Uncommon introduced our guest speaker today, just a few rules or bits of information, we do have Light Refreshments for you in the kitchen and, there is a coffee, tea, cheese crackers and cookies, please feel free to get up and take what you like on you not have to go to the visitors center, there is a door opened in the restrooms are over there our staff today, can who is in the back, there we have kelly and we have myself, im the director of the affairs for the county and by de facto im director of the say, so we are fortunate to have the guest speaker and historian to share his knowledge and expertise on Alexander Hamilton in his rise to fame and glory, he graduated from the college with a bachelor degree and from Colorado State university, mr. On berkow has been a historic, and researching writing and giving presentations from the northeast through 2000, seven he is a scholar of the american revolution, with Research Interests that have espionage during the war, he has published historical features and the rain corpse he has been here before and, without further ado applause . So its wonderful to have everyone packed into every room that meets the 18th century converging with the 20th century, we can be high tech about this, let me say that i feel much the same as it is my wife because theyve been the longtime reenactor you can see we trust as an officer, captain in the u. S. Army with the appellate there im a shoulder, i have reenacted the battle three times in sweltering heat like today and there am speaking twice for the Awareness Society which im a member and ive spoken twice that is grave which is attributed to the church in Downtown Manhattan a very challenging place to speak when you are dealing with construction noise and traffic and i wanted to briefly say that it is quite connection that i wrote an article about the six degrees of Alexander Hamilton and you can read that on the oz website and its because my wife and i saw it on and on, and her famous younger brother the painter and then and his epithets on the road which went to auction a year, ago we attended the auction and we had been blown out of the water and he was 2600 dollars for the pair, we went to ok, the hamilton and we know, there is so little that we know and theres so much and which we focus on his accomplishments as treasury secretary for the infamous dual, its kind of like the titanic we know how this story ends and he is going to be killed by air in and then a few other things you know the socalled rumors about scandals and so forth and a little bit about his military accomplishments so that is what im focused on today because that is what we tend not know and here is a fortune and i should mention he also at one point serves as an aide during the revolution and he served the shortest he was there for about three weeks he was a talented artist so this is his portrait that was used for the ten dollar bill but there is a lot more to him than just that head is in there there is the entire full length portrait that is in the hall that we have had the permission of city hall to produce to hang in our house i hope thats what you take from today is the appreciation for all the incredible accomplishments for him and his varied roles of military commander, not just as an aide to washington he starts out as a captain. Later he is a Lieutenant Colonel. This is probably one of the bestknown portraits of him in uniform. That is the hat of a light infantry officer in yorktown late in the war. This is the portrait you probably have not seen. How many of you know that he was a Major General in the u. S. Army . We will get to that story and while bit. There is someone else who comes from humble beginnings, rose up on a remote island, and then comes to the mainland. Becomes an incredibly famous military leader. Napoleon bonaparte. There is an interesting comparison you can make between those two. It was the quickest way that you could rise in the military ranks. If you want to get to the majors quickly, do it like piazza did. Get drafted as a catcher. What do we know about young hamilton . Not a whole lot and forms of demonstration. He worked for a merchant in st. Croix. His mother was a wonderful woman. A wonderful role model. A very bright woman. Had a large collection of books. She was an inspiration to him. He became a you want to get to the majors quickly, do it like piazza did. Get drafted as a catcher. What do we know about young hamilton . Not a whole lot and forms of demonstration. He worked for a merchant in st. Croix. His mother was a wonderful woman. A wonderful role model. A very bright woman. Had a large collection of books. She was an inspiration to him. He became a bookworm like her. On the right is a much more documented painting. It is at the columbia rare books library. They no longer show that because of the popularity of the musical. You no longer have access. It was wonderful to get to see that. I thought maybe some of these guys would show up. These friends of mine who run an Organization Called the hearts of oak. This was his First Military organization. Beautiful, unusual bright green uniforms. As you notice from the photo on the right, they have been here. This is from their facebook page. Where did he train his hearts of oak militia unit . In the churchyard of st. Pauls chapel on broadway. I dont know how you do that without multiple tripping hazards. That church has been there a long time. They were arty many headstones there in the 1770s. If you have not been there, i highly encourage that you do. It is the site of a memorial to a fallen general. Ben franklin felt so bad about his passing that he had that elaborate memorial put up. Was this the first meeting of George Washington and Alexander Hamilton . This story that they met at Fort Bunker Hill in Lower Manhattan in april of 1776. We dont know. Maybe they met there, maybe they didnt. It is more likely that they met later during washingtons organized retreat through the state of new jersey. There have been a couple of illustrations of that. It is the highest point in Lower Manhattan. Manhattans contours have changed over time. You would not know where that hill is now. I will show it to you on a map in a minute. One thing we do know is that Alexander Hamiltons artillery unit does fire on two british ships. The hms phoenix and the hms rose. This was just a week after the declaration of independence had been read by washington to the troops in Lower Manhattan. The hms rose was a fascinating ship that was later used as a reproduction and the filming of master and commander. It is likely that they did cover George Washington in his or treat through manhattan. This is all of what new york city was as of 1776. Greenwich village was actually a separate village. Manhattan was just that little tip. We dont have substantial proof of it. This highresolution map shows the location of the hell hill. That was used by Alexander Hamilton and his artillery. Was he at the battle of white plains . Probably not. Thanks to the scholarship of a friend of mine who is also speaking today at another location, he is a scholar of Alexander Hamilton and has written not one but two books on hamilton. What he has been able to demonstrate with primary source evidence is that 9 10 of the artillery were not at the battle of white plains. There is a nine out of 10 chance that he was not there. Neither his commander nor George Washington mention so there is a nine out of ten chance that hamilton was not there and furthermore neither his commander nor George Washington had mentioned hamilton orders union by name, okay. Now this we do know for sure, hamilton first full fledged combat, he is not shooting the two ships in the river and exposing your ham, this is for combat and as the grandson of an until early officer, my father was a marine and i can appreciate how dramatic this must have been, this is brunswick in new jersey and hes at the Queens College campus, and it was Queens College just like columbia was known as kim college that is where hamilton was attending for a few years and wouldve graduated from if we are not broken out and my wife graduated from there so it was a nice link to have, the news during one of these reunions that i saw this beautiful plaque that says on the campus from the class of 1899, early december, 1770, six Alexander Hamilton, nod a graduate from the college as a sign says, had a four star artillery and we see across the fort delaying the advantage of the british across the river while washington withdrew from presented trenton and that is true, there are multiple eyewitness reports saying that hamiltons or into the unit delivered withering fire, the dramatically slow down the advance of the British Forces there, are right where my wife wrote, i love to make references to the local, storm also Alexander Hamilton of course helping found american industry just west of patterson falls where he worked of course, and crossing into delaware, the famous scene and not christmas 90 december of mourning up to 26, and a large life size painting but here is a realistic one, they came out much more recently in 2011 and debuted at the historical society, you can see that it was at night, time here is a different kind of craft, there is a can, and maybe its hamiltons and so on and so forth, not good weather and similarly another painting by canada talented painter who is now retired, this is one of the last findings he did, victory or death it is hamilton washington others including the future president james monroe also an artillery officer under knocks for the battle of trenton and there they are, an Early Morning light treasury through the ice and snow and you can imagine how cold they must have felt, hamiltons artillery was indeed at both battles of trenton, what do i mean . When you hear the battles, well its just like theres two battles of this goes to battle of trenton, the second one is not as famous and a few days later its known as the battle of creek and im showing that in a sketch, unfortunately not a color drawing you can be found and it is well documented, hamilton much like he did over the river uses his canyon fire to deliver withering fire on the british and this is a well documented battle that gets overshadowed by the surprise attack a few days later, as well as the Second Surprise attack which is the u. S. Army at princeton, the problem is, yes hamiltons artillery at the battle and we dont know exactly, where there is no evidence whatsoever for the lofty legend but it tells a great story that he fires a cannon with multiple shots and decapitated king georgia the third whose portrayed is hanging on the wall insight, makes for a great story, there is no evidence of this for such detail but it is a good one. Now this is true, they were offers not from one, so just 75 feet at the church and he was an event marked so i think john for doing that, and multiple battles including the battle of new york and battle law mid is at his house burned down but he had the beautiful state park there, so hamilton received a note from the lord can be an aide, and from daniel the quaker from north island and each time hamilton amazingly says things but now thanks, what is he yearn four battlefield command, he is worried that if he takes a desk job he doesnt rise it isnt achieve the technical problem alexander the pageant in general and youre going to hear about him a little bit later, you can define transcriptions like this letter at the library of congress website, and the collection of the washington papers and the transcriptions are at founders archives dot borg, now a lot of authors will say that this is all happening when hamilton is 22 years old and hes actually 20, years been able to prove that he was not born in 55, he was born in 