USA > Ohio > Hamilton County > Cincinnati > The original institution of the general Society of the Cincinnati, as formed by the officers of the army of the United States, at the conclusion of the revolutionary war > Part 5
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Brighter prospects afterwards arose. America ultimately triumphed, and towards her triumph you largely contributed. After spending your treasure in her service ; after shedding your blood in her battles, you saw her glorious and inde-
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pendent. At Yorktown, with the immortal Washington, you witnessed the surrender of an army, whose capture secured our freedom. You, there, sir, as in other fields, displayed your valor and your skill. Since that event you have passed through many trials, and endured many misfortunes ; and though you could not obtain for France that temperate liberty for which you had fought, and in the achievement of which you had conquered here, you were yet influenced by the same motive, and on both occasions risked everything dearest to man, regardless of personal consideration. You have now, sir, attained to an advanced age, enjoying felicity which is granted to few human beings. You can meditate upon the past with the satisfaction that you have accomplished honora- ble deeds by honorable means. You can look towards the future with the consciousness that you merit the applause of the wise and good. Welcome, sir, to the United States ! Welcome to South Carolina.
Some few members of our Society still survive who were your companions in arms ; by them you will be greeted with fraternal affection. May you remain among us gratified with your reception. May your departure from our shores be long deferred. May you always cherish in your heart, our coun- try's memory, and may its conduct towards you, convince the world that our Republic is not ungrateful.
To which address, Gen. LaFayette, replied :
Col. Drayton, Chairman of the Committee of the Cincinnati Society .- To the Cincinnati Society of South Carolina :
Never has life appeared more valuable to me, than when I find I have remained to meet my surviving comrades of our Revolutionary Army ; to mourn with them over the numer- ous departed brethren, whose loss we have to deplore, to re- peat together the name of our paternal Commander-in-Chief, and many other illustrious names most dear to us; and while we witness the blessings of independence, prosperity and self government which have been the result of our glorious war, to congratulate ourselves on the honor we had to partake in common in its toils and dangers.
But my fraternal recollections are not confined to this hem- isphere, and I am happy also to have lived to present my per- sonal acknowledgement to the respected President of the South Carolina Society, for my great and multiplied obliga- tions to him as an American Minister in London during my captivity.
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Receive my dear comrades the most affectionate thanks of an old brother soldier, and be assured that whatever may be my fortune and destinies, the flattering and honorable wel- come I receive in this city, and particularly the so very grati- fying testimonials of your esteem and friendship on that happy and affecting occasion, shall never be erased from my grateful heart.
On the same day, 16th March, 1825, Gen. LaFayette was entertained at dinner by the Cincinnati Society.
MAJ .- GEN. THOMAS PINCKNEY, was elected President-General after the death of his brother Maj .- Gen. Charles Cotesworth Pinckney, and at the anniversary on 4th July, 1826, declined a re-election as President of the State Society of the Cincin- nati.
1826.
MAJ. ALEXANDER GARDEN . President.
MAJ. JAMES HAMILTON . Vice-President.
DR. ISAAC MOTTE CAMPBELL Secretary.
CHARLES LINING. . Treasurer.
DR. - LINING .
RICHARD PINCKNEY
Stewards.
Standing Committee :
Dr. William Read,
James Legare,
Daniel E. Huger,
William Drayton,
James Hamilton, Jr.,
Robert Smith
Thomas S. Grimké.
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1827.
MAJ. ALEXANDER GARDEN . President.
MAJ. JAMES HAMILTON . Vice-President. Treasurer.
DR. S. B. RUSH FINLEY
DR. JOHN B. IRVING . Secretary.
W. PERONNEAU FINLEY
Stewards.
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Standing Committee :
Dr. William Read, James Legare, Daniel E. Huger,
William Drayton, Thomas S. Grimké, - Flagg, Dr. Maham Haig.
1828.
MAJ. ALEXANDER GARDEN . President.
MAJ. JAMES HAMILTON .
Vice-President.
Treasurer.
S. B. R. FINLEY, M. D. Secretary,
Stewards.
Standing Committee :
DR. JOHN B. IRVING, Orator for 4th July, 1829.
MAJOR-GEN. THOMAS PINCKNEY, President-General, died 2d November, 1828.
MAJOR ALEXANDER GARDEN, President of the State Society, died 24th February, 1829.
1829.
MAJOR JAMES HAMILTON .President.
DR. WILLIAM READ .
Vice-President.
CHARLES LINING . Treasurer.
DR. S. B. RUSH FINLEY
CHARLES A. DESAUSSURE .Secretary.
HENRY W. PER ONNEAU . Stewards.
Standing Committee :
Captain Richard Bohun Baker, Hon. Daniel E. Huger,
Captain James Legare, Colonel William Drayton,
Hon. Thomas S. Grimké, Major James Hamilton,
Dr. Maham Haig.
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1830.
MAJOR JAMES HAMILTON President.
DR. WILLIAM READ Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID
Treasurer.
DR. S. B. RUSH FINLEY
Secretary.
BARNARD ELLIOTT,
R. H. LINING .
Stewards.
Standing Committee:
Richard Bohun Baker,
William Mason Smith,
William Drayton,
Thomas S. Grimké,
Daniel E. Huger, James Hamilton,
Dr. Maham Haig.
HENRY W. PERONNEAU, Orator for 4th July, 1831.
1831.
MAJOR JAMES HAMILTON President.
DR. WILLIAM READ. . Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID . Treasurer.
DR. S. B. RUSH FINLEY
CHARLES WARLEY Secretary.
DR. JOHN A. RAMSAY.
Stewards.
Standing Committee :
1832.
MAJOR JAMES HAMILTON President.
DR. WILLIAM READ . Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID. . Treasurer.
CHARLES A. DESAUSSURE
CHARLES WARLEY . Secretary.
WILLIAM C. FAYSSOUX
Stewards.
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Standing Committee :
Richard Bohun Baker,
William Drayton,
James Hamilton,
William Mason Smith, Daniel E. Huger, Thomas S. Grimké,
Dr. Maham Haig.
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1833.
MAJOR JAMES HAMILTON President.
DR. WILLIAM READ . .
Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID .
Treasurer.
CHARLES A. DESAUSSURE
Secretary.
CHARLES WARLEY
BARNARD ELLIOTT
Stewards.
Standing Committee :
Richard Bohun Baker,
James Hamilton,
Elias Vanderhorst,
Henry W. Peronneau,
Edward R. Laurens,
Edward B. Lining.
Major JAMES HAMILTON, President, died 26 November, 1833.
The funeral procession on November, 1833, was formed at the Battery, near the residence of Judge Prioleau (from which the body was to be moved), in the following order :
4th. The Cincinnati Society, of which the deceased was for many years President.
1834.
DR. WILLIAM READ President. CAPT. RICHARD BOHUN BAKER . . Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID Treasurer.
DR. J. E. B. FINLEY
Secretary.
Stewards.
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Standing Committee :
James Hamilton, Henry W. Peronneau,
Edward R. Laurens,
Dr. Isaac Motte Campbell, Edward B. Lining, Elias Vanderhorst,
Dr. William Hall.
At a meeting of the Society of Cincinnati, of the State of South Carolina, held on the evening of the 3rd of July, 1834, a special committee, consisting of Lionel H. Kennedy, Henry W. Peronneau and John B. Irving, Esquires, previously ap- pointed to prepare a memoir of the life and military services of Major James Hamilton, late President of the Society, made the following report, which, on resolution, was ordered to be entered on the journals of the Society, to be printed in the papers of the city, and that a sufficient number of copies should be stricken off in pamphlet form for distribution among the members of the Society.
MAJOR JAMES HAMILTON, SR.
The Special Committee appointed by the Cincinnati Socie- ty, of South Carolina, to collect such facts and memoranda as they might be able to procure of the Revolutionary services of their late President, Major James Hamilton, Sr., that the same may be recorded on their journals, beg leave respectful- ly to present the following brief memoir :
Major James Hamilton, Sr., was born in the town of Lan- caster, Pennsylvania, on the 16th of September, 1750. His ancestors were emigrants from the North of Ireland. His father was a highly respectable farmer, who resided in the vicinity of Lancaster, and who gave to his son a classical education, with the view of qualifying him for the medical profession, the study of which he commenced with the cele- brated Dr. Shippen, in 1774. Immediately, however, on the occurrence of the battle of Lexington, young Hamlton, with all the enthusiasm of youthful patriotism, abandoned his pro- fessional studies and returned to Lancaster, where, together with James Ross, (subsequently a distinguished officer of the Pennsylvania line,) he raised a volunteer company of Rifle- men, which was composed principally either of Irishmen, of the descendants of Irishmen, and of which James Ross was elected Captain, James Hamilton, Ist Lieutenant, and Fred-
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erick Zubly, 2d Lieutenant. This Company having been organized with great dispatch, marched into Massachusetts in the spring of 1775, and joined the army at Cambridge.
