Editing Alexander Hamilton (section)

==Revolutionary War (1775–1782)==

===Early military career===
{{further|Hearts of Oak (New York militia)|New York and New Jersey campaign}}
[[File:Alexander Hamilton 1757 1804 hi.jpg |thumb|upright=1|''Alexander Hamilton in the Uniform of the New York Artillery'', a portrait by [[Alonzo Chappel]]]]

In 1775, following the outbreak of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] with the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], Hamilton and other King's College students joined a New York volunteer [[Militia (United States)|militia]] company, [[Hearts of Oak (New York militia)|the Corsicans]], whose name reflected the [[Corsican Republic]] that was suppressed six years earlier and which young American patriots regarded as a political model to be emulated.<ref>Chernow, Ron. ''Alexander Hamilton''. Penguin Press, (2004) ({{ISBN|1-59420-009-2}}).</ref>

Hamilton drilled with the company before classes in the graveyard of nearby [[St. Paul's Chapel]], studied military history and tactics on his own, and was soon elected an officer.<ref name=Newton127>Newton (2015), pp. [https://books.google.com/books?id=9GvpCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA127 127–128].</ref> Under fire from [[HMS Asia (1764)|HMS ''Asia'']], and coordinating with [[Hercules Mulligan]] and the [[Sons of Liberty]], he led his newly renamed unit the "Hearts of Oak" on a successful raid for British cannons in [[The Battery (Manhattan)|the Battery]]. The seizure of the cannons resulted in the unit being re-designated an artillery company.<ref name=McDonald>{{cite book |last=McDonald |first=Forrest |title=Alexander Hamilton: A Biography |publisher=W. W. Norton |isbn=978-0-393-30048-2 |year=1982 |url=https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00forr}}</ref>{{rp|13}}

Through his connections with influential [[Province of New York|New York]] patriots, including [[Alexander McDougall]] and [[John Jay]], Hamilton was commissioned by the revolutionary government to raise the [[New York Provincial Company of Artillery]] of 60 men in 1776, and was then appointed [[Captain (Continental Army)|captain]].<ref name=chernow72>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n87 p. 72].</ref> The company took part in the [[New York Campaign|campaign of 1776]] in and around New York City; as [[rearguard]] of the Continental Army's retreat up Manhattan, serving at the [[Battle of Harlem Heights]] shortly after, and at the [[Battle of White Plains]] a month later. At the [[Battle of Trenton]], the company was stationed at the high point of [[Trenton, New Jersey|Trenton]] at the intersection of present-day Warren and Broad streets to keep the [[Hessian (soldiers)|Hessians]] pinned in their Trenton barracks.<ref name=stryker158>{{cite book |last=Stryker |first=William S. |title=The Battles of Trenton and Princeton |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin & Co. |location=Boston |year=1898 |pages=158–159 |type=page image |url=https://archive.org/stream/battlesoftrenton00stry#page/158/mode/2up}}</ref><ref name="ketchum361-64" />

Hamilton participated in the [[Battle of Princeton]] on January 3, 1777. After an initial setback, Washington rallied the Continental Army troops and led them in a successful charge against the British forces. After making a brief stand, the British fell back, some leaving [[Princeton, New Jersey|Princeton]], and others taking up refuge in [[Nassau Hall]]. Hamilton transported three cannons to the hall, and had them fire upon the building as others rushed the front door and broke it down. The British subsequently put a white flag outside one of the windows;<ref name="ketchum361-64">{{cite book |last=Ketchum |first=Richard |title=The Winter Soldiers: The Battles for Trenton and Princeton |publisher=Holt Paperbacks |edition=1st Owl Books |year=1999 |isbn=978-0-8050-6098-0 |page=310}}</ref> 194 British soldiers walked out of the building and laid down their arms, ending the battle in an American victory.<ref name=stryker290>{{cite book |last=Stryker |first=William S. |title=The Battles of Trenton and Princeton |publisher=Houghton, Mifflin & Co. |location=Boston |year=1898 |page=290 |type=page image |url=https://archive.org/stream/battlesoftrenton00stry#page/290/mode/2up}}</ref>

===George Washington's staff===
{{Further|Washington's aides-de-camp}}

Hamilton was invited to become an aide to [[Continental Army]] general [[William Alexander, Lord Stirling]], and another general, perhaps [[Nathanael Greene]] or [[Alexander McDougall]].<ref name=Newton189-190>Newton (2015), [https://books.google.com/books?id=9GvpCQAAQBAJ&pg=PA189 pp. 189–190].</ref> He declined these invitations, believing his best chance for improving his station in life was glory on the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]]'s battlefields. Hamilton eventually received an invitation he felt he could not refuse: to serve as [[George Washington]]'s aide with the rank of [[Lieutenant colonel (United States)|lieutenant colonel]].<ref>Lefkowitz, Arthur S., ''George Washington's Indispensable Men: The 32 Aides-de-Camp Who Helped Win the Revolution'', Stackpole Books, 2003, pp. 15, 108.</ref> Washington believed that "Aides de camp are persons in whom entire confidence must be placed and it requires men of abilities to execute the duties with propriety and dispatch."<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hendrickson |first1=Robert |title=Hamilton I (1757–1789) |url=https://archive.org/details/hamilton0000hend |date=1976 |publisher=Mason/Charter |location=New York |page=[https://archive.org/details/hamilton0000hend/page/119 119] |isbn=978-0-88405-139-8}}</ref>

