A Year With George Washington
On March 1, 1777, in one of the most consequential appointments in American history, George Washington issued General Orders naming Captain Alexander Hamilton as Aide-de-Camp to the Commander-in-Chief.
The order itself is unceremonious and brief and offers no hint of what is to come of the pairing. The linking of the two extraordinary men spanned over two decades and would be seriously rivaled in its impact on the American ethos by only the partnership of Thomas Jefferson and James Madison
Hamilton, at first, was honored but not thrilled by the appointment. Though it came with a promotion to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel, Hamilton had been at the head of a bombastic artillery company and longed for that duty. Indeed, it was his actions during the Battle of Harlem Heights that first caught the discerning eye of the Commander-in-Chief.
Though effectively Washington’s Chief of Staff, and thus at the general’s side at all times, including in combat, Hamilton longed for his own regimental command. Later in his life, even when illuminated by the glow of all they had accomplished together, Hamilton revealed to Washington his lingering disappointment in not having commanded an artillery regiment. “When in the year 1777 the regiments of artillery were multiplied, I had good reason to expect that the command of one of them would have fallen to me had I not changed my situation…”
At just twenty-two years old, Hamilton was the youngest of Washington’s aides, but he quickly rose to the fore. The other aides took a liking to him as well, and, despite his youth, accorded him a high degree of respect. They affectionately called him “Ham” or “Hammie” and genuinely admired him for his quick wit and expansive mind. Washington’s second in command, General Nathanael Greene, also admired Hamilton and reminisced about his time spent around the young protege in trying times, stating that he was “a bright gleam of sunshine, ever growing brighter as the general darkness thickened.”
As for Washington, Hamilton was a gift from the heavens. The threadbare Commander-in-Chief had indicated to Congress the previous fall that his duties were so voluminous that he desperately needed someone to think and act as he would. “At present, my time is so taken up at my desk that I am obliged to neglect many other essential parts of my duty,” he wrote with a tired hand, “It is absolutely necessary . . . for me to have persons that can think for me, as well as execute orders.”
Washington’s prayers were answered in the person of Hamilton, over whom he towered some seven inches. But Hamilton was his equal in other ways. Adjutant General Thomas Pickering recalled that Hamilton occupied more than just a military scrivener; he was an extension of Washington himself. “During the whole time that he was of the General’s aides-de-camp, Hamilton had to think as well as to write for him in his most important correspondence.”
Hamilton quickly developed confidence and attacked his role with the same intense ferocity that would mark the rest of his life’s work. Revolutionary War soldier and later New York District Judge Robert Troop would capture Hamilton’s contributions to the war effort perfectly when he wrote, “The pen for our army was held by Hamilton, and for dignity of manner, pith of matter, and elegance of style, General Washington’s letters are unrivalled in military annals.”
During the war, Washington’s adoptive grandson observed that when a messenger appeared on horseback in the dead of night, a familiar refrain would rise up in the room. “The dispatches being opened and read, there would be heard in the calm deep tones of that voice . . .the command of the chief to his now watchful attendant, ‘Call Colonel Hamilton.’”
The contest for American Independence became the proving ground for what was yet to come for Washington and his young aide. The exigencies of war, political wrangling with a meddling legislative body, the delicate task of tamping down egos without bruising them, sorting vast amounts of data while developing a plan of action, the art of logistics, funneling financing (or the lack thereof) to the most immediate purpose, sifting through and permitting necessary sacrifices with an continual eye toward the common good, siezing initiatives when ripe, etc., etc., were all the elements for which Hamilton was unknowingly training in his future role assisting the President of the United States.
As the war drew to a climax, Washington finally let Hamilton jump into the fray. Washington, with his French compatriots, had Lord Cornwallis bottled up at Yorktown. The plan was to dig a succession of trenches outside the town, moving ever closer to make the bombardment that much more effective.
On the 14th of October 1781, Washington expounded to the men that in order to complete the final trench and thus rout Cornwallis’ army before they could be rescued by the Royal Navy, two well-fortified British redoubts (numbered 9 & 10) must be taken.
Washington announced that a French light infantry brigade would command the assault on reboubt number 9, and the other, number 10, was to be commanded by a Continental force under the command of the Marquis de Lafayette. The assault was ordered by Washington to be undertaken with as much stealth as possible, which could mean only one thing — a bayonet charge!
Despite his deep and abiding friendship, Lafayette did not choose Hamilton to lead the infantry assault on number 10; instead, he chose his personal aide, a Frenchman named Gimat. Hamilton was incensed and appealed to Washington through his customary logic and force of argument. Washington, intending that the assaults be bi-national in makeup, yielded to a relentless pleading from his aide.
Hamilton, sensing his main chance for glory, and fortified with his own indomitable courage, led the charge himself. In order to preserve stealth, Hamilton’s men took the extraordinary step of unloading their weapons to eliminate any chance they would be fired.
Upon the order to attack, Hamilton and his battalion moved with such haste toward the redoubt that they very nearly overran the sappers, an advance group employed to quietly remove brush and limbs out of the way of the advancing force.
Colonel Hamilton stormed up the redoubt’s steep hill, sidestepped the sharpened log emplacements, and jumped over the mound with such enthusiasm that he found himself straddling the shoulders of a British infantryman.
The bayonet fighting was fierce but brief, and the Continentals achieved their objective, start to finish, in just fifteen minutes. The French contingent, though they had a much harder and longer time taking Redoubt number 9, did as well. Just three days later, Cornwallis surrendered, effectively deciding the fate of the Revolution in favor of America.
One wonders what would have been different in America and indeed, the world, had Hamilton met his end on that small redoubt at Yorktown.
Below is Washington’s General Order appointing Alexander Hamilton as Aide-de-Camp.
General Orders,
Head-Quarters, Morristown [New Jersey] March 1, 1777.
Alexander Hamilton Esquire is appointed Aide-De-Camp to the Commander in Chief; and is to be respected and obeyed as such.
Extract of General Orders
Alexd Scammell Adjt. Genl.
