1864 LETTER WRITTEN BY MAJOR ALEXANDER HAMILTON

1864 LETTER WRITTEN BY MAJOR ALEXANDER HAMILTON
~GREAT GRANDSON OF ALEXANDER HAMILTON~
TO FAMOUS POET FITZ-GREENE HALLECK

Alexander Hamilton, born on November 15, 1815, was the son of Colonel John Church Hamilton, and was the great grandson of the zealous Patriot, Alexander Hamilton, who served as Captain of the New York Artillery Company during the Revolutionary War in 1776. He was also the Colonel and aide de camp to George Washington from 1777-1781, and he commanded the Infantry Brigade at the Battle of Yorktown in 1781. Colonel Hamilton died on July 12, 1804, in New York City after being fatally wounded in a duel with Aaron Burr.

Major Hamilton was educated by private tutors and attended lectures at Columbia University. He also attended special studies at the United States Military Academy. He served with General Philip Kearny in the 1840s out West and later returned to New York to serve in the Civil War. He was also Aide de Camp to Major General Sandford. Major Hamilton died in 1907 in Tarrytown, New York.

Apparently Major Hamilton was an accomplished playwright for in this letter, Major Hamilton writes to Fitz-Greene Halleck about a play he has written and plans to produce. Fitz-Green Halleck was hailed in the mid-nineteenth century as the most important American poet of the period. Interestingly, he was also one of America’s earliest homosexual poets. Fitz-Greene Halleck was a close friend of William C. Bryant, an associate of Charles Dickens and Washington Irving, and a celebrity sought out by John Jacob Astor and American presidents. Halleck, was an attractive man of wit and charm, was dubbed "the American Byron" because he both employed similar poetic strategies and challenged the most sacred institutions of his day. A large general readership enjoyed his verse, though it was infused with homosexual themes. Halleck's love for another man would be fictionalized in Bayard Taylor's novel Joseph and His Friend a century before the Stonewall riots.

THE ALEXANDER HAMILTON LETTER

"New York, May 27, 1864
Fitz-Greene Halleck, Esq.

Dear Sir
When a boy, you did me the favor to peruse a MSS play of mine—to give it your approval—urge me to have it put upon the stage and to go on.

That play, entitled "Urban" – I could not induce the actors to take hold of—but following your advice, wrote others and among them one entitled "Thomas A. Becket." This I have had printed and today have the honor of sending you a copy. It was published anonymously—but is received with so much favor. My father, your old friend, John C. Hamilton (among many other hearty approvals)—saying ‘it does you very great honor’ that I am now emboldened to acknowledge it. Father told me he had the pleasure of seeing you a few days since in good health, which I trust may long be vouchsafed to you.

This play will be produced in the Fall when I hope to have the honor of sending you tickets.

I am very respectfully,
Truly yours,
Alexander Hamilton,
Major & A.D.C. to Major General Sandford, 17 West 28th Street, New York."