Hamilton served four years as Washington's chief staff aide. He handled letters to the [[Second Continental Congress|Continental Congress]], state governors, and the most powerful generals of the [[Continental Army]]. He drafted many of Washington's orders and letters under Washington's direction, and he eventually issued orders on Washington's behalf over his own signature.<ref name=chernow90>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n105 p. 90].</ref> Hamilton was involved in a wide variety of high-level duties, including [[Military intelligence|intelligence]], diplomacy, and negotiation with senior army officers as Washington's emissary.<ref>Lodge, pp. 1:15–20</ref><ref>Miller, pp. 23–26.</ref>

While stationed at the army's winter headquarters in [[Morristown, New Jersey]] from December 1779 to March 1780, Hamilton met [[Elizabeth Schuyler]], a daughter of General [[Philip Schuyler]] and [[Catherine Van Rensselaer]]. They married on December 14, 1780, at the [[Schuyler Mansion]] in [[Albany, New York]].<ref name=chernow128-129>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n145 pp. 128–129].</ref> They had eight children, [[Philip Hamilton|Philip]],<ref name=chernow654-655>Chernow, [https://archive.org/details/alexanderhamilto00cher/page/n689 pp. 654–655].</ref> [[Angelica Hamilton|Angelica]], [[Alexander Hamilton Jr.|Alexander]], [[James Alexander Hamilton|James]],<ref>[https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1878/09/26/86541502.pdf James Alexander Hamilton obituary] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210225045627/https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1878/09/26/86541502.pdf |date=February 25, 2021 }}, ''[[The New York Times]]'', September 26, 1878.</ref> [[John Church Hamilton|John]], [[William S. Hamilton|William]], [[Eliza Hamilton Holly|Eliza]], and [[Philip Hamilton (the second)|another Philip]].<ref>{{Cite magazine |date=March 7, 2022 |title=The Rundown on Alexander Hamilton's 8 Children |url=https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/655807/alexander-hamilton-children |access-date=January 13, 2023 |magazine=Mental Floss |archive-date=January 13, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230113234342/https://www.mentalfloss.com/article/655807/alexander-hamilton-children |url-status=live}}</ref>

During the Revolutionary War, Hamilton became the close friend of several fellow officers. His letters to the [[Marquis de Lafayette]]<ref>Flexner, ''Young Hamilton'', p. 316.</ref> and to [[John Laurens]], employing the [[Sentimentalism (literature)|sentimental literary conventions]] of the late 18th century and alluding to Greek history and mythology,<ref>Trees, Andrew S., "The Importance of Being Alexander Hamilton", ''Reviews in American History'' 2005, pp. 33(1):8–14, finding Chernow's inferences to be overreading the contemporary style.</ref> have been read by [[Jonathan Ned Katz]] as revelatory of a [[homosocial]] or even homosexual relationship.<ref>[[Jonathan Ned Katz|Katz, Jonathan Ned]], ''[[Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A.]]'', Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1976, {{ISBN|978-0-690-01164-7}}, p. 445.</ref> Biographer Gregory D. Massey amongst others, by contrast, dismisses all such speculation as unsubstantiated, describing their friendship as purely platonic camaraderie instead and placing their correspondence in the context of the flowery diction of the time.<ref>Gregory D. Massey, ''John Laurens and the American Revolution''; University of South Carolina Press, 2000. {{page needed|date=September 2024}}</ref>

===Field command===
{{further|Yorktown campaign}}

While on Washington's staff, Hamilton long sought command and a return to active combat. As the war drew nearer to an end, he knew that opportunities for military glory were diminishing. On February 15, 1781, Hamilton was reprimanded by Washington after a minor misunderstanding. Although Washington quickly tried to mend their relationship, Hamilton insisted on leaving his staff.<ref>Chernow 2004, pp. 151–152</ref> He officially left in March, and settled with his new wife Elizabeth Schuyler close to Washington's headquarters. He continued to repeatedly ask Washington and others for a field command. Washington continued to demur, citing the need to appoint men of higher rank. This continued until early July 1781, when Hamilton submitted a letter to Washington with his [[Commission (document)|commission]] enclosed, "thus tacitly threatening to resign if he didn't get his desired command."<ref>Chernow 2004, pp. 153–159</ref>

On July 31, Washington relented and assigned Hamilton as commander of [[The Light Infantry Division at Yorktown (1781)|a battalion of light infantry companies]] of the 1st and 2nd New York Regiments and two provisional companies from Connecticut.<ref>Murray, p. 69.</ref> In the planning for [[Siege of Yorktown (1781)|the assault on Yorktown]], Hamilton was given command of three [[battalion]]s, which were to fight in conjunction with the allied [[France in the American Revolutionary War|French troops]] in taking [[Redoubt]]s No. 9 and No. 10 of the British fortifications at Yorktown. Hamilton and his battalions took Redoubt No. 10 with [[bayonets]] alone so as not to risk accidental gunfire and discovery in a nighttime action, as planned. The French also suffered heavy casualties and took Redoubt No. 9. These actions forced the British surrender of an entire army at Yorktown, marking the ''de facto'' end of the war, although small battles continued for two more years until the signing of the [[Treaty of Paris (1783)|Treaty of Paris]] and the departure of the last British troops.<ref>Mitchell, pp. I:254–260.</ref><ref name="Morris1970">{{cite book |last=Morris |first=Richard Brandon |title=The Peacemakers: The Great Powers and American Independence |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-tS4twEACAAJ |year=1970 |publisher=Harper & Row}}</ref>