George was always loyal to his friends.
I meant what I said,
And I said what I meant.
I’m sticking by you
One hundred percent!
–Dr. Suess
That’s just the way General George Washington was with his men. Alexander Hamilton served with Washington in the attack on Trenton and again Princeton. And then Hamilton continued to serve as Washington’s secretary during the war. Then he served as President Washington’s Secretary of the Treasury.
Continental General Henry Knox had been a bookseller before the Revolutionary War. General Washington sent him on an impossible mission to return over treacherous terrain with the cannon captured or used at the Battle of Fort Ticonderoga. It was the dead of winter and an impossible task. Knox returned with the cannon just in time for the victory at Dorchester Heights. Just as Washington had expected him to do!
When things were getting rough in the Colonies, there were a few men who stood up for things they believed in. It started with Patrick Henry in his speech as he was first elected to the house of Burgesses. Thomas Jefferson, his friend, listened in at the door of the Capitol in Williamsburg, as Henry made his speech, from notes written in the flyleaf of Jefferson’s loaned book!
For years I have presented classes, speeches, and presentations about the Founding Fathers of our United States of America. I love to do it. I suppose during one of my speeches, I had become a little too enthusiastic and bombastic. One attendee came up to me afterwards to tell me as much!
We know that Benjamin Franklin was a great scientist, inventor, printer, businessman, diplomat, horseman, ambassador, mentor, public servant, and Founding Father. But we don’t often think of him as an author. But we should.
When John Adams was still a young attorney, the Boston Massacre took place. No lawyer wanted to defend the British soldiers that were accused of murder in the case. John Adams eventually learned that the whole matter would probably end with the British being found guilty. Because his cousin Sam Adams was there, John knew some of the facts. He also knew that no one would defend the soldiers.
Alexander Hamilton was a favorite of General George Washington. Few remember that Hamilton was with Washington as he crossed the Delaware and captured the Hessian fighting force at Trenton in December, 1776. Hamilton actually lit the touchholes with the flames that fired the canon at the Hessian barracks that night. James Monroe, the future President, was in charge of the charge. You remember, they won that battle and much later went on the win the Revolutionary war.