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Forty-seven-year-old General Charles Lee, who had been a career military man since age 14, was bitterly angry when a court martial after the Battle of Monmouth found him guilty of disobeying orders, allowing a disorderly retreat, and disrespecting Commander-in-Chief Washington. (See last week’s post.) Lieutenant Colonel Aaron Burr, who fought at Monmouth (June 28, 1778), was not called as a witness during the court martial. He did write a letter in support of Lee. We don’t have Burr’s letter, but we have Lee’s thanking him:

October 1778

Dear Sir,

As you are so kind as to interest yourself so warmly in my favour, I cannot resist the temptation of writing you a few lines. Till these two days, I was convinced the Congress would unanimously have rescinded the absurd, shameful sentence of the court-martial; but, within these two days, I am taught to think that equity is to be put out of the question, and the decision of the affair to be put entirely on the strength of party; and, for my own part, I do not see how it is possible, if the least decency or regard for national dignity has place, that it can be called a party business.

I wish I could send you the trial [transcript], and will the moment I can obtain one. I think myself, and I dare say you will think on the perusal, that the affair redounds more to my honour, and the disgrace of my persecutors, than, in the warmth of indignation, either I or my aid-de-camps have represented it. As I have no idea that a proper reparation will be made to my injured reputation, it is my intent, whether the sentence is reversed or not reversed, to resign my commission, retire to Virginia, and learn to hoe tobacco, which I find is the best school to form a consummate general. This is a discovery I have lately made. Adieu. Dear sir, believe me to be your most

Sincerely obliged servant,

C. Lee [Matthew L. Davis, Memoirs of Aaron Burr, I, pp. 94-5]

For more on Lee’s career before the Battle of Monmouth, see “I’m a general! Whee!”

Burr goes on leave

At about this time, Aaron Burr wrote to General Washington reporting that his health was so poor that he needed to retire temporarily from active service.

Elizabethtown, N.J., 24th Oct. 1778

Sir:

The excessive heat and occasional fatigues of the preceding campaign, have so impaired my health and constitution as to render me incapable of immediate service. I have, for three months past, taken every advisable step for my recovery, but have the mortification to find, upon my return to duty, a return of sickness, and that every relapse is more dangerous than the former. I have consulted several physicians; they all assure me that a few months retirement and attention to my health are the only probable means to restore it. A conviction of this truth, and of my present inability to discharge the duties of my office, induce me to beg your Excellency’s permission to retire from pay and duty till my health will permit, and the nature of service shall more particularly require my attention, provided such permission can be given without subjecting me to any disadvantage in point of my present rank and command, or any I might acquire during the interval of my absence.

I shall still feel and hold myself liable to [be] called into service at your Excellency’s pleasure, precisely as if in full pay, and barely on furlough; reserving to myself only the privilege of judging of the sufficiency of my health during the present appearance of inactivity. My anxiety to be out of pay arises in no measure from intention or wish to avoid any requisite service. But too great a regard to malicious surmises, and a delicacy perhaps censurable, might otherwise hurry me unnecessarily into service, to the prejudice of my health, and without any advantage to the public, as I have had the misfortune already to experience. …

I am, with respect, Your humble servant,

A. Burr [Whole letter here]

Washington replied on October 26:

You, in my opinion, carry your Ideas of delicacy too far when you propose to drop your pay while the recovery of your Health necessarily requires your absence from the Service. It is not customary and it would be unjust. You therefore have leave to retire untill your health is so far re-established as to enable you to do your duty. [More here, n.1]

Burr retained his commission as lieutenant colonel until February 1779, when he wrote to Washington, “The Reasons I did myself the Honour to mention to your Excellency  … still exist and determine me to resign my Rank and Command in the Army.” He didn’t reappear in Hamilton’s life until after the war, back in New York.

Burr and Theodosia

Burr had met Theodosia Bartow Prevost in August 1778 (soon after the Battle of Monmouth) and spent more time with her after he had resigned his commission. She wrote to him in May 1781:

Our being the subject of much inquiry, conjecture, and calumny, is no more than we ought to expect. My attention to you was ever pointed enough to attract the observation of those who visited the house. Your esteem more than compensated for the worst they could say. When I am sensible I can make you and myself happy, I will readily join you to suppress their malice. But, till I am confident of this, I cannot think of our union. Till then I shall take shelter under the roof of my dear mother, where, by joining stock, we shall have sufficient to stem the torrent of adversity.

Theodosia had married Swiss-born British army officer Jacques Prevost in 1763, and bore him five children. She remained at her family home (the Hermitage, in Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.) when Prevost was sent south as British governor of Georgia in 1778, and then on to Jamaica. There he was seriously wounded in 1780, and died in October 1781. Burr and Theodosia were married on July 2, 1782. (Information on Burr’s courtship is here.) Their daughter Theodosia (later Theodosia Burr Alston) was born June 21, 1783.

I wanted to include in this post a portrait of Theodosia Bartow Prevost Burr, but there seems to be none, at least not online. The genealogy site WikiTree shows a painting that also appears on the site of the Hermitage, Theodosia’s home. But on that site, the painting is not captioned, and the file name that appears when I hit “save image” is “Ann Stillwell” (i.e., Theodosia’s mother).

More

• Theodosia’s home is a museum: the Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus, N.J.
• Next week: the “code duello” and “The 10 Duel Commandments” (because I’m having too much fun researching to post it this week).
• The usual disclaimer: This is the twenty-sixth in a series of posts on Hamilton: An American Musical. Other posts are available via the tag cloud at lower right. The ongoing “index” to these posts is my Kindle book, Alexander Hamilton: A Brief Biography. Bottom line: these are unofficial musings, and you do not need them to enjoy the musical or the soundtrack. I’ve occasionally added comments based on these blog posts to the Genius.com pages on the Hamilton Musical. Follow me @DianneDurante.
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