vessel, my cherished hope, on which I so fondly depend for letters from you. Write frequent and long letters. You do not know the full extent of the joy with which I shall receive them. Embrace Henrietta tenderly. May I say embrace tenderly our children? The father of these poor children is a rover, but a good and honest man at heart; a good father, who loves his family dearly, and a good husband, who loves his wife with all his heart.
Remember me to your friends and my own, to the dear society, once the society of the court, but which by the lapse of time has become the society of the Wooden Sword. We republicans think it all the better. I must leave off for want of paper and time ; and if I do not repeat to you ten thousand times that I love you, it is not from any want of feeling, but from modesty ; since I have the presumption to hope, that I have already convinced you of it. The night is far advanced, and the heat dreadful. I am devoured by insects ; so, you see, the best countries have their disadvantages. Adieu.
George Washington, Writings (edited by Jared Sparks, Boston, 1834), V, Appendix, 451 -453.
173. "Battalions of Negroes" (1779)
Hamilton was a young West Indian, at the outbreak of the war a student at King's (Columbia) College. He came forward at once as an effective pamphleteer, entered the army, and attracted Washington's favorable notice. Later he was member of the Congress of the Confederation, and Secretary of the Treasury (see Contemporaries, III). — Bibliography: Ford, Bibliotheca Hamiltoniana ; Winsor, Narrative and Critical History, VII, 325-326; Channing and Hart, Guide, § 152.
Head-quarters, March 14th, 1779.
Dear Sir,
COLONEL Laurens, who will have the honour of delivering you this letter, is on his way to South Carolina, on a project which I think, in the present situation of affairs there, is a very good one, and deserves every kind of support and encouragement. This is to raise two, three, or four battalions of negroes, with the assistance of the government of that State, by contributions from the owners, in proportion to the number they possess. If you should think proper to enter upon the subject with him, he will give you a detail of his plan. He wishes to have it recommended by Congress to the State ; and, as an induce-
