine the ordinary accounting officers to the admission of such items only as are within established regulations, yet where others occur, they ought not to be rejected and thrown back upon the party to oblige him to go through the tedious and circuitous process of an application to the head of the Department for an extraordinary sanction, but there ought to be an interior arrangement of the Department for bringing it in the first instance before that head or some competent substitute, in order to a special direction, and when what has been done shall appear proper the needful sanction should follow.
In the instances in which no regulations have been established by the Department as a guide to the Officers, their acts ought to be viewed with greater liberality, and the mismanagement which should subject them to blame or embarrassment ought to be unequivocal.
It happens that no rules have been prescribed with regard to extra expences. Officers are left to exercise their judgments as occasions require. They do it in good faith, and yet their acts are not received as authority in favour of Agents who could not with propriety refuse obedience to them. The fundamental principle of the Military System is thus subverted. Agents for their own safety are taught to reason about the fitness of compliance with the requisitions made upon them. The service is clogged. Commanding officers are let down, and in very triffling matters are perplexed how to act. This awkward state of things demands a corrective. The dignity and delicacy of Officers, as well as the good of the service, require it.
I pass from these preliminary remarks to a view of some of the instances, which are the immediate occasion of them, beginning with those which relate to my own acts.
1. The purchase of horses for the use of Major Hoops & Capt Stille, with their servants for a journey to Niagara & back again.
These Officers were sent to Niagara towards forming a Court of Inquiry in consequence of the charges preferred by Capt Bruff against Major Rivardi.
These charges as you know were of a very serious nature. They affected deeply the honor of Major Rivardi and the interest of the service, including among other things the misapplication of public property for private accommodation.
The situation of Niagara & the other posts was such that officers could not have been found for constituting the Court nearer than Detroit—and it was unknown to me whether those who could have been brought from thence would be qualified for so delicate an inquiry.
After maturely weighing the circumstances, I thought it adviseable to send from this quarter two intelligent & respectable officers who with one in the vi[ci]nity to compose the Court, and another to officiate as recorder might accomplish the object in a satisfactory manner.
The differences of expence between this and the only alternative in my option could not be great. The conduct and character of an important officer were at stake. It was due to that officer to commit the Inquiry to adequate Agents. In the first stages of a new and more extensive organisation of our army it appears to me particularly expedient to give importance & weight to such an Inquiry by the manner in which it was made. The zeal with which the accusation was urged furnished additional motives for caution. The probable influence upon the service of an inquiry fitly conducted could bear no proportion to the money which it would cost.
The measure being once resolved upon the means were of course to be furnished. The officers selected had not horses of their own. If the contrary had been the fact, they ought not to have been required to expose them to the injury and hazard of so long and so difficult a journey. Usage was against it. An Order was accordingly given by me to provide horses and it was executed with prudence; on the return of the horses they were directed to be sold and the proceeds carried to the Credit of the public. I doubt not this has been done.
Upon a similar principle I directed the amount of their actual expences to be advanced upon an accountable receipt, as they exceeded the rate of compensation which you had prescribed & by my letter of the 25 of Nov last, referred it to you to say whether an extraordinary allowance was not proper. I expected, that you would either have directed the accountant to admit the charge definitively or else allowing a credit to Mr. Stevens, to charge the parties with the sum advanced, and after deducting the allowance according to the regulations, to retain the difference out of their future pay. I knew that money had been borrowed for the expenditure, that the lender was urging the repayment & that the officers would have been placed in a disagreeable situation had not the advance been made.
2. The payment of the passage of Capt Littlefield & his servant. Capt. Littlefield was accidentally prevented from going with his company. He was to be enabled to go. If he had marched on foot by land his baggage must have been transported at the public expence. That it was preferable for him to go by water will not be doubted. In such cases, it is customary for the public to defray the expence of the transportation of person & baggage. I directed this to be done on the usual terms. Whether the rate is proper I am not a judge. It appears to me high. This I acknowlege is a fit subject of explanation with Mr. Stevens. If the sum paid included the ladies of Capt Littlefields family, it was without my sanction & ought not to be allowed.
3. Sea Stores for General Wilkinson and the expences of his Voyage from New Orleans to New York.
This officer was ordered on public business from the Mouth of the Mississippi to New York & was to return to his duty by the same route.
It would be monstrous in itself and against numerous precedents to say that the expence of such a journey was to be borne by the Officer himself. It is a general rule that where an officer is detached from the army for a special purpose of service, his expences are to be defrayed by the Government. A different rule might oblige him to exhaust the compensations of a year in the expences of a quarter of it.
Proceeding on this idea, I thought there could be no doubt of the propriety of directing his expences at & from New Orleans to be reimbursed and sea stores to be furnished for the return voyage of himself and suite.
I directed Mr. Stevens to do both; referring him to General Wilkinson for a statement of the requisite stores. It seemed to me that this sort of delicacy was due to an Officer of so high rank, though it should chance to be abused. I trust that this has not been the case.
4. The Rent of Quarters for the Adjutant General and his suite & for his Office, and the rent of quarters for my suite and an Office.
As to myself I have to this moment lived in a house rented and paid for by myself. The observation of the Ass Qr Master General is that in such cases the rent ought to be paid by the Officers themselves, the charge for it to be adjusted with them by the Accountant of the War Department & if proper to be paid by a warrant from the Secy.
This is a course as inadmissible as it would be novel.
It is the practice of every service to provide Officers with Quarters. The doing of it in our system belongs to the Department of Qr. Mr. General. Mr. Stevens acts in the capacity of Qr. Master. He was therefore the proper organ, and the expence was a proper charge in his Quarter Master’s Account. To require the officers to pay in the first instance is to impose on them a burthen which they are not bound to bear and which it might often not be in their power to take upon themselves.
I do not deem it necessary to dwell particularly on other items in General Steven’s accounts which have been objected to. The principles I have stated apply to some of them & some will find their justification in the usual course of service and in the nature of his functions.
I proceed to the representations of Majors Toussard & Jackson.
The letter of Major Toussard states the reasons for what was done in a manner which appears to me satisfactory.
As to the tents and shoes there was no doubt a proceeding out of the established course, and it is much to be wished that the public arrangements in regard to supplies were such as to render expedients of this sort unnecessary. But while they continue to be defective and tardy, exigencies will occur in which irregular modes of providing will not fail [to] be resorted to. In such instances the propriety of the conduct of Officers must be judged of by the circumstances & where these will bear them out, they will be intitled to ratification. To me it seems that what was done in respect to these articles was necessary & prudent.
As to the barge for Fort Adams, there being no regulation to the contrary, the expenditure was in my opinion strictly regular, & there is every probability that it was proper.
As to wood for cadets, there is no regulation, within my knowledge, which furnishes a rule. Analogy is rather in favour of that which was pursued. And it seems expedient in this particular as in others to raise the cadet above the N C. Officer & private. At any rate if there was no contrary regulation, this is a case in which the act of a commanding Officer ought to be supported as to the past.
But in respect to the Contractor, the observation of Major Toussard is decisive. He ingages to furnish all Quarter Master supplies that may be required by the Commanding Officer. He does furnish bona fide supplies of that description upon the orders of that Officer. It is a matter of course that his advances be admitted to his credit & that he be reimbursed. This is in my judgment a clear & an essential principle.
Major Jacksons letter presents embarrassments of a similar kind.
My observation as to the Barge in Major Toussards case applies to the Barge and the repairs mentioned by Major Jackson.
With respect to the article of Wood, I last fall directed the Contractors to lay in at once at each post a sufficiency for the supply of the Winter. The inducement to this was the certainty tha⟨t⟩ if the purchase was to keep pace with the consumption, the public would have to pay much higher prices than if the wood was procured and deposited in the fall. I took it for granted that the contractor would be reimbursed the sum he should advance for this anticipating provision. But if I misapprehend not the representation, an objection has been made to the charge on the principle that the contractor was only to be paid in proportion to the actual issues. How improvident the effect of this rule must be needs no argument. The instance cited by Major Jackson illustrates it. The Contractor on this principle will only buy as the consumption progresses, and the public must pay the successive enhancements of Winter prices. The Supply on this plan is likely to cost from 25 to 50 per Cent more.
Several of the matters concerning which difficulties have arisen have been heretofore subjects of communication between you and myself; and specific regulations have been by me submitted to consideration. These have not as yet been adopted, nor any substitute for them. The difficulties in question are strong comments on the necessity of establishing regulations in regard to expenditures which may serve as rules of conduct. One among many strong reasons for it is that persons who are to have pecuniary dealings with the Govermt. will naturally take into account the additional delays & perplexities to which they are exposed under the present system—& must and will find in the terms upon which they undertake a compensation for those impediments.
Voluminous explanations, like the present are no trival inconvenience. They consume every where a considerable portion of time which might be much more usefully employed. And in this way also the Public sustains a disadvantage. Its service is proportionably worse managed.
With great respect & esteem   I have the honor to be   Sir Yr obed ser
The Secy of War


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 13 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: McHenry, James

N Y. Jay. 13. 1800
Sir
I have the honor to send you the return of the Army of the UStates which you lately required and which was delivered to me this morning. It is accompanied by a letter from the Adjutant General which furnishes some necessary explanations.
S of War


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from William S. Smith, 13 January 1800
From: Smith, William Stephens
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Union Brigade [Scotch Plains, New Jersey]Jany. 13th. 1800.
Major General Hamilton
Sir.
Lt. Colo. Ogden proposing to visit New york to-morrow, I have wished him to state to you fully, the situation of the interior of this Brigade. I see no possibility of preserving the necessary order, and regularity, indispensible in military service, unless I have the power deligated, competent to punish offenders, against the orders, I am as Commanding officer, authorised to Issue. The soldiers discover a disposition to be licentious & disorderly, and nothing can correct it, but prompt punishment, this cannot be inflicted if every question out of the Regimental line, must necessarily be submitted to a General Court martial, & purely Brigade misdemeanors, ought not in every instance to be submitted to the decision of Regimental Courts; it is giving an existence to an imperium in imperio which neither comports, with my Idea of a Civil or military Juris prudence. If the articles of war, make no mention of a Brigade Court martial, to be insituted by the Commander of that Brigade to examine & decide upon cases, not Capital,—for the Good of the service, let us be considered as a Garrison, on Green Brook, near the Village of Plain field, in the state of New Jersey, and under the sixth art. of the Appendix to the articles of war, by the United States, in Congress assembled, May 31st 86; let the power be deligated to the Commanding officer, to appoint a Garrison Court martial, to embrace all cases not Capital within the sphere of his Command,—be assured there is some hazard in attempting to carry the present system further—however, this with every other question, is respectfully submitted by—Sir,
Your most obedt & very Humble Servt.

W. S. Smith Lt. Colo. of ye 12thComdt


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from Samuel Smith, 14 January 1800
From: Smith, Samuel
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Philada. 14. Jany. 1800
Dr. sir
Some Years past I had the pleasure to recommend Mr. W. Wilson to the secy. of War & he Obtained a Commission in the Artillery, in which he Conducted himself with honor & propriety. A Bad State of Health Compelled him reluctantly to resign. With A restoration of health his desire to a Military Life has again returned, permit me to recommend him to your Attention & to flatter myself that he may thro: your friendship obtain a Company in the fourth Battalion of the Second Regiment of Artillery. Permit me to Add that It is desirable to secure the services of young gentlemen of liberal Education & families respectable as that of Mr. Wilson.
If I thought I had sufficient Influence with the Government—I believe I would take Leave to Ask an Ensign’s Commission in One of the four Old Regiments for a Nephew of mine Robert Carter Nicholas of Kentucky the son of my much respected Brother in Law Colo. George Nicholas; as I have none I will decline the Application & subscribe myself in truth
your friend & servt.

Sam Smith


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from Caleb Swan, 14 January 1800
From: Swan, Caleb
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Philadelphia, January 14, 1800. “It is provided by the 4 Section of an act passed the 3d. March 1797, entituled ‘An act to amend, and repeal in part, the act intituled “an act to ascertain and fix the military establishment of the united States.” That to the brigadier while commander in chief, and to each officer while commanding a seperate post, there shall be allowed twice the number of Rations to which, they would otherwise be entitled.’ Questions arise concerning this allowance which I am not competent to decide. It has been suggested that officers commanding recruiting rendezvous’s, or encampments, are not entitled to the allowance; on the contrary, such officers contend that they are entitled and some have drawn it in kind from the contractors while others, in the usual way, claim money in lieu thereof, from subsistence accounts. I am anxious to be informed whether any distinction is to be made in regard to the command of a seperate post, and if so, what description of command will authorise the allowance of double rations. A desire to do right induces me to avail myself of your advice on the subject.…”


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 15 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: McHenry, James

New York Jany. 15th. 1800
Sir:
I shall go to Albany on Sunday next on urgent business. Official communications from you will, of course, not reach me after Saturday, but I shall direct the Adjutant General to open such as may arrive and to take the measures which they render necessary in all cases that can not wait for a reference to me.
S of War


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 15 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: McHenry, James

New York January 15th. 1800
Sir
There are many officers in Town who have entirely worn out their Uniforms, and are anxious to procure new ones, their uncertainty as to the Plan however prevents them; fearful of being led into expence which would be very inconvenient by not adopting the proper one. Let me urge your immediate determination on this subject.
with great respect   I am Sir   Your obed Sevt.
Secretary of War


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to Caleb Swan, 15 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: Swan, Caleb

New York Jany 15. 1800
Sir,
The section of the Act of the 3 of March 1797, to which you refer in your letter of yesterday, is so obscurely and indefinitely worded, that it is impossible to give it a precise or even a very reasonable interpretation. On this ground it is that I have forborne to act upon it in my own case though Commanding a separate district.
But while I am at a loss for its true sense, I have thought that it would be too large a construction to apply it to occasional & variable commands like those Officers superintending recruiting rendezvouses or incampments and so I have answered when inquiry has been made of me.
I should say that the section applies only to such officers as exercise command in their own nature permanently separate or distinct. Fortified posts are of this description. Perhaps a separate territorial district will also give the right to the Commanding General. This would certainly be within the reason of the provision, which is no doubt an indemnification for extra expence arising from situation. Such a construction will comprehend General Pinckney & myself and by a liberal extension General Wilkinson if a part of the clause does not more directly embrace him.
But in a matter in which I am personally interested I should be unwilling that my opinion should govern. It seems to me a thing proper for the determination of the Secy of War after conference with the Secy of the Treasury & I would advise you to ask his direction. If you think fit you may communicate my Opinion.
With consideration & esteem I am   Sir   Yr Obed ser

C. Swan Esqr.


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from Tobias Lear, 16 January 1800
From: Lear, Tobias
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Mount Vernon, January 16th: 1800
Dear Sir,
Your letter of the 2d inst. did not get to my hands ’till last evening. I had anticipated the reasons for my letter of the 15th of december being so long in reaching you.
No one living, besides yourself, knows so well as I do, the loss which you have sustained by the General’s death. And I know, at the same time, that no one, under these circumstances, could find a greater resource in himself than you can.
Make yourself easy, my dear sir, respecting the confidential communications which have passed between you and the General. They have never passed under the eye of any person but him and myself. Papers of this kind have always been kept seperate from the mass. To Judge Washington the General left by Will, all his public and private papers. A few hours before his death he observed to me—“I am about to change the scene, I cannot last long. I believed from the first attack it would be fatal. Do you arrange all my papers and accounts as you know more about these things than any one else.”
I have, accordingly, since his death been closely engaged in this business; and no one excepting myself has had access to a single paper. Judge Washington was here a few days; but had not time to attend to anything of this kind. He left it with me to fulfil the General’s request.
There are, as you must well know, among the sev⟨eral⟩ letters and papers, many which every public ⟨and⟩ private consideration should withold from further inspection. These I have put by themselves, and on delivering them to Judge Washington shall tell him how sacred their contents are and have no doubt but in his hands they will be a sacred deposit.
I have regretted extremely that the short illness of the General, and the nature of his disorder did not permit him to say many thing, which I have no doubt he wished to do. He could only speak at intervals and with great difficulty. I was at his bed side every moment of his illness; and the day after his death noted down the circumstances of it, and every thing material which he said.
I should wish to know if any of the General’s late military papers are necessary to be handed to yourself or any other person, for information respecting the present Army, that I may have them seperated from the others before they are delivered to Judge Washington, for his convenience in communicating them, if necessary.
From the time of the General’s death, I consider myself as out of the public service; and after I shall have executed the charge committed to me (which I expect to do in a few weeks) I shall apply myself to the settlement of my own affairs, which the total devotion of my time to the duties of my station has ⟨hither⟩to prevented, and which were much disordered and involved, by a variety of untoward circumstances, during four years that I was engaged in commerce. In doing this I shall deprive myself of every species of property and of every pecuniary resource. But Justice demands it: And while I preserve my integrity inviolate I shall never regret the loss of wealth. For the last sixteen years of my life (exceptg the four in which I was engaged in commerce) my time and best services have been devoted to an employment grateful to my heart. And I trust that my future pursuits, whatever they may be, will never be marked by any conduct that will cause those who have known me in better days to remember my name with regret.
I pray you to make my best respects acceptable to Mrs. Hamilton, and believe me to be, with sincere attachment and affectionate regard.
My dear Sir,   Your’s

Tobias Lear.
Majr. Genl. Hamilton.


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from William North, 16 January 1800
From: North, William
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Adjutant General’s OfficeNew York January 16th. 1800
Sir,
On inspection of Captain Eddins Company I found four Musicians attached to it. one of whom is thirteen years of age, One eleven, and another eight. These boys were, as Captain Eddins states, inlisted by him, having, “before hand received permission from the Secretary at War to inlist boys in his Company to learn music and to receive privates’ pay.”
In Captain Bishop’s Company there are five persons doing duty as Musicians—tho’ only two of them are mustered or entered as such—the others receive privates pay—one of whom is fifteen, the other sixteen and an half years old—these lads Captain Bishop inlisted himself. The permission of the Secretary at War seems also to have been granted to him to enlist boys.
There are persons who appear to be unfit for service by reason [of] their age & infirmities, but who, perhaps were they discharged, would find Officers to reinlist them. I submit whether the establishment of an invalid Corps would not be a better mode of disposing of them. They might generally do duty in Garrison, or in a laboratory. The guard stationed at the magazine might be entirely composed of Invalids, and the crews of the barges might be formed of those whose lameness would unfit them for marching—in fact they might be disposed of in different ways so as to save good men who are fit for active service.
I have just received a letter from Major Cass, in which he says he’s in “great want of arms to form a Quarter Guard, & also for drums and fifes.”
I am with the greatest respect   Sir, Your obedt Servt.

W NorthAdj Gen


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from James McHenry, 17 January 1800
From: McHenry, James
To: Hamilton, Alexander

War Department, January 17, 1800. “I have received this morning your three letters dated the 15 and 16 instant. It being presumed that Lieutenant Baldwin will do duty until it is known that his resignation is accepted he may be informed that it is accepted.… The uncertainty which hangs over the new regiments as it respects their being continued on the establishment has hitherto prevented me from deciding on the proposed alterations in the uniform.…”


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from James McHenry, [17 January 1800]
From: McHenry, James
To: Hamilton, Alexander

[Philadelphia, January 17, 1800]
Dear Sir
I recd. yours of the 15 inst this morning, informing me, that urgent business would call you to Albany on Sunday.

I inclose you my report. I think it too probable, that the house of Representatives will determine upon a suspension of the recruiting service, and doubt the firmness of the Senate.
Yours affecy

James McHenry17 Jany 1800


Title: From Alexander Hamilton to James McHenry, 19 January 1800
From: Hamilton, Alexander
To: McHenry, James

New York Jany. 19. 1800
Dear Sir
The inclosed letter speaks for itself.
I think upon the whole unless there are objections of which I am not aware it will be expedient to place Mr. Wilson in the new Batalion so as to reinstate him fully in the situation in which he would have been if he had not left the service. He appears to me a genteel sensible young man—and as to his morals has been well spoken of. You best know if there are any faults in his character which render the matter ineligible. If there are not I shall learn with pleasure that he has been appointed.
It seems to me a very obvious policy will lead to the gratification of the wish expressed in the close of the letter. This may be a mean of bringing new interest to the support of the army. And I am not afraid of introducing a proportion of very young men whose connections are not of very sound politics. The Military State has a very assimilating influence. Let me add that it may be useful to make me the instrument of effecting this appointment. You will easily understand my meaning.
Yrs. Affecty

A Hamilton
J McHenry Esq


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from James Wilkinson, 20 January 1800
From: Wilkinson, James
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Patapsco, off the HavannaJanuary 20th: 1800
Sir
However unexpected & painful our tardy progress, I believe it will be satisfactory to you to know, that we are thus far safe, and that after a series of obstructions from Winds & Waves, unexampled to our Company, we have now a fair prospect of a speedy termination to our voyage. The average run from our present position, to the Mouth of the Mississippi, is eight Days, incident nevertheless to the casualties of the Element on which we float, & sometimes protracted to treble that time: from the last point to the City of New Orleans, two weeks is generally found necessary for the passage, subject however to variations from four Days to a Month.
I shall communicate to you again from New Orleans, & the Day after I reach my Head Quarters; I have not seen nor heard any thing, worth the mention, during my solitary journey, indeed time at Sea, literally speaking, is always to me a dead reckoning, for from the first to the last heave of the Vessel, I am oppressed by a deathlike sickness.
I transmit this, by a vessel now in Company, to our Counsul in the Havanna, who will probably receive it this Day.
With much consideration I have the Honor to be   sir   Your Mo Obed Sevt

Ja. Wilkinson
Major General Hamilton


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, 21 January 1800
From: Pinckney, Charles Cotesworth
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Cantonment at Harpers Ferry [Virginia] Jany: 21st1800
Dear Sir.
The exchange meditated of the officers by Genl: Wilkinson, I under stood the Secretary of War could not take place, as on inspection of their commissions, it could not be made on terms of equality. The Secretary has ordered me “to incorporate into the Fourth Regiment the officers and men belonging to the Third. To march the Recruits under Major Bradley (I suppose under Captn: Brock as Major Bradley is on Furlough) to Harper’s ferry and during the winter to replace the officers of the Third regiment within my command with a sufficient number of those of the Fourth, the officers of the Third to repair to Harpers ferry.” He has also directed me “to refer to you should information on this point, or respecting the disposal of the officers of the Third Regiment & recruits under Major Bradley be necessary.”
The only officers in the third regiment in Georgia are Lieutt Coll: Gaither, and Lieutt. Hugh McCall; but there are of the First regiment Capn. Thomas Martin, Capn. Samuel Tinsley, Lieutt. Robert Torrans & Lieutt: John W. Thompson, and of the 2 Regiment: Saml. Allinson. In Tennessee there is also Capn. Sparkes and a Lieutt of the Third regiment. When we conversed on this subject at New York, I understood all the officers of the First, Second & third Regiments, who were under my command were to join Genl: Wilkinson (if exchanges could not be arranged) and that all the Soldiers within my command belonging to those regiments were to be turned over to the Fourth. Be so good as to favour me with your directions on these points. I think it would be much better to permitt Capn: Brock’s Recruits to remain at Staunton where they at present are, than to march them in the winter to this place, where many of them would probably be seized with the pleurisy before they could hutt themselves. They may march here early in the Spring. Are they to be taken from the Fourth, and turned over to Brigr: Genl: Wilkinson’s command? If not, they had better march to Tennessee or Georgia than come here.
Lt: Col: Smith of the Fifth regiment wishes to know how he is to transmitt recruiting money to the officers of the two companies who are in Kentuckey and whether as soon as they have recruited their men, they are to join him. The travelling expences allowed to officers are by no means adequate to the expence even including their rations & pay the whole of which last should not be taken into the calculation in any part of the United States I have yet been in, & I think requires revision. I shall write to the Lieutenants in that state (the extract of whose letter you have sent me) & shall attend to your directions relative to the Court-Martial of which Coll: Bentley is President, and which is to sit the second of April.

I have seen & am now well acquainted with Major Campbell of the 8th: Regiment, one of the Candidates for Division Inspector, whose recommendations you forwarded to me, I have not seen Major Beale of the Seventh Regiment, but I understand he would not wish to stand in Major Campbell’s way with regard to this appointment. I cannot say any thing of their comparative merits, but from what I have seen of Major Campbell, I think he would make a very good division Inspector. If I read the law right, he is only entitled to thirty dollars a month in addition to his pay, rations, & forage in the line, in lieu of all travelling expences & extra services. As the Division Inspector must go at times from hence to Georgia, I think this is by no means an adequate compensation. Are we to be sent to the right about this Session? or are there any army alterations contemplated? Some matters require to be settled in some way or other. In a letter which I wrote the Secretary of War the 12th: of last March, I request to know on what footing I stood with regard to expenditure. That part of my letter was to the following effect: “As I am now on the subject of expence, I must beg the favor of you to inform me, whether I am to defray out of my pay, rations, & private fortune, my travelling expences and those of my Aids, as it is customary in the Army for the generals to defray the expence of their Aids? Whether when on the Sea coast, it may be necessary to hire a boat for the purpose of visiting the posts and reconnoitring the inlets, is it to be done at my private expence? Whether the postage attending the correspondence with the different officers in my department is to be defrayed by me? and if the urgency of the service should require expresses to be dispatched, whether I am to pay the expence without being reimbursed? When I take the field are my Marquee & camp equipage to be allowed me, or am I to furnish myself? I do not wish for any thing unusual but am desirous of knowing the footing on which I am with regard to expenditure.” To these questions on the 10th: of June I received the following answer from the Secretary. “It is certainly very material nay of the utmost consequence on the eve of a war which is to be expected, that the general destined to the command of a Department accessible to attack, should make himself acquainted personally with the points from which he may expect attack, the means of defending these, the positions, & resources of the country from which he may derive advantages, and in a word, endeavour to concenter in himself, as much as possible, the information indispensable to Military success.
“In this view I cannot but think your late reconnoitring was proper, and may be highly useful in the event of a contest of arms, with any Invader of our Territory.
“The questions you put relative to expences on the Tour, with a small number of useful attendants, I have solved in my own mind as follows—Upon a slight consideration of an act to amend & repeal in part the act intitled an act to ascertain & fix the military establishment of the United States, passed March the 3d 1797, it might seem that all extra expences incurred in the field, or garrison, or elsewhere, personally or with his family by a commander of a separate army were meant to be provided for by the 4th: Section of the act cited. But when the expences that must be incurred by such an officer in visiting very distant points of his command, the reconnoitres when circumstances permitt which as inducing to safety or success must sometimes be much extended, the dignity of his rank, and the heretofore practise, it must be supposed that the 4th Section cited, contemplates only the support of a commanders table, when with his troops in the field or garrison: and not at all when the good of the service calls him to distant and expensive excursions. This opinion I suppose to be much strengthend by the provision made by law for the Inspector General, in addition to his allowance as a Major Genl: and in full compensation for extra services & expences in the execution of his office, which it was foreseen he must incur.
“You will recollect the regulations adopted by this Department, after a consultation with the general officers then convened in Philadelphia, and by the advice of the Heads of Departments respecting officers detached on services, which oblige them to incur expences on the road and at places where there are no military posts, a copy of which I now enclose. These I suppose to apply to all officers of inferior grades, and not to a general officer commanding a district or a separate army, who must often in the due execution of his duties, incur expences on visits to distant parts of his command, where his presence is necessary or to view grounds he may probably be called to act upon, very disproportioned to any expences the regulations have in view to provide for.
“It may indeed be doubted whether the Aids of Generals commanding ought not to be confined to the allowance of the regulations, and his expences not accounted to the General in this particular. It would be proper to be guided by experience and Military propriety.”
“Contingent expences when surveying or reconnoitring a coast or a country, as the hire of a boat &c., Those of expresses on proper occasions, and for the postage of all letters to military duties should be a charge against the United States; and the old rule of reasonable expences for extraordinary occasions must be reserved for application to the expences incured by Generals commanding when employed on such occasions.”
From this opinion of the Secretary thinking I was entitled to double rations, I did not intend to charge my travelling expences in my Georgia Tour, excepting the Boat hire. But when I came to settle with the Pay Master General, I found it was doubted at the Treasury, (as a Major-General was not in existence at the time double rations were allowed by law to officers commanding in separate departments, districts or posts,) whether a Major-General was entitled to double rations. A doubt at the Treasury I should imagine precludes payment. I therefore told the Pay Master General that I would for the present receive my single rations, but I would not give up my claim to double rations, as I thought it absurd to suppose that Congress Meant to allow a Brigr: General twenty-four rations, & a Lt: Colonel twelve when commanding at separate posts, and only to allow a Major-General in the same predicament, fifteen. If as the Secretary thought the double rations contemplated the support of a Commander’s table, surely they are as necessary for the supply of a Major Generals table, when commanding separately as that of any other officer. At this post, the contract price of a ration is 13 Cents & seven tenths, which makes my 15 single rations per day amount to two dollars & about six cents. If this was doubled it surely would not defray the expence of my table. When at the Cantonment I have not yet sat down to table with less than ten covers. Nor is this two many when you consider the officers on duty usually invited, the attention necessary to be paid to the Field officers, & staff, and to Strangers occasionally in camp. And ’tho Butcher’s meat & poultry are here reasonable, yet wine, Brandy, & groceries are proportionably dear to the distance from the sea-coast. My table is plentiful, but plain, and not at all luxurious. We generally rise from table after four or at most five toasts are drank. The general quantity of wine drank is four bottles, sometimes less, but it has never exceeded five. I mention this to shew that even with economy the rations are an inadequate mode of defraying an expence unavoidable and necessary; for I presume the pay is meant as some compensation for other necessary expences; and that if it is presumed that a commanding officer is to keep a table, and the presumption is made strong by allowing him double rations, when in that situation, a better mode would be to grant him a Sum adequate to the manner in which Congress chuse he should live, than to make the same depend on the contract price of rations, which will be proportionately low in places where the principal expences of the table are highest.
The compensation for forage too, is a matter that requires revision, as I do not believe there is any part of the United States where the number of Horses each grade is presumed to keep, can in fact be kept, if properly exercised, on the allowance. I do not clearly understand the Secretary, with regard to the travelling expences of Aids-de-Camp. He thinks a General officer commanding a district should be entitled to the travelling expences really incurred in visiting the different parts of his command; but he doubts whether the expences of the Aids should not be confined to the allowance of the regulations. In the last war the travelling expences of the General & his suite were paid. If it is not so, when they arrive at an Inn, are they to dine separately and the General keep an account of his expences to charge the public with & the Aids live as well as they can on an inadequate compensation? If he only means the regulations to apply to Aids when detached from their Generals, there I agree they should be put on the same footing with other officers.
I trouble you with my ideas on this subject, as perhaps some regulations may take place, during the present Session, with regard to the Army. I am too far off, and more agreably employed in disciplining the Troops, than in attending to these matters.
I can see no objection to the exchange of Jones mentioned in your letter of the 3d Inst, and have written to Major Peters to effectuate it, without circumstances unknown to us, attend the case.
I am very desirous that the Troops should be paid monthly, I could then keep them sober; their pay from internal regulations might be made useful both to their appearance and comfort; and discipline with less severity might be strictly adhered to. I should imagine it would make no material difference with respect to any financial arrangement, whether the Troops are paid once a month, or once in two months, but with regard to the Soldiers, the monthly payments, I am convinced, would be productive of great and solid advantages. Can you inform me whether Major Stevenson of the 10th: Regiment, is, or is not appointed as Deputy Pay-Master General to my Division?
I remain, with sincere regard & esteem,   Your most humble Servt.

Charles Cotesworth Pinckney
The Honbl:
Major General Hamilton.


Title: To Alexander Hamilton from Tobias Lear, 23 January 1800
From: Lear, Tobias
To: Hamilton, Alexander

Mount Vernon, January 23d: 1800
Dear Sir,
Mrs. Washington has put into my hands your letter of the 12th instant, and requests me to acknowledge the receipt of it.
While she expresses the most grateful sensibility for your kind and affectionate condolence, she is sensible that your loss, as well as hers, is irreparable. In resigning herself to the dispensation of Divine Providence, she looks up for consolation to that Being alone in whose hand is the rod of affliction and the Balm of Comfort.
The offer of your services, if, in any occurrence you can be useful to her, is received with gratitude and thankfulness, and she begs that you and Mrs. Hamilton will accept her prayers and best wishes for your health and happiness.
With very great respect & esteem,   I am Dear Sir,   Your sincere & affecte friend

Tobias Lear.
General Hamilton