These facts are minutely related, because this company was one of the first corps which Pennsylvania sent to the assistance of her sister Colony, then perilously assailed. It remained with the army in the vicinity of Boston, and was distinguished for its promptitude and order at the cannonade at Dor- chester Heights, where it occupied a post of danger and distinction. When the British evacuated Boston, Lieutenant Hamilton with his company, marched with the rest of the army for New York, and took post at Long Island. Here the Pennsylvania volunteers exchanged their rifles for muskets, and were attached to one of the battalions of the Line. This corps was, however, actively engaged at the battle of Long Island, and gallantly participated in all the operations of the Grand Army in that vicinity, and on both sides of the Hud- son River. The battalion to which it was attached, was in the advance at the battle of White Plains. And in all the depress- ing and disastrous events which attended the close of the campaign of 1776, in General Washington's march through New Jersey, Lieut. Hamilton, amidst severe privations and sufferings, participated with an heroic fortitude, worthy of a young soldier, governed by no other sentiment than a lofty attachment to the honor of his country, and the success of that cause to which he was willing to devote his life, and all that was valuable of life.
With the returning tide of a better fortune, it was also, Lieut. Hamilton's destiny to be present at, and to be gallantly engaged in, the operations of General Washington on the Delaware. On Christmas Eve of 1776, he crossed that river in Lord Sterling's division, and participated in the capture of the Hessians, and on the succeeding 3d of January, 1777, he commanded a company in the battle of Princeton. A greater part of the evening previous to this battle, he passed with the gallant and lamented Gen. Mercer, with whom he supped, and of this interview he often spoke with touching interest. Of the affecting contrast exhibited by the gushing enthusiasm and lofty aspirations with which the hero spoke, on that night of the august cause in which they were engaged, with his disastrous fate in everything, save in the halo which must forever hover around his tomb.
These decisive successes on the part of the Americans, it is well known, threw all the southern portion of New Jersey into the possession of General Washington. Hamilton, now
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Captain Hamilton, on an expedition from the main body, was attacked by a superior force near the enemy's outposts at Bruns- wick, and with a small detachment was captured near that place. He was, the next day, taken to the British Headquarters, at New York, when the Aid of the British Commander-in- Chief, struck with his fine appearance and martial bearing, on reporting that an engaging young rebel had been taken, received from the Commander-in-Chief orders to extend to him every kindness and courtesy compatible with the usages of war. The Adjutant-General, in taking his parol, told him the British Commander would do him no greater harm than to give him a billet " on as great a rebel as himself."
After having been ten months a prisoner of war, on Long Island, Capt. Hamilton was exchanged. And on joining the army, was offered, by the gallant but unfortunate Gen. St. Clair, the appointment of Aid-de-Camp, in which capacity he served for a few months until he was promoted on the ioth December, 1778, to a Majority in the 2d Regiment of the Pennslyvania Line. This regiment was commanded by Col. Stuart, a highly accomplished and gallant Irishman, and was received principally from among the Irish settlers in Pennsyl- vania, and was distinguished in many of the most important battles of the Revolution, either in the van in the advance, or in retreat in covering the rear.
These brave sons of Erin were not, perhaps, as much dis- tinguished in camp for systematic and uniform subordination, as they were for their gallantry in action; for, when brought to the steel, they made their valor tell upon the enemy. In the brilliant campaign of 1781, Major Hamilton had the honor, by reason of the sickness and consequent absence of Col. Stuart, to command the 2d Regiment, which was attached to Wayne's memorable brigade, who, with this regiment and a detachment of the Ist, formed a junction with the Marquis LaFayette, on his retiring across the Rappahanock.
We regret that the extreme modesty and reserve with which Major Hamilton always spoke of his own services, en- ables us to present but an imperfect record of the gallantry and enterprise which he is known to have exerted in these striring events, which won for him so largely the esteem and confidence of his brother soldiers. We have it, however, in our power, to weave into this narrative an account which we have lately received from Col. Aaron Ogden, of the New Jersey Line, of an affair during the march of the army, in which Major Hamilton displayed the decisive resources of an accomplished officer. We prefer, as the happiest and most
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appropriate medium of communication, using the account itself, and employing the very words of this venerable and distinguished veteran, who, we are happy to know, yet lives among the surviving few "to tell us how much we owe them."
" In the memorable campaign "(says Col. Ogden) in Vir- ginia, in 1781, General, the Marquis LaFayette, while com- manding there, conceived a design of intercepting Col. Sim- coe's celebrated corps of 500 horse then moving down on the north side of James River to join the army of Lord Corn- wallis then lying at Williamsburg, and for this purpose he detailed a sufficient force to reach, if possible, the road on which Simcoe was moving, at a certain point, before he should arrive there. Although the march was very rapid, neverthe- less, Simcoe passed about half an hour before our troops reached the designated spot. This detachment, thus sent by Gen. LaFayette, was preceded by a legionary corps, consist- ing of three companies of foot, (of which, being the eldest Captain, I had the honor to command,) 60 horse under the command of Major Hughes, the whole being under the com- mand of Major William McPherson. This legion was con- siderably in advance, and as soon as it was ascertained that Simcoe had passed on, the cavalry, with an infantry soldier behind each dragoon, pursued and within two miles came in sight of the enemy. They were refreshing, on an eminence in a large open field. When we had approached sufficiently near, the infantry dismounted, and Major McPherson, with great gallantry, charged Simcoe's corps, so suddenly, that their horses were yet unbridled. It was not long, however, before Major McPherson's cavalry were obliged to fall back upon his infantry, which maintained their ground and drove back the enemy. McPherson became dismounted, and Hughes wounded, both put hors de combat. Simcoe was drawing up a short distance for a second charge, when Major Hamilton came up most opportunely, at the critical moment, with a small detachment, and taking the command of the whole, with great skill and judgment formed them in a hollow square, and gave orders not to fire, but to receive the horse of the enemy on the point of the bayonet. Having reconnoited entirely round our square, Col. Simcoe gave up his threatened charge, and resumed his march to join Lord Cornwallis, then within the distance of four miles. I have always ascribed the safety of this body of inen under Major Hamilton (of whom those under my command were a part) to his skill, in- trepidity, and coolness in forming them in an open field, and
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within a small distance of a very superior number of the best forces of the enemy.
" On the 25th September, of this campaign, the army at last rendezvoused at Williamsburg, preparatory to the siege at Yorktown, and in this siege the 2d Regiment, under the command of Major Hamilton, in conjunction with the rest of Wayne's Brigade, bore a conspicuous part. It was, perhaps, in special reference to the command of this gallant veteran (whose very daring obtained for him the appellation of ' Mad Anthony,') that General Washington issued his memorable order at Yorktown, which contains as much of the pith of the simple yet sublime in military writing as is any where to be found. 'If the enemy (said he) should be tempted to meet the army, the General particularly enjoins the troops to place their principal reliance on the bayonet, that they may prove the vanity of the boast which the British make of their pecu- liar prowess in deciding battle with that weapon.'
" The events of this siege are too well known as matters of history to require any notice on the present occasion. It will be sufficient to state that on the surrender of Lord Cornwallis the 2d Regiment, under Major Hamilton, was one of those forming the command of Baron Steuben, which, as a guard of honor, took possession of the British redoubts.
" After the surrender the 2d Regiment was detached to reinforce Gen Greene in the South, and Major Hamilton marched through Virginia and North Carolina, and joined the Southern Fabius as his headquarters at Ashley River. In the course of the operations in that vicinity, he was de- tached at the head of 300 picked men to support Col. Laurens, but on his arrival at Parker's Ferry he heard of the death of that gallant officer in his ill fated expedition to Combahee. These events bring the war of the Revolution nearly to its close and terminated the military services of Major Hamilton, with the exception of an attempt which he made to surprise Col. Craig's post on John's Island, near the Church Flats, which failed alone from the desertion of his guide and the darkness of the night."
From this narrative it will be seen that Major Hamilton was present when the first gun was fired at the heights of Dorchester; that he was in most of the subsequent important battles, and that he was in one of the last, if not the very last, military enterprize of the glorious struggle.
At the disbanding of the army he became a citizen of South Carolina, and was united in marriage to a lady of the same State, a daughter of Thomas Lynch, Sr., one of the three
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Representatives that South Carolina sent to the first Colonial Congress which met after the passage of the Stamp Act at Annapolis; this lady was likewise the sister of Thomas Lynch, Jr., one of the signers of the Declaration of In- dependence.
The private events of a life which was marked by a tran- quility and repose in perfect keeping with the modesty of Major Hamilton's character, the Committee considered not strictly within their province, but they are quite sure they would perform their duty in a manner entirely unsatisfactory to a Society in which Major Hamilton was held in such high esteem, if they said nothing of those virtues which caused him to be loved wherever he was known.
As an officer, he was active, vigilant and brave to a degree of constitutional coolness which gave to his valor the appear- ance of instinct, as well as the aspect of a chivalrous senti- ment. , He was a great and decided favorite with all the general officers under whom he served. The fault they ever found with him was not when he met the enemy, but in camp with his own troops, towards whom his goodness of heart revolted against the application of a severe and unrelenting discipline. His old commander, Gen. Wayne, whose advance he commanded on many occasions, and who cherished for him a friendship and affection amounting to the highest pitch of personal and military attachment, used to say of him that he spared every man in his command but himself, and if he would only make those under him do their duty as he did his own, he would be the best officer of his rank in the service.
