?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 4,000 - $ 6,000
ORGANIZING THE PROVISIONAL ARMY OF THE UNITED STATES DURING THE QUASI-WAR HAMILTON, ALEXANDER. Letter Signed, "Alex Hamilton," as Inspector General, to Colonel Josias Carvel Hall, requesting that he nominate someone to serve as Quarter Master, approving his choice of Havre de Grace [MD] as a regimental rendezvous, requesting that officers acknowledge their commissions by contacting the Secretary of War, approving his recommendations [of regiment officers], and, in a 7-line holograph postscript: "PS June 1, 1799 / Since closing the above, yours of the 29th of May has come to hand. The proposed change of your bat[t]alion rendezvous is very agreeable to me. I did not particularly reply before because this was a matter origina[l]ly intended to be left to your discretion." 1 1/4 pages, tall 4to, written on the recto and verso of a single sheet; complete separations at folds partially repaired with tissue verso (with minor loss to two lines of text), faint toning at edges. New York, 31 May and 1 June 1799
". . . As your opinion favour[s] Havre De Grace, I consider it as established for the Regimental Rendezvous. I trust that by this time tents, and Camp Utensils as well as Cloathing have been received. The disposition of the cloathing, as to the place of deposit[,] is referred to your discretion. "The Act of receiving an advance of money by any officer will determine his acceptance of his commission--But every officer who has not before done it ought to signify that acceptance to the Secretary of War. Delay in doing it has been inconsiderate. The law is to govern in regard to the compensation of two Dollars allowed to the recruiting officers. "I have seconded your recommendation to the Secretary of War of Thomas Hewitt and Benjamin Nowland. There accompanies this a letter on the subject of the recommendations of officers generally [not present]." Although serving as Inspector General, Hamilton was at the time of writing in effective command of the provisional army of the U.S., which he was busy organizing in anticipation of a possible French invasion. The 9th Regiment of infantry under the command of Lieutenant Colonel J.C. Hall assembled in Havre de Grace, MD, from which Hall wrote to Hamilton on a few occasions through the end of June, complaining that his men remained unpaid, poorly quartered, and insufficiently clothed.
