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Back to Podcast EpisodesAlexander Hamilton, His Life and Legacy
Alexander Hamilton, the Zelig of American military and political history.
The circumstances surrounding the birth of Alexander Hamilton are complicated and even when he was born is a matter of dispute. His mother, Rachel Faucette, was of British and French descent. His father, James Hamilton was a Scot. They met on the island of St. Kitts in the British West Indies where James Hamilton was unsuccessfully attempting to build a career trading sugar and other goods.
Although it only involved a total of less than four thousand men and less than twenty-five artillery pieces, the Battle of Trenton is revered as one of the most important moments in US military history. On Christmas night, 1776, George Washington ordered approximately 2,000 troops to begin crossing the Delaware River, near Trenton, New Jersey. Hamilton and his company, now only thirty men in total were part of this attack. In spite of dreadful weather, the entire American force made it across the Delaware River and as dawn approached, marched a dozen miles to the outskirts of the town. At eight in the morning, a coordinated attack on the Hessian barracks began.
In the summer of 1791, according to Hamilton, a woman named Maria Reynolds knocked on the door of his Philadelphia home and met with him privately (despite the presence in the house of Hamilton’s wife). She recount
Published on 9 years, 7 months ago