Your Committee are aware that these are at best but im- perfect details of patriotic and valuable services. They belong to a class of public recollections, they fear, that are fast fading away ; but if even these few facts regarding one of that band who fought to make our country what she is, are rescued from oblivion, their labors have been compensated, if in no other way, at least as serving as an occasion for recall- ing to our memories and perpetuating on our records the portrait of a gallant and esteemed soldier, a man devoid of all selfishness and vanity, "without one drop of gall in his whole constitution," who, with a heart overflowing with human kindness, knew no fear, except the fear of offending his God, and who lived, we believe, without having made, or who at least died without deserving to make, a single enemy. The beautiful picture which Sterne has drawn of the benevolence and sensibility of his hero has never, to the honor of human
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nature, been a mere fiction. The individual whose virtues we have attempted to commemorate, might have sat as the original (for those qualities at least) of that fine impersonation of all that is delightful in the character of an old soldier, whose touching tenderness of heart adds fresh grace to his steady and unfaltering valor.
The end of our venerable friend comported with the se- renity of his whole life. On the night of the 26th of Novem- ber, 1833, in his 84th year, he yielded up his spirit and died with the composure of a veteran,
Taking his rest With his martial cloak around him,"
with a smile on his countenance, the mild yet determined cast of which death seemed rather to touch with additional calmness than to impair.
By the Cincinnati Society both his fraternal and parental intercourse will be long remembered. He has gone, how- ever, to join in a world of peace those compatriots who once gave life and dignity to our Society, who presided at our councils and graced our festive board-" those bravest of the brave," whose virtues, whose services, and whose memories it is at once the most balmy and sacred office of patriotism to honor, cherish and defend.
EDWARD R. LAURENS, Orator for 4th July, 1835.
1835.
DR. WILLIAM READ President.
CAPT. RICHARD BOHUN BAKER Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID . Treasurer.
DR. J. E. B. FINLEY
CHARLES WARLEY Secretary.
BERNARD ELLIOTT .
Stewards.
Standing Committee :
James Hamilton, E. B. Lining, Elias Vanderhorst,
Henry W. Perroneau, Edward R. Laurens, Dr. Isaac M. Campbell, Dr. William Hall.
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1836.
DR. WILLIAM READ, President. CAPT. RICHARD BOHUN BAKER. . Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID . . Treasurer.
DR. J. E. B. FINLEY
Secretary.
BARNARD ELLIOTT
HARRIS SIMONS
Stewards.
Standing Committee :
James Hamilton, E. B. Lining,
Elias Vanderhorst,
Henry W. Perroneau, Edward R. Laurens, Dr. Isaac M. Campbell,
Dr. William Hall.
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1837.
DR. WILLIAM READ, President.
CAPT. RICHARD BOHUN BAKER, . Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID
Treasurer.
DR. J. E. B. FINLEY
Secretary.
BARNARD ELLIOTT
HARRIS SIMONS .
Stewards.
Standing Committee :
James Hamilton, E. B. Lining,
Elias Vanderhorst,
Henry W. Peronneau, Edward R. Laurens, Dr. Isaac M. Campbell, Dr. William Hall.
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1838.
DR. WILLIAM READ . President.
COL. SAMUEL WARREN
Vice-President.
GEORGE B. REID
Treasurer.
DR. J. E. B. FINLEY
Secretary.
BARNARD ELLIOTT
Stewards.
HARRIS SIMONS
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Standing Committee :
James Hamilton, Daniel E. Huger,
Dr. I. Motte Campbell,
Henry A. DeSaussure, Henry W. Peronneau, John S. Cogdell,
Dr. William Hall.
At a meeting of the Cincinnati Society on the 18th Octo- ber, 1838, on motion of Mr. J. Harleston Read, Jr., it was
Resolved, That a Committee of Three be appointed by the President to draft resolutions expressive of the deep regret of the Society, at the decease of our late fellow-members William Mason Smith, Esq., Thomas Pinckney Lowndes, Esq., and James Hamilton, Jr., Esq., which being referred, the Com- mittee reported as follows :
Whereas, It has pleased the Almighty to remove from the sphere of their usefulness, three valuable members of our Society, and that too in the very short period of three months, it now becomes our painful, yet grateful task to record the recollections of their worth. Endeared to us not only by the peculiar feelings arising from our relations as one common body ; but further claiming our highest esteem from the manly, active, energetic discharge of their duties as private citizens, they cling strongly to our memories, and draw forth the willing offering of our feelings ; therefore
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