William Stephen Hamilton (August 4, 1797October 9, 1850), a son of
Alexander Hamilton and
Elizabeth Schuyler Hamilton
Elizabeth Hamilton (née Schuyler ; August 9, 1757 – November 9, 1854), also called Eliza or Betsey, was an American socialite and philanthropist. Married to American Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, she was a defender of his works and co- ...
, was an
American politician and miner who lived much of his life in the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its sove ...
of
Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria and Rockf ...
and the
Wisconsin Territory
The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...
. Hamilton was born in New York, where he attended the
United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
before he resigned and moved to Illinois in 1817. In Illinois he lived in Springfield and Peoria and eventually migrated to the lead-mining region of southern Wisconsin and established Hamilton's Diggings at present-day
Wiota, Wisconsin. Hamilton served in various political offices and as a commander in two Midwest
Indian Wars
The American Indian Wars, also known as the American Frontier Wars, and the Indian Wars, were fought by European governments and colonists in North America, and later by the United States and Canadian governments and American and Canadian settle ...
. In 1849 he moved to California during the
California Gold Rush. He died in
Sacramento
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
, most likely of
cholera, in October 1850.
Early life
William Stephen Hamilton
[As aide de camp to Illinois Governor ]Edward Coles
Edward Coles (December 15, 1786 – July 7, 1868) was an American planter and politician, elected as the second Governor of Illinois (1822 to 1826). From an old Virginia family, Coles as a young man was a neighbor and associate of presidents ...
, Hamilton's name was recorded as "William Schuyler Hamilton". This was incorrect. See Reed, ''The Bench and Bar of Wisconsin''. was born August 4, 1797 in
Albany, New York
Albany ( ) is the capital of the U.S. state of New York, also the seat and largest city of Albany County. Albany is on the west bank of the Hudson River, about south of its confluence with the Mohawk River, and about north of New York C ...
,
[, chapter "Too near the sun"] sixth child and fifth son of
Alexander Hamilton and
Elizabeth Schuyler.
[ His maternal grandparents were General ]Philip Schuyler
Philip John Schuyler (; November 18, 1804) was an American general in the Revolutionary War and a United States Senator from New York. He is usually known as Philip Schuyler, while his son is usually known as Philip J. Schuyler.
Born in Alb ...
and Catherine Van Rensselaer.[Hendrickson, Robert A. ''The Rise and Fall of Alexander Hamilton'',]
Google Books
, Van Nostrand Reinhold: 1981, (), p. 188. Retrieved September 25, 2007.
William was a month shy of his seventh birthday in 1804 when his father was killed in a duel with Vice President Aaron Burr. In 1814, he was admitted to the United States Military Academy
The United States Military Academy (USMA), also known metonymically as West Point or simply as Army, is a United States service academy in West Point, New York. It was originally established as a fort, since it sits on strategic high groun ...
, resigning three years later in 1817.[ Following his resignation from West Point, Hamilton moved to ]Sangamon County, Illinois
Sangamon County is located in the center of the U.S. state of Illinois. According to the 2010 census, it had a population of 197,465. Its county seat and largest city is Springfield, the state capital.
Sangamon County is included in the Sp ...
.[Lusk, David W. ''Politics and Politicians: A Succinct History of the Politics of Illinois From 1856–1884'',]
Google Books
, H. W. Rokker: 1884, pp. 455–56. Retrieved September 25, 2007.Smith, William Rudolph
William Rudolph Smith (August 31, 1787August 22, 1868) was an American lawyer, politician, pioneer, and historian from Pennsylvania who served as the 5th Attorney General of Wisconsin and the first President of the Wisconsin Historical Society.
...
. ''The History of Wisconsin: In Three Parts, Historical, Documentary, and Descriptive'',
Google Books
, B. Brown: 1854, pp. 339–42. Retrieved September 25, 2007. He lived in Springfield and Peoria, Illinois until 1827 when he moved to the lead mining region around the Fever River.[
]
Career
Political and militia service
Hamilton first held elected office in 1824 as a member of the Illinois House of Representatives from Sangamon County in 1824.[Reed, Parker McCobb. ''The Bench and Bar of Wisconsin'',]
Google Books
, Reed: 1882, pp. 427–28. Retrieved September 25, 2007. While working in the legislature Hamilton sponsored a bill that imposed a statewide tax intended to fund road repair and maintenance. The tax was proportional to property value, to be paid in labor or money, and replaced an older system which required every able-bodied man to work on the roads five days per year. The bill passed, and the new law was met with much opposition; it was repealed by the next legislature in 1826–27.[ Ford, Thomas. ''A History of Illinois, from Its Commencement as a State in 1818 to 1847'',]
Google Books
, Ivison & Phinney: 1854, pp. 58–59. Retrieved September 26, 2007. Hamilton served as aide de camp to Governor Edward Coles
Edward Coles (December 15, 1786 – July 7, 1868) was an American planter and politician, elected as the second Governor of Illinois (1822 to 1826). From an old Virginia family, Coles as a young man was a neighbor and associate of presidents ...
, and while living in Illinois, first in Springfield and later in Peoria, Hamilton worked for the General Land Office
The General Land Office (GLO) was an independent agency of the United States government responsible for public domain lands in the United States. It was created in 1812 to take over functions previously conducted by the United States Department o ...
as Deputy Surveyor of Public Lands.[Gara, Larry. ed.]
William S. Hamilton on the Wisconsin Frontier: A Document
"
PDF
, ''Wisconsin Magazine of History'', Vol. 41, No. 1, Autumn, 1957, pp. 25–28. Retrieved September 25, 2007. In that position he surveyed Springfield's township. He was also an incorporator of the original Illinois and Michigan Canal Company, along with Coles and other prominent Illinoisans.
In late 1827, Hamilton served during the Winnebago War in the volunteer Illinois Militia
In the United States, state defense forces are military units that operate under the sole authority of a state government. State defense forces are authorized by state and federal law and are under the command of the governor of each state.
...
as a captain. Hamilton commanded a company raised in Galena, Illinois
Galena is the largest city in and the county seat of Jo Daviess County, Illinois, with a population of 3,308 at the 2020 census. A section of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as the Galena Historic District. The c ...
known as the Galena Mounted Volunteers. Hamilton's company was under the command of Henry Dodge
Moses Henry Dodge (October 12, 1782 – June 19, 1867) was a Democratic member to the U.S. House of Representatives and U.S. Senate, Territorial Governor of Wisconsin and a veteran of the Black Hawk War. His son, Augustus C. Dodge, served a ...
and was mustered into service on August 26, 1827 and released on September 10, 1827.[Muster Role of Captain William Hamilton's Company]
via Old Lead Regional Historical Society, transcribed by Jim Hanson and Marjorie Smith from muster rolls in Record Group 94 at the National Archives and Records Administration
The National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) is an " independent federal agency of the United States government within the executive branch", charged with the preservation and documentation of government and historical records. It ...
, Washington, D. C. Retrieved September 25, 2007. Hamilton moved to Wisconsin and established Hamilton's Diggings in 1827.
During the April–August 1832 Black Hawk War
The Black Hawk War was a conflict between the United States and Native Americans led by Black Hawk, a Sauk leader. The war erupted after Black Hawk and a group of Sauks, Meskwakis (Fox), and Kickapoos, known as the " British Band", cros ...
, between white settlers in the lead mining regions and Sauk Chief Black Hