To Alexander Hamilton from Jeremiah Wadsworth, 13 September 1793
From Jeremiah Wadsworth1
Hartford Sepr. 13th 1793
Dear Sir
I was out of town when your letter2 reached this place and have this moment returned. Glaubeck when under the Command of General Green persuaded the General to endorse his Bills which came back protested,3 and when Glaubeck made application to Congress for Compensation, I opposed his claim, and considered him what General Green calld him in his letters to Congress then on file (an imposture)4 when he had obtained a Grant he promised to apply some of it to the discharge of General Greens demand, but he avoided me. I went to your Office and finding he had actually taken out his Certificates, and not finding him at his lodgings I returned to the Office and Mr. Nourse5 showed me the Books, & that some foreign Officers debts had been transfered, I went directly to you & asked your Aid, as I was satisfied Glaubeck intended to sell his certificate and fly the Country. According to the best of my recollection you drew me a power, but Glaubeck got information that I was after him & kept concealed.6 Being obliged to leave New York7 I employed Mr. Flint8 Who told me he could find him, but he sold the Certificate I think to Francis who Mr. Flint purchased it of, and Mrs. Green actually had it. I have no doubt Mr. Flint can give full information. How Francis came by the power I know not, but believe he was directed to Copy it. When I accounted with Mr. Flint for the purchase I charged the Money to Mrs. Green as it had cost so much I did not think it an Object for the Estate, she has since repaid me. I am Dear Sir Your Humb. Servt
Jere Wadsworth
Alexander Hamilton Es
LS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. For background to this letter, see Andrew G. Fraunces to H, May 16, 1793, note 9. See also William Willcocks to H, September 1, 5, 1793; H to Catharine Greene, September 3, 1793; H to Wadsworth, September 3, 1793; Robert Affleck to H, September 7, 1793.
3. For background concerning General Nathanael Greene’s financial problems arising from his Revolutionary War command, see “Report on the Petition of Catharine Greene,” December 26, 1791.
4. Wadsworth is referring to the concluding paragraph of Greene’s letter to Congress, dated August 22, 1785. See “Report on the Petition of Catharine Greene,” December 26, 1791.
5. Joseph Nourse was register of the Treasury.
6. Greene was not Baron Glaubeck’s only creditor, for Glaubeck had been attempting to avoid the sheriff earlier in the year (Glaubeck to Henry Knox, June 15, 1789 [ALS, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston]).
7. Wadsworth had left New York by October 7, 1789, and Thomas Bazen’s assignment of Glaubeck’s pay to Royal Flint, attorney for Catharine Greene, was not made until November 19, 1789 (William Knox to Henry Knox, October 9, 1789 [ALS, Massachusetts Historical Society, Boston]).
8. Royal Flint.