To James Madison from Archibald W. Hamilton, 10 April 1822
From Archibald W. Hamilton
Washington City 10th Apl 1822
Sir,
I beg leave to enclose, copies of letters for your friendly consideration:1 during the last four years, I held the appointment of Assistant Deputy Quarter Master General, in the Army of the United States: I have been, during that period, constantly occupied in the line of my duty: literally speaking “from Maine to Georgia.” The law of the 2d March 1821.2 reducing the army, having excluded all appointments of my grade, not of the line, I am consequently without employ—either in the army or otherwise—and as my pursuits in early life, mainly looked forward to preferment in the Military, or civil employment of my government—I respectfully ask your friendly aid, and influence, in furtherance of my application for an appointment, under the Treasury or State Departments. I have the honor to be very respectfully Sir Yr Obedt Srvt
A. W. Hamilton3
RC (DLC). Docketed by JM.
1. The enclosures have not been found, but see JM to Hamilton, 16 Apr. 1822.
2. “An Act to reduce and fix the military peace establishment of the United States,” 2 Mar. 1821 (, 3:615–16).
3. Archibald Wade Hamilton (ca. 1791–1842) of New York entered the British army around 1810 and by 1812 was a lieutenant serving in the West Indies. His refusal to fight against the United States during the New Orleans campaign resulted in an order for his arrest as a prisoner of war, but he escaped and returned to the United States, where he was commissioned in the U.S. Army in 1818. In 1823 he was appointed surveyor of the port of Pensacola, and in 1824 he was named collector of that port. He was removed by President John Quincy Adams (Brockholst Livingston to James Monroe, 8 Nov. 1815, DNA: RG 59, LAR, 1809–17, filed under “Hamilton, Archibald W.”; Brother Jonathan: A Weekly Compend of Belles Lettres and the Fine Arts, Standard Literature, and General Intelligence. Advertising Cover. 1 [1842]: xxviii; Charleston City Gazette and Commercial Daily Advertiser, 7 Apr. 1823; , 3:120, 123, 354, 355, 360, 361, 364; Smith et al., Papers of Andrew Jackson, 7:695).