1757 so he was 20 years old think about your children and your grandchildren and yourselves. Where were you at 20 . Were you helping washington at his chief of staff . He is the youngest aid by far. Most are in their early 30s. The 19th eight already. There was a lot of turnover. There is a great book by a local author about washingtons 32 aides. He serves as an aid to washington from 1757 17 77 21781 1777 to 1781. He has his headquarters set up not far from where here. There is a sign therefore it. The tavern burned down in 1914. Secretaries were probably doing most of the writing side of things. My assumption would be that when when washington was distinction between a secretary and an aid, the aid might have more varied activities. Reconnaissance missions and so forth. The secretary will probably stay back at headquarters. That is probably how the labor is split up. Most at any time was seven. Can you imagine setting seven of them sitting in the same room during a hot day like today . The typical task is writing and copying letters for washington. Copious is an understatement. Copious amounts of writing letters. They were often dictated by washington to his aides, including hamilton. You have some aides he was particularly fond of. And one who became an honorary stepson. Those would be Alexander Hamilton, david humphreys, and tench tillman. He is the one you are least likely to have heard of. He was an incredibly talented man. He died in 1786, quite young. Here is the blowup of that painting. It hangs in the maryland state house. Another interesting thing are the three officers standing on moorestown green. Moorestown morristown green. Hamilton in the middle. George washington on the right. Was he 63 . Probably not. He was probably more like 61 like myself. One thing that gets overlooked this is provisions mission. It is late so you much feed the march especially if theyre gonna go into entering camp, its late september and hamilton is sent september and hamilton is sent by washington with other officers to go on horseback and go into downtown philadelphia and gather as many horses, general supplies, food, clothing, blankets in the city of philadelphia. They know they are going to lose the city to the british. They decided they are not going to put up a fight. They will stay out toward whitemarsh and valley forge and receive the supplies there. What is key in hamiltons handling of the special operation is his discretion as to who he will take the supplies from. He does not just take them from everyone. If you are poor and you rely on your horse for your transportation, he does not take the horse. If you are a family who is a strong patriot and you are planning on evacuating what little you can put on a horse before the british come, he does not take from those people. That discretion is quite telling. There are so many times in which we get overshadowed with later life scandals. Many of which were refuted. To not realize how kindhearted a gentleman hamilton was. This mission really helps the state of the Continental Army during the winter and cam meant, particularly those blankets. Another mission that gets overshadows is the emissary trip. He is sent as the official representative of George Washington. He will serve as washingtons proxy, leave the philadelphia region, washington needs his three brigades back to fight in the saratoga campaign. He would like to have Daniel Morgans rifleman. This mission will take a while. It takes most of november into december. He meets them and outputting alanine albany. One of the challenges hamilton will encounter is that he is a 20yearold aid born on an island. He is dealing with someone who is wellestablished with new england aristocracy who is very powerful, old enough to be his dad, and is a two star general. Do you think he wants to hear from a 20yearold colonel that washington would want three brigades back . Does he have any respect for George Washington . No. Not at all. Much like some of the politics that we witnessed or participated in an modern times, there is politics in that time around military. Alexander hamiltons first attempts are fruitless. Their futile. He finally decides he has been duped. He looks at pattersons brigade and says, it is understrength. He does some detective work and finds out that pattersons brigade has already been wiped out at the saratoga campaign. There has been huge attrition numbers. He is conning me. He puts in writing and it heated exchanges. Gates finally relents. It shows how much trust hamilton received from washington to go on this mission. He also has to meet with another incorrigible general. He does not want to listen to Alexander Hamilton either. Putnam is old enough to be his grandfather. He does not want to give up his soldiers. He will eventually relent. Hamilton knows what he has to turn the screws a little bit and forcibly speak on behalf of George Washington. It is for that reason that we can have this quote here. By granting hamilton discussion in his mission, washington entire course of the war and possibly its outcome in the hands of his youngest aid. Hamilton had already earned washingtons complete trust. At that point, gates is getting all of the success, which he did not deserve. The rivals and critics of washington included dr. Benjamin rush and many other powerful people like john adams. These three individuals are seen as the three who have the ear of washington. Why do i want to mention the three of them . Look at how hamilton is only a 20yearold aid. He is already seen as influential as to senior generals in the american revolution. That says a lot about hamiltons leadership ability. We all know the story of valley forge. Here is washingtons headquarters. Isaac potts was a wealthy quaker who lived in philadelphia must the time. This is a summer house. It only has one working fireplace in the main part of the house. Washington an