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Riot at West Point! Hamilton Responds to Commander to Protect Soldiers
Riot at West Point! Hamilton Responds to Commander to Protect Soldiers
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Description:

Alexander Hamilton
New York, NY, July 22, 1800
Riot at West Point! Hamilton Responds to Commander to Protect Soldiers
ALS
ALEXANDER HAMILTON, Autograph Letter Signed, to James Stille, July 22, 1800, New York. 1 p., 6.5" x 7.5". General toning; some repairs of separations on folds.

Alexander Hamilton wrote this letter to Captain James Stille, the commander of the military garrison at West Point, New York. On July 4, Stille had attempted to quell a riot between some of his soldiers and civilians at a tavern on the border of the garrison. A local newspaper noted that "It appears that a hostile disposition towards the soldiers has been shewn here for some time."

Complete Transcript
Dr Sir,
Your express has been unavoidably detained in order to obtain from the court a Habeas Corpus. It is now just to the Sheriff. But it is desireable if practicable to have here some witness who knows most of the circumstances and can best repel the allegation of this felonious taking of articles. This with regard to the private men may be of some importance.
Yrs with regard
A Hamilton
N.Y. July 22 1800
Capt Stille

[Address:] Capt Stille of the Corps of Artillery

Historical Background
The United States Military Academy at West Point was established in 1802, but General George Washington had commissioned fortifications there in 1778, and the U.S. Army has since maintained a garrison there.

At the boundary of the military post at West Point, New York, Thomas North operated a tavern in the 1790s. On November 18, 1798, Captain George Ingersoll, the commanding officer at West Point, issued an order that prohibited any non-commissioned officer or private from entering or being in North's tavern without a written pass signed by an officer. Anyone who violated the order would be confined in the guard house for disobeying orders. In April 1799, Captain Stille issued a similar order and directed patrols to visit the area of North's tavern to see if any soldiers were there.

On July 4, 1800, there was a riot at North's house between some persons who had gathered there to celebrate the day and some soldiers stationed at West Point. Both Captain James Stille and Thomas North wrote accounts of the event, which were published in newspapers in Poughkeepsie and Philadelphia.

According to Stille's account, on July 4, one of his patrols was "insulted, deprived of their arms, and beaten inhumanely, by some of the croud." When he learned of the event, Stille went to the barracks to gather the garrison and march to the relief of the patrol. However, the soldiers had already learned the news and were running toward North's tavern. Although Stille tried to "reduce my men to order, but still in vain," for when they saw the beaten members of the patrol, they attacked the house. After being beaten back by the occupants of North's tavern, the soldiers were organized by Stille, who demanded the surrender of those in North's tavern. After some hesitation, they surrendered, and Stille had the leaders taken to the guard house, where they were confined. Stille concluded, "It seems singular if the soldiers were the aggressors, as some have already industriously propagated, that they should have received the whole of the bodily injury that happened, while the prisoners have not got the least mark of violence about them. But this is not the first instance these fellows have given of a hostile disposition towards the soldiery. There is scarcely a public day of any sort that they dont assemble here, and endeavor to raise a disturbance with the soldiers. Some of the very fellows that are now in confinement, have been confined before in the same place for the same offence."

Five days later, Thomas North offered a different version of the same events. He claimed that on July 4, "a number of respectable citizens" convened at his house "to celebrate the independence of the United States." Into this celebration and dance in an upper room came John Quirk, an Irish soldier, who had his bayonet fixed on his gun. When North asked him why he was there, he said he had come to look for soldiers. North assured him that there were none in his house and asked him to leave. Quirk refused, North continued, and "made an attempt to stab me with his bayonet!" North diverted the bayonet and grabbed the barrel of Quirk's gun. When a guest forced Quirk downstairs, they came upon two other soldiers with bayonets fixed whom they forced out of the house. North insisted that Captain Stille led the soldiers in a run to his house, ordered them to surround it, and ordered a charge. The soldiers broke at least ten windows, each with multiple panes of glass. They also broke multiple decanters and other glassware, robbed North of $40 in bank notes and $20 in specie from behind the counter, stole several pairs of shoes and several articles of dry goods. North concluded, "The said Capt. Steele, did not at his approaching the house in his rage, nor at any time while there, that I could learn from any one, so much as ask who had been in the fault, or make any demand of any matter or any thing relating thereto, but did actually force himself into my house, and while there, commanded his men to lay on...."

Late in the day on July 4, Captain Stille wrote to Major General Alexander Hamilton in his capacity as Inspector General of the United States Army during the undeclared war with France. However, that position ended on June 15, 1800. Stille wrote of "some embarrassments under which the events of the day have placed me." Stille gave his account of the riot and concluded, "Now Sir what I have to solicit of you is that you will be so good as to favor me with advice as to the mode in which I should proceed on this occasion. I shall keep the Villains in close custody till I receive your reply." On July 7, Hamilton explained to Stille that his "military functions" had ceased but advised Stille to release the citizens and send their names with specific charges to Richard Harison, the United States attorney for the District of New York. Hamilton also added, "As it is probable that some civil process may take place against those of your Soldiers who were engaged in this affair, it will be requisite that you should have it properly answered and attended to, and that in this, as well as in other cases which may occur, you will be particularly cautious, for the honor of the Service, that due respect may be paid to the civil authority."

On the same day that he responded to Captain Stille, Hamilton sent a copy of Stille's letter of July 4 and his response to Secretary of War Samuel Dexter (1761-1816), a Massachusetts native and graduate of Harvard who served as Secretary of War for the last nine months of the presidency of John Adams. Hamilton also informed Dexter that he had sent Major Adam Hoops of the 2nd Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers to West Point "to obviate any difficulties which may occur in this affair, and should, upon reflexion any new steps appear necessary to be adopted, I will advise Major Hoops to take them." In a follow-up letter written later on July 7, Hamilton sent Secretary Dexter three letters from Major Hoops and suggested "the propriety of convening a General Court Martial for the trial of the Offenders on the charges exhibited against them," suggesting that Hoops and Hamilton found some of the soldiers at fault in the riot.

On July 28, Hamilton reported to Secretary Dexter that "North has since set on foot criminal prosecutions against Capt. Stille and several of his men for Riot and Theft. A hot headed Magistrate without the decency of a previous resort to higher authority issued a Warrant upon which the Capt & those men were apprehended—and after a refusal to bail them [they were] committed to the common jail of the County." District Attorney Harison had the Supreme Court issue a writ of habeas corpus, to which Hamilton refers in this letter. Stille and several men of his command—William Edwards, Francis Van Arp, John Kirk, Charles Patterson, Benjamin Burchall, James Hamilton, and James Barnet—were set free on "easy bail." Hamilton suggested to Dexter that "The honor and success of the service require absolutely that this affair should be probed with all possible attention. I have expressed this opinion to Mr. Harrison—you may perhaps think it expedient to confirm the sentiment."

Alexander Hamilton (1757-1804) was born on the island of Nevis and, in 1772, came to New York City, where he enrolled in King's College (Columbia University) in 1773. When the British occupied the city in 1776, King's College closed, ending Hamilton's collegiate career. Hamilton became General George Washington's aide-de-camp in 1777. After the war, Hamilton studied law and became one of the most eminent lawyers in New York. In 1782, he was elected to the Continental Congress, where he served until October 1783. In 1784, he founded the Bank of New York, which became one of the longest-operating banks in American history. In 1786, Hamilton took the leading part at the Annapolis convention, which prepared the way for the great Constitutional Convention that met at Philadelphia in 1787, to which Hamilton was a New York delegate. In the same year, he conceived the series of essays afterward collected as The Federalist in support of the new Constitution and wrote 51 of the 85 essays himself. Upon the establishment of the new government in 1789, President Washington appointed Hamilton as Secretary of the Treasury, and he restored the country's finances to a firm footing. In early 1795, Hamilton resigned his office but remained the leader of the Federalist Party until he died in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr.

James Stille / Stelle (1773-1820) was born in New Jersey and was commissioned as a captain in the 2nd Regiment of Artillerists and Engineers in June 1798. He served as the commandant of the garrison at West Point, New York, in 1799 and 1800. He was retained in the Artillery in 1802 and was posted to New Orleans in January 1805. He resigned on December 31, 1805, and in February 1806, he married Margaret Cyrilla Watts Gayoso (1775-1829), the widow of the former governor of Spanish Louisiana, with whom he had four children. He operated a plantation with slave labor in Opelousas, Louisiana, until his death. In January 1806, Louisiana Territorial Governor C. C. Claiborne appointed him as adjutant major of the Orleans Battalion of Volunteers. In June 1807, Claiborne appointed Stille as sheriff of the Fifth District Superior Court.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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  • Dimensions: 6.5" x 7.5"
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