Alexander Hamilton to John Laurens: 1779-1783

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"I wish, my dear Laurens . . . [to] convince you that I love you"

Re-edited from Jonathan Ned Katz, Gay American History: Lesbians and Gay Men in the U.S.A. (NY: Thomas Y. Crowell Company, 1976, p. 452-456). Copyright by Katz.

Introduction

This entry first appeared in a section on "Love", or intimate relations between people of the same sex, in Gay American History, a section claiming the subject of intimacy, as well as sex, as central to LGBT history. But the erotics of same-sex intimacy are certainly at issue in these letters, as Hamilton bemoans the lack of "intercourse" with his friend, and jestingly tells Lauren's to remind any female marriage prospect about the size of his penis (a joke actually cut out of the letters by an early Hamilton family member who was editing them for publication).--Jonathan Ned Katz, November 4, 2010


Hamilton

Born in the British West Indies in 1757, Alexander Hamilton was forced to go to work at the age of twelve because of his father's business failures. In 1772, generous relatives sent young Hamilton to college in New York, but he soon dropped his studies to join the growing American colonial liberation movement as a talented pamphleteer.


In 1776, Hamilton commanded an artillery company and fought with George Washington in several battles; the next year Hamilton became one of the general's valued aides, was promoted to lieutenant-colonel, and worked hard to systematize the American war effort.


After a quarrel with Washington in 1781, Hamilton headed an infantry regiment in lafayette's corps. From 1782 to 1783, Hamilton served a term in the Continental Congress, then began a law practice in New York.


Laurens

John laurens, born in 1754 into a prominent family of Charleston, South Carolina, was sent to school in England and Switzerland. Laurens married in October 1776, and three months later returned to America to take part in the Revolution. He joined George Washington's staff as a volunteer aide, fought and was wounded in several battles, and was commissioned a lieutenant-colonel by Congress. In December 1778, Laurens, angry at certain "constant personal abuse" of his general, fought a duel to defend Washington's honor.


Elected to the South Carolina assembly in 1779, Laurens withdrew from this political post to fight against a British invasion. When Charleston capitulated to the British in 1780, Laurens was held as a prisoner of war until his exchange for a British officer held by the Americans. That year, at age twenty-six, Laurens was sent by Congress to France on a successful mission to obtain much-needed money and supplies. Returning to America, he rejoined the Revolutionary army, taking an active part in several battles.


"the language of the heart"

The letters excerpted here begin in 1779, when Hamilton was twenty-two and Laurens was twenty-five. Both young revolutionaries were part of that close male circle surrounding General Washington--his "family," as the general called them. Speaking of the intimate friendships formed among these artistocratic young gentlemen "of good family and breeding" who served as Washington's immediate military aides, Hamilton's biographer John C. Miller declares in 1959:


The friendships thus formed in the army were compared by the young men themselves to that of Damon and Pythias, and they expressed their devotion in the high-flown literary language of the day. In their letters it is not uncommon to find them addressing each other in terms certain to provoke a riot in even the best-regulated present-day barracks or mess hall. For example, John Laurens, one of Washington's aides, saw nothing strange in writing to his friend Richard Meade in this strain: "Adieu: I embrace you tenderl.... My friendship for you will burn with that pure flame which has kindled you your virtues." Laurens addressed Hamilton as "My Dear" and his letters abound in flowery protestations of undying affection, to which Hamilton responded with the touching declaration: "I love you."
Hamilton and Laurens belonged to a generation of military men that prided itself not upon the hard-boiled avoidance of sentiment but upon the cultivation of the finer feelings. Theirs was the language of the heart, noble, exalted and sentimental. For Hamilton and Laurens were not merely soldiers doing a job; they were classical scholars whose thoughts and actions were colored by the grandeur of antiquity. They lived-and often died-by the code of the heroes of Plutarch.[1]


The Letters

The American Revolution was in progress; John Laurens had left camp for South Carolina, hoping to be authorized by that colony's assembly to organize battalions of Black slaves to fight the British. In April, 1779, Hamilton writes to him:

Cold in my professions, warm in [my] friendships, I wish, my Dear Laurens, it m[ight] be in my power, by action rather than words, [to] convince you that I love you. I shall only tell you that 'till you bade us Adieu, I hardly knew the value you had taught my heart to set upon you. Indeed, my friend, it was not well done. You know the opinion I entertain of mankind, and how much it is my desire to preserve myself free from particular attachments, and to keep my happiness independent on the caprice of others. You sh[ould] not have taken advantage of my sensibility to ste[al] into my affections without my consent. But as you have done it and as we are generally indulgent to those we love, I shall not scruple to pardon the fraud you have committed, on condition that for my sake, if not for your own, you will always continue to merit the partiality, which you have so artfully instilled into [me].[2]


Forwarding several letters which had arrived from laurens's wife, Hamilton continues:


And Now my Dear as we are upon the subject of wife, I empower and command you to get me one in Carolina. Such a wife as I want will, I know, be difficult to be found, but if you succeed, it will be the stronger proof of your zeal and dexterity. Take her description--She must be young, handsome (I lay most stress upon a good shape) sensible (a little learning will do), well bred, chaste and tender (I am an enthusiast in my notions of fidelity and fondness). But as to fortune, the larger stock of that the better.... Though I run no risk of going to Purgatory for my avarice, yet as money is an essential ingredient to happiness in this world--as I have not much of my own and as I am very little calculated to get more either by my address or industry; it must needs be, that my wife, if I get one, bring at least a sufficiency to administer to her own extravagances. N[ota] B[ene] You will be pleased to recollect in your negotiations that I have no invincible antipathy to the maidenly beauties & that I am willing to take the trouble of them upon myself.


If you should not readily meet with a lady that you think answers my description you can only advertise in the public papers and doub[t]less you will hear of many ... who will be glad to become candidates for such a prize as I am. To excite their emulation, it will be necessary for you to give an account of the lover--his size, make, quality of mind and body, achievements, expectations, fortune, &c. In drawing my picture, you will no doubt be civil to your friend; mind you do justice to the length of my nose and don't forget, that I [- - - - - -].


Here approximately five words are illegible due to mutilation of the original manuscript (the words have actually been cut out). The deleted words were certainly explicitly sexual, as Hamilton's reference to "the length of my nose" was clearly a joking allusion to the length of his penis. A long (pun intended) history links nose size and penis size, and penis size with associations of verility and fertility.[3]


Hamilton continues:


After reviewing what I have written, I am ready to ask myself what could have put it into my head to hazard this Jeu de follie. Do I want a wife? No--I have plagues enough without desiring to add to the number that greatest of all; and if I were silly enough to do it, I should take care how I employ a proxy. Did I mean to show my wit? If I did, I am sure I have missed my aim. Did I only intend to [frisk]? In this I have succeeded, but I have done more. I have gratified my feelings, by lengthening out the only kind of intercourse now in my power with my friend. Adieu
Yours.
A Hamilton[4]


Laurens was still in South Carolina five months later on September 11, 1779. On that date, Hamilton writes to him:


I acknowledge but one letter from you, since you left us, of the 14th of July which just arrived in time to appease a violent conflict between my friendship and my pride. I have written you five or six letters since you left Philadelphia and I should have written you more had you made proper return. But like a jealous lover, when I thought you slighted my caresses, my affection was alarmed and my vanity piqued. I had almost resolved to lavish no more of them upon you and to reject you as an inconstant and an ungrateful -- [a space is here left blank in the manuscript, a word left unwritten by Hamilton, who continues:]


But you have now disarmed my resentment and by a single mark of attention made up the quarrel. You must at least allow me a large stock of good nature.[5]


Laurens was with the American army in South Carolina when British forces arrived off that colony's coast and began the attack on Charleston which ended with that city's capture. Laurens was taken prisoner on May 12, 1780, and on a parole restricting him to the state of Pennsylvania arrived in Philadelphia. On June 30, 1780, Hamilton writes to Laurens:


I have talked to the General about your exchange; but the rigid rules of impartiality oppose our wishes. I am the only one in the family who think you can be exchanged with any propriety, on the score of your relation to the Commander in Chief. We all love you sincerely; but I have more of the infirmities of human nature, than the others, and suspect my self of being byassed by my partiality for you.


Hamilton reveals that he is now engaged to be married.


Have you not heard that I am on the point of becoming a benedict? I confess my sins. I am guilty. Next fall completes my doom. I give up my liberty to Miss Schuyler. She is a good hearted girl who I am sure will never play the termagant; though not a genius she has good sense enough to be agreeable, and though not a beauty, she has fine black eyes--is rather handsome and has every other requisite of the exterior to make a lover happy. And believe me, I am lover in earnest, though I do not speak of the perfections of my Mistress in the enthusiasm of Chivalry. Is it true that you are confined to Pensylvania? Cannot you pay us a visit? If you can, hasten to give us a pleasure which we shall relish with the sensibility of the sincerest friendship.
Adieu God bless you....
A Hamilton
The lads all sympathize with you and send you the assurances of their love.[6]


On September 16, 1780, Hamilton writes to Laurens, still under arrest and confined to Pennsylvania:


That you can speak only of your private affairs shall be no excuse for your not writing frequently. Remember that you write to your friends, and that friends have the same interests, pains, pleasures, sympathies; and that all men love egotism.


In spite of Schuylers black eyes, I have still a part for the public and another for you; so your impatience to have me married is misplaced; a strange cure by the way, as if after matrimony I was to be less devoted than I am now. Let me tell you, that I intend to restore the empire of Hymen and that Cupid is to be his prime Minister. I wish you were at liberty to transgress the bounds of Pensylvania. I would invite you after the fall to Albany to be witness to the final consummation. My Mistress is a good girl, and already loves you because I have told her you are a clever fellow and my friend; but mind, she loves you a l'americaine not a la francoise.
Adieu, be happy, and let friendship between us be more than a name
A Hamilton
The General & all the lads send you their love.[7]


Two years passed. Laurens fought in the battle at Yorktown, then returned to South Carolina and took part in the continuing skirmishes with British troops. In a letter to Laurens dated August 15, 1782, Hamilton describes being delegated to Congress, assuring Laurens, "We have good reason to flatter ourselves peace on our own terms is upon the carpet." Hamilton continues:


Peace made, My Dear friend, a new scene opens. The object then will be to make our independence a blessing. To do this we must secure our union on solid foundations; an herculean task and to effect which mountains of prejudice must be levelled!


It requires all the virtue and all the abilities of the country. Quit your sword my friend, put on the toga, come to Congress. We know each others sentiments, our views are the same: we have fought side by side to make America free, let us hand in hand struggle to make her happy ....
Yrs for ever
A Hamilton


On August 27, 1782, in a minor shoot-out with a British foraging party, John Laurens was killed; it is doubtful if Hamilton's last letter reached him.[8]


Notes

  1. ↑ John Chester Miller, Alexander Hamilton: A Portrait in Paradox (NY: Harper & Row, 1959), page 22. Jonathan Ned Katz thanks Bill Chalson for informing him of this reference and of Hamilton's "love letters" to other soldiers in the American Revolutionary Army. It should be noted that Damon and Pythias are constantly referred to in history o f homosexual literature, and that some of Plutarch's heroeos were homosexual. See, for example, John Addington Symonds, A Problem in Greek Ethics, many editions.)
  2. ↑ Alexander Hamilton, The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Harold C. Syrett, assoc. ed. Jacob E. Cooke (N.Y.: Columbia University, 1961), vol. 2, p. 34. The letters or words in brackets are those added by Hamilton's editors. See Hamilton Papers for footnotes which have been omitted from the present text. In reference to the present letter, the editors note that at some points Hamilton's words have been crossed out so that it is impossible to decipher them. At the top of the first manuscript page, a penciled note, presumably written by John C. Hamilton, an early editor, reads: "I must not publish the whole of this." J. C. Hamilton is the editor of The Works of Alexander Hamilton (N.Y.: 1851) which omits the part of Hamilton's letter beginning "And Now my Dear." Also see Allan McLane Hamilton, The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton (London: Duckworth, 1910), p. 241-42.
  3. ↑ Jonathan Ned Katz, "Alexander Hamilton's Nose." The Advocate, date and page to come.
  4. ↑ Hamilton Papers, vol. 2, p. 37-38. Note* The word "intercourse" may be a playful double meaning.
  5. ↑ Hamilton Papers, vol. 2, p. 165.
  6. ↑ Hamilton Papers, vol. 2, p. 347-48.
  7. ↑ Hamilton Papers, vol. 2, p. 432.
  8. ↑ Hamilton Papers, vol.3, p. 145. Among the modern responses to the above letters, here is an entry on Laurens, on Wikipedia, accessed November 4, 2010: Modern perspectives. There are . . . modern reports circulated that John Laurens had a homosexual relationship with Alexander Hamilton. These reports are based upon letters Hamilton wrote Laurens during a period in which Laurens was absent from the camp. In preparing a biography, Hamilton's family actually crossed out parts of letters they each sent one another. Whether their relationship was sexual or not is unknown—sodomy was a punishable offence in all thirteen colonies at the time, and so even if it had been they would have been most cautious, and it is likely that the truth will never be known. Though the language in the letters was not uncommon among those of the same sex in this historical period, Hamilton was never as emotionally open with any other man in his lifetime, and the depths of sentiment are equalled only in letters he wrote to his wife Eliza. On the other hand, Hamilton knew no other peer in similar rank, age, and war experience with whom to share a deep platonic relationship. Further, in the same letter that is interpreted by some modern students as most cause for suspicion, Hamilton actually requests Laurens find him a wife while away, and goes on with a detailed description of characteristics she should have. Additionally, whether Laurens held anything but platonic feelings for Hamilton appears unlikely, given not only the lack of any suspect letters by him, but also Laurens' strong relationship with his father, and Washington's comment that during their many months together he had found Laurens "without flaw,". For years it was rumored that a statue of the two stood as part of the larger Marquis de Lafayette statue in Lafayette Park, across from the White House in Washington, D.C., depicted clasping hands and congratulating each other after capturing the British redoubt at Yorktown. While the statue at one time served as a popular gay rendezvous, the figures on the west side of the Marquis de Lafayette statue actually depict Louis Le Bègue Duportail and Jean-Baptiste Donatien de Vimeur, the Comte de Rochambeau.


Bibliography

Hamilton, Alexander. The Papers of Alexander Hamilton, ed. Harold C. Syrett, assoc. ed. Jacob E. Cooke (N.Y.: Columbia University, 1961), vols. 2 and 3.


Hamilton, Alexander. The Works of Alexander Hamilton, ed. John C. Hamilton (New York, 1851),


Hamilton, Allan McLane. The Intimate Life of Alexander Hamilton, Based Chiefly Upon Original Family Letters and other Documents, Many of Which Have Never Been Published. New York, C. Scribner's Sons, 1910. London: Duckworth, 1910. See page 245: "The gay trio to which Hamilton and Laurens belonged was made complete by La Fayette. On the whole, there was something about them rather suggestive of the three famous heroes of Dumas, although the period of the American Revolution was less romantic than that of the Musketeers. . . . There is a note of romance in their friendship, quite unusual even in those days, and La Fayette, especially during his early sojourn in this country, was on the closest terms with Hamilton."

Research Request: Relevant to Alexander Hamilton's intimacy with John Laurens, A. M. Hamilton was a psychiatrist who wrote about sexual inversion and other sexual variations. For example, see his article "The Civil Responsibility of Sexual Perverts," American Journal of Insanity (1896). Also see his books, including: Recollections of an Alienist, Personal and Professional (New York, George H. Doran company [©1916]), A System of Legal Medicine (New York : E.B. Treat, 1907 c[1900]), A Manual of Medical Jurisprudence, with Special Reference to Diseases and Injuries of the Nervous System (New York [etc.] Bermingham & company, 1883), The Development of the Legal Relations Concerning the Insane, with Suggestions for Reform (New York : William Wood & Co., 1908).


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. 4452-456. Notes: p. ???,


Katz, Jonathan Ned. "Alexander Hamilton's Nose." The Advocate, date and page to come.


Miller, John Chester. Alexander Hamilton: A Portrait in Paradox (NY: Harper & Row, 1959), page 22.


Norton, Rictor, editor. My Dear Boy: Gay Love Letters through the Centuries (1998). Norton says: "Laurens had married in 1776, but his letters were passionate on the subject of friendship, as when he wrote to his friend Richard Meade: "Adieu: I embrace you tenderly. . . . My friendship for you will burn with that pure flame which has kindled you your virtues." Hamilton, who had not yet married, playfully raises the subject of marriage as a substitute or displacement for his own love of Laurens, as an opportunity to explore his own feelings and to gauge the other man's response."

Links

National Park Service, U.S. Department of the Interior. John Laurens

Norton, Rictor. "Revolutionary Love: The Gay Love Letters of Alexander Hamilton

Wikipedia: John Laurens


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