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Last week I expressed my profound dissatisfaction at not being able to read in full a letter published in early 1776 in the Royal Danish American Gazette, which Chernow (p. 72) uses to argue that Hamilton had premonitions of death. “It is uncertain whether it may ever be in my power to send you another line…. ,” says the anonymous writer. “I am going into the army and perhaps ere long may be destined to seal with my blood the sentiments defended by my pen. Be it so, if heaven decree it. I was born to die and my reason and conscience tell me it is impossible to die in a better or more important cause.”

Barely a week later, I’ve read the letter and (because I like you!) I’m transcribing it below. Before we get to it, though, I want to talk about the source.

A note on attribution of anonymous letters

I’m not at all sure the letter in the Royal Danish American Gazette is by Hamilton, and I’m not at all sure Hamilton had premonitions of death or had what Chernow calls “a swooning fascination with martyrdom.” Chernow quotes two early sources for this facet of Hamilton’s character (pp. 71-72). One is a series of essays published anonymously in New York under the title “The Monitor”; the other is the Gazette letter.

Here’s what makes my historian-hackles twitch: not all anonymous patriotic works published in New York were written by Hamilton. The colonies had many highly literate patriots, a fair number of them in New York.

The Gazette letter has been attributed to Hamilton partly because he was in New York in February 1776, and had ties to the West Indies. But in New York – one of the colonies’ major ports – many people had ties with the West Indies, through trade and/or family relationships.

As for the Monitor essays, a comparison of sentence length and word length against all Hamilton’s confirmed writings suggests that these are not his work. (See the graph in Newton.) I’m not particularly fond of statistical interpretations of history. I find this graph persuasive for a very personal reason: I once contracted to write a high-school textbook and was ordered to radically change my sentence structure and vocabulary. It was excruciatingly difficult.

Seven-eighths of the fun of being a historian is surveying the evidence and drawing one’s own conclusions. My take is: if the Monitor essays and the Gazette letter aren’t Hamilton’s, then there’s no evidence that Hamilton was driven by premonitions of death or a fascination with martyrdom. I see him as driven by his intelligence and by his desire to see the right things done the right way.

Historians often politely disagree. Rest assured that although I don’t see eye to eye with him on this point, Mr. Chernow and I remain on the same terms as before I published this post. To wit: he doesn’t know me from Adam.

All that said, in Hamilton: An American Musical the repeated premonitions of death make for great theater: it’s another theme running through the show. See the end of last week’s post on why those recurring threads make me love the musical.

The Royal Danish American Gazette letter

And now, here’s the transcription, with paragraphing and punctuation unchanged.

Royal Danish American Gazette, March 20, 1776

Christianstaed.
Extract of a letter from a Gentleman in New York, dated February 18th.

“It is not long since I paid my respects to you. Opportunities from this place are like to be so scarce for the future, that I cannot forbear embracing the present. It is uncertain whether it may ever be in my power to send you another line, not only from the forementioned cause; but from my own approaching circumstances. – I am going into the army; and perhaps, ere long, may be destined to seal with my blood, the sentiments defended by my pen – Be it so, if Heaven decree it – I was born to die; and my reason and conscience tell me it is impossible to die in a better, or more important cause. Since my last, we have met with no small loss, in the death of the immortal Montgomery, who bravely fell in an assault upon Quebec. – This man deserves as much applause as the renowned Wolff. – He encountered much greater difficulties and endured much greater fatigues, conducting an expedition under every disadvantage imaginable, in the midst of winter in that inclement country. – His humanity, generosity, patience, fortitude and courage have never been excelled by any man – His prudence in the last instance is somewhat questionable; though much is to be said in his justification even on that score, from the necessity of his situation. By his death the expedition received a severe blow; though I trust not a fatal one. The remainder of our army still holds Carleton besieged; and large reinforcements are pouring in to them, with all possible dispatch. Before Carleton can receive any fresh forces, I flatter myself the place will be ours. Much depends upon it. General Lee is here with a body of Provincials, his design is to put this province in a state of defence against the spring, as it is expected it will be the chief seat of war. We have possessed ourselves of all the military stores in the province; a valuable acquisition; consisting chiefly of a parcel of fine cannon with their appurtenances. Gen. Clinton from Boston with a small body of forces was here lately – It is supposed he intended to have landed on Long Island, where he expected to have been joined by numbers of the inhabitants; but finding Lee had gotten the start of him, he thought it adviseable to move off to the Southward; to North Carolina, it is imagined, as the English papers announce a design of sending five regiments thither. – This city is at present evacuated by above one half of its inhabitants; under the influence of a general panic, from the appearance of Clinton and the apprehension of the men of war firing upon the city in consequence of Lee’s intended fortifications – Clinton is now gone; and as to the last supposition, I believe the servants of the Ministry here are sensible of the impolicy of destroying towns as has been heretofore done – You may receive it as an infallible truth, that were this city once destroyed by them, the colonies would be lost to Britain for ever. The Ministry are driving the colonies into independence. The sound of that word was, a few months ago, as terrible as slavery to American ears; but at present the idea obtains a rapid currency. The people seem disposed to cry out for it, before their leaders will think the necessity sufficiently urgent to justify it. – Six months more, if peace be not made, will do the business; perhaps less – The cry now is, let our ports be thrown open to all nations except Great-Britain – This it is believed will be done in the spring, if an accommodation do not prevent it. You must see the immediate tendency of such a measure. Whom can Britain blame but herself? – When the colonies are irrecoverably lost, she will feel the folly of her present wicked oppression.”

More

• Thanks to Shoshana Milgram for reminding me that scholars like to share. Thanks to Rand Scholet of the Alexander Hamilton Awareness Society for putting me in touch with Michael Newton, author of Alexander Hamilton: The Formative Years. Thanks most of all to Mr. Newton, who sent photos of the Gazette article that were taken from the display on a microfilm reader, and who pointed me to the section in his book that analyzes the Monitor essays.
• The high-school text I wrote and had to simplify is Internationalism. It was good when I handed the manuscript in; less good after the editors had a thwack at it; and even now, useful if you need to bone up on U.S. foreign affairs after World War II.
• The other one eighth of the fun of being a historian is seeing how the pieces of the big picture come together. That comes after the other seven eights, but it’s worth the wait. Every. Single. Time.
• I’ve occasionally added comments based on these blog posts to the Genius.com pages on the Hamilton Musical. Follow me @DianneDurante.
• The usual disclaimer: This is the ninth 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.
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