From Alexander Hamilton to Elizabeth Hamilton, [2 October 1801]
To Elizabeth Hamilton1
[Claverack, New York, October 2, 1801]2
I was extremely disappointed, My Dear Eliza, that the Mondays post did not bring me a letter from you. You used to keep your promises better. And you know that I should be anxious to hear of your health. If the succeeding post does not rectify the omission of the former I shall be dissatisfied and pained.
I am chagrined at the prospect of being detained considerably longer than I expected. Our adversaries have made strong efforts to postpone the cause to another circuit, and though defeated in this they have obtained a delay till wednesday next. However disagreeable and inconvenient to me to stay, it is not possible for me in this situation to quit.
Adieu my beloved & be assured that I shall not lose a moment to return to you.
Yours tenderly
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. H had arrived in Claverack on September 27, 1801 (J. Rutsen Van Rensselaer to Philip Schuyler, September 28, 1801 [ALS, Schuyler Papers, Box 37, MS Division, New York Public Library]). H’s father-in-law, Philip Schuyler, had requested that he attend the Circuit Court of Columbia County. See Schuyler to H, September 9, 1801.
2. In , 354, the second and third paragraphs of this letter are omitted, and it is dated “October 3, 1803.”
3. H dated this letter incorrectly. In 1801, October 2 fell on a Friday. In addition, on October 4, 1801, H wrote to Elizabeth Hamilton “about the postponement of our causes as I mentioned in a letter which I wrote you on Friday from Claverack.”