Nov 29, 2012 - Sale 2296

Sale 2296 - Lot 38

Price Realized: $ 4,080
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 2,000 - $ 3,000
HAMILTON, ALEXANDER Letter Signed, "AHamilton," as Major General, to Major John Adlum, ordering a detachment to Pittsburgh. 1 page, folio; addressed in another hand on verso, seal tear with minor loss at right repaired with cello tape, chipping to edges, folds. Trenton, 12 October 1799

Additional Details

"I have written to Captains Irvine and Shoemaker directing the first to put himself in readiness to march, and the Capt. to proceed with his company to Pittsburg, taking with him the Detachment formerly under Lieutenant Boote, but which is annexed to his command . . . ."
When Washington died in December 1799, Hamilton became the Senior Officer of the United States Army, a position which John Adams viewed as a direct threat to his administration. Adams thwarted Hamilton's military and political ambitions by opening negotiations with France that ultimately ended the Quasi-War the following year.