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Artillery Captain
Alexander Hamilton's first experiences in the military came in artillery units during the early years of the Revolution -- years that gave him his first taste of battle, his first exposure to the hardships of campaigns, and his first chance to lead soldiers as an officer. The outbreak of hostilities at the Battles of Lexington and Concord led him to pick up the sword. Alongside his friends Robert Troup and Nicholas Fish, Hamilton joined a New York City militia company named the Corsicans as a private. On the night of August 23-24, 1775, Hamilton participated in his first military action. At the urging of the New York Provincial Congress, he and sixty compatriots removed twenty-one cannon from the Grand Battery to prevent them from falling into enemy hands -- while coming under fire from a British warship anchored in the harbor.
Hamilton became an officer on March 14, 1776, when he was appointed captain of the New York Provincial Company of Artillery upon the recommendation of Alexander McDougall, then a colonel in the New York Continental Line. Hamilton demanded strict discipline in his company but was devoted to his men, having lobbied for their pay and provisions, paid for their clothing, and recommended some of them -- even enlisted men -- for promotion as officers. By the end of the summer, his company was transferred to the Continental Army as part of Henry Knox's Regiment of Artillery.
Hamilton experienced war in the field for the first time with these units, during the New York and New Jersey campaigns. Among the last American troops to evacuate New York City in September 1776, Hamilton's artillerists helped protect the army on its retreat through New Jersey. When George Washington took the offensive at the end of the year, the Continental Artillery -- including Hamilton's company -- played an important role in the victories at Trenton, Assunpink Creek and Princeton. |