The Hamiltons

Part 1: I Hope That You Burn

Morristown New Jersey, 1780

"Miss Schuyler, may I present my husband's aide-de-camp, Colonel Hamilton..."

Lady Washington presented a shapely brunette girl with strong, striking features. A pair of lively dark eyes being her most arresting feature.

"Colonel Hamilton, may I present the Belle of Morristown."
The girl blushed at being so praised, demurely lowered her eyes and curtsied. Alexander then gave a gallant bow.
The arrival of General Schuyler's daughter, Elizabeth, in Morristown had been the talk of the officers' mess. The Schuyler Sisters were widely reputed to be the pride of Albany and an ambitious soldier looking for a well-heeled beauty to wed and bed could hardly do much better.
"Are you enjoying your stay here in Morristown?" he asked her.
"Yes," she responded, "I've been helping my Aunt Cochran and her husband, the Doctor, tend to the sick and wounded."
Doctor Cochran was surgeon general of the Continental Army, best known for completing the monumental feat of inoculating the troops against smallpox when they were stationed in Morristown three years earlier.
The official reason given for Elizabeth Schuyler's visit was to help out her aunt and uncle but the true reason was finding her a husband, which had become of greater importance after her older sister, Angelica, had eloped with an Englishman.
"How was your journey from Albany?"
"Long and, thankfully, uneventful."
"I was told that your father arranged for you to have a military escort."
As the daughter of an important general, she would have made a valuable hostage for the British. The romantic image of a helpless damsel at mercy of the red coats had concerned all that was gallant and chivalrous in Alexander.
"Miss Schuyler, would you do you me the honor of joining me for the minuet?"
"The pleasure would be all mine, Colonel Hamilton."
The minuet involved each couple taking turns in the center. As Alexander went through the slow, stately steps with Miss Schuyler, he was aware that everyone's eyes were on them. The dashing young colonel and the general's lovely daughter; they made quite the pair.
"I do believe we are the spectacle of the evening, Colonel," she whispered to him, "They must all be thinking 'what could possibly interest him about plain little Betsey Schuyler besides her money'."
"More like, 'how could that insolent upstart possibly think he could ever be worthy to stand in the presence of such an angel'."
"I've heard talk of you, Colonel Hamilton. It is said that you are the most ambitious man in America."
"I do not deny it, Miss Schuyler, nor am I ashamed of it."
"Lady Washington said to me, when I told her that I was anxious to meet her august husband, "I will see that you make the acquaintance of Hamilton, my husband's aid. He should be of much more interest to you. " She then told me about her cat."
Alexander blushed. It was a well-known story that Lady Washington had named her rather high spirited tom cat after him, in reference to his reputation of chasing after every pretty petticoat in sight.
He danced with Miss Schuyler once more that evening during the Scottish Reel. She had told him that she disliked the minuet and much preferred the less formal reels and jigs. After the Scottish Reel, Mrs. Cochran began complaining of a headache and told her niece that they would be leaving early. Miss Schuyler went to bid Alexander good night before they left.
"Goodnight , Miss Schuyler," he responded.
"Most people call me Eliza but my family calls me Betsey."
"I like Betsey best."

After that night, Alexander's friends used to say that he was a gone man. One evening after paying a call on his Betsey, he had returned to camp and found that he had forgotten the password. Luckily, the sentry on duty had taken pity on him and let him in anyway.
Every visit and every letter made him more sure that Elizabeth Schuyler was the woman for him. He had only known her for three weeks, perhaps a month when he heard rumors that she was going to leave for Philadelphia.
The house where the Cochrans were staying was in the center of Morristown. Alexander rode there when he was able to get leave.
Betsey must have seen him coming from the window because she quickly threw on her cloak and rushed outside. She must have been helping nurse her uncle's patients because her dress was simple and she wore a stained apron over it. Her hair was tucked behind a mobcap.
"I've heard you were planning on leaving for Philadelphia," he told her as he dismounted his horse.
"I was considering it," she responded.
"Well, I've come to remind you that your true friends are here. I'm determined to convince you to stay."
"Is that a proposal, Colonel Hamilton?"
"Elizabeth Schuyler, I know I don't have much to offer you now but when this war is over, I will rise above my station, higher than either of us can imagine."
"My parents are furious with me. They say that you're nameless, penniless, good-for-nothing and your intentions are not honorable. That's what this whole business of Philadelphia is about; they want me to leave here to get away from you."
"General Washington can vouchsafe for my good conduct and the purity of my intentions and I know I can win them over and convince them to give me your hand."
She took his face in her hands and kissed him.
"I have every faith in you, my Alexander."
He took her into his arms.
"You'll be Mrs. Hamilton before the year is out if I have anything to do with it."
His prediction had turned out to be correct. They were married that December at her family home in Albany with the full blessing of her parents.