Notizen zu dieser Person
1 _UID 7D706C773D254354B24CEDB00326263BEEFF
1 _UID C647F1A5A5786C40B95E0DA27734B715A941
This Major received a Bounty Land Warrant,BLWT1010-400,issued4/20/1796,400 acres. In a letter from a William H.Hannum, 700FranklineAve,Columbus, OH, probably in the 1920's,thefollowing isasserted thattheMajor James Hamilton: 'a famous son ofWilliam Hamiltonwas MajororColonel James Hamiton, the Hero of Yorktown'(from TheHistoryofLancaster, PA, by H.M.J. Klein, I227), and fromsame,I325:'ColonelHamilton, one of George Washington's aides.'
Also, from DAR books (Vol 10, p305, Vol 26, p48):'JamesHamiltonwascaptain of Continetnal infantry when taken prisoneratFortMontgomery.He received the British flag, surrendered byCornwallisatYorktown. Hewas president of the State Society of theCincinnati whenhedied in1833, at the age of 83'.
James Hamilton, rose from the ranks to a high position inthearmy.Hebecame the progenitor of a very distinguished familyinSouthCarolina.William Hamilton died in January, 1782. His tenderregardforhis sonJames, who was with the army in the South, was shown whenhewrotehiswill. He devised a farm to each of his sons, Hugh,William,JohnandRobert. At this time he did not know whether James wasliving ornot,andfearing he might return to his home a maimed soldier, andunabletomakea comfortable living, gave him two thousand pounds. 'ThisJames Hamilton was born upon the parental farm in 1758,inLeacocktownship.He was probably one of the classical scholars oftheRev.Robert Smith atPequea church. When the tocsin of warsoundedatMassachusetts Bay, hisheart was fired with patriotic zeal,beforeheattained his majority. OnMarch 16th, 1776, he was enrolledassecondlieutenant in Captain JohnMurray's company of riflemen intheSecondBatallion of Col. Miles'regiment. He must have shown anaptitudeformilitary affairs to an unusualdegree in one so young to beplaced intheline of officers. In his futurecareer he demmonstrated thewisdom oftheselection. He was in activeservice in the Jerseys andparticipatedinthe campaign there. He was in thehottest of the fight onLong Island,inAugust, taken prisoner, and notexchanged until November 2,1777.Forgallant conduct in this action, inSeptember, 1778, he waspromoted toacaptaincy in the First Pennsylvania,commanded by Col.JamesChambers(who subsequently married a Miss Hamilton).On December 10,1778,he waspromoted to Major of the Second PennsylvaniaRegiment oftheLine,commanded by Col. Walter Stewart. In May, 1780,hecommandedadetachment, and, as senior Major, he commanded hisBattalionatYorktown,which was in Gen. Wayne's command. 'After thesurrender of Cornwallis, General Wayne, with hisbrigade,wassent to therelief of Charleston, and Major Hamilton was inservicetherewhen peace wasdeclared. When there he met Elizabeth Lynch,sisterofThomas Lynch, jr.,one of the signers of the DeclarationofIndependence,from South Carolina.They were married, and for yearstheylived upon hisplantation on theSantee. For some time prior and atthetime of hisdeath he resided in thecity of Charleston. Amongotherchildren he had ason James, who was born inCharleston, May 8, 1786,andbecame one of themost distinguished of themany prominent men ofthePalmetto State. Hereceived a collegiate educationand graduated withhighhonors. Hisfather had in view the profession of lawfor his son, buthepreferred amilitary life and entered the army, servingwith greatcreditas a majorin the Canadian campaigns under Scott andBrown, in 1812.Thebattlesthere were the hottest and better contested onboth sides thananyotherduring that war. After the war he commenced thestudy of lawwithJamesL. Petigrew. For several years in succession MajorHamiltonwaschosenthe chief officer in Charleston, which corresponds tothat ofmayorinnorthern cities. He displayed eminent ability inthisposition,whichbrought him into prominence. In 1822 he discoveredtheVeseyconspiracyto raise an insurrection among the slaves. In thesameyear hewaselected to the State Legislature, where he atoncedistinguishedhimselfas a debater. He was chosen a representativetoCongress in 1824and in1826. He espoused the doctrines of free tradeandadvocateddirecttaxation. He believed in the dueling code, andwasRandolph'ssecond inhis duel with Henry Clay, and second to Gov.McDuffiein hisduel withCol. Cummings, of Georgia, and occupied the samepositionuponothersimilar occasions. He was a strong partisan of Gen.Jackson, andin1828,when he became president, he offered him the post ofministertoMexico,with authority to negotiate the annexation of Texas.Thishedeclined. Hequitted Congress to become governor of SouthCarolinain1830, at theinteresting period when his State resolved tonullifytheFederal tarifflaws. He became a 'nullifer,' and was one oftheablestadvocates of'State Rights.' The war breeze aroused inSouthCarolinacaused greatexcitement throughout the country, and wasnotentirelyallayed until thecompromise of Henry Clay was brought about,whenMr.Hamilton retiredfrom public life, and devoted himself to the careofhisplantation. In afew years he became ardently interested in thecauseofTexas, to whichhe gave his personal services, and a large portionofhisprivatefortune. In 1841, while Texas was an independent republic,hewasherminister to England and France, where he procured therecognitionofherindependence. On the death of John C. Calhoun, in 1852,hewasappointedhis successor in the U.S. Senate, but declined theofficefordomesticreasons. In his effort in behalf of Texas heexpendedhisfortune, and hebecame involved in pecuniary difficulties,whichharrassedthe latteryears of his life. He was on his way to Texastoseekindemnification forhis losses, when he perished by acollisionbetweenthe steamboatsGalveston and Opelouses, in the latter ofwhich hewas apassenger. Withhis usual courtesy he yielded his own changeofsafety toa lady amongthe passengers, to whom he was an entirestranger.Hisconduct was insharp contrast to that of a prominent lawyeratLancaster,who witnessedhis wife's struggles in the Hudson river, attheHenry Claydisaster,without making a supreme effort to save her life.Mr.Hamiltonwasesteemed by his native State, as one of her greatestcitizens.S.P.Hamilton, who resides at Chester, South Carolina, isason.GovernorHamilton had a brother, Robert, who moved to the west, anditissupposedthat Governor Hamilton, of Illinois, was one ofhisdescendants.'
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1 _UID 8F60463198FD4846A5757EDE0FAF8FDA260C
1 REFN M8989
Thomas
Schäfer
