To Alexander Hamilton from William Willcocks, 12 December 1799[–6 January 1800]
From William Willcocks1
New York, December 12, 1799 [–January 6, 1800]. Has remained in New York to superintend the recruiting service following the departure of Lieutenant Colonel William S. Smith and the Twelfth Regiment for winter quarters in New Jersey.2 Complains of “absolute want of every article” of clothing for recruits and in postscript dated January 6, 1800, states: “that the men are destitute of Shoes, and have refused to do duty—and that a number who would have inlisted, refused on the same Acct.”3
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. Willcocks, a resident of New York City, was a major in the Twelfth Regiment of Infantry.
2. On October 4, 1799, in a letter listed in the appendix to Volume XXIII, H ordered Smith and the Twelfth Regiment to Scotch Plains, New Jersey, “leaving the charge of the recruiting service for your regiment under the care of Major Wilcocks.…”
3. For a further discussion of the shortages mentioned in this letter, see Willcocks to Charles Fish, October 14, 1799 (copy, in Willcocks’s handwriting, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress); Willcocks to James Smith, Jr., November 30, 1799 (copy, in Willcocks’s handwriting, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress); Willcocks to William S. Smith, December 16, 1799 (copy, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress); William S. Smith to Willcocks, December 18, 1799 (copy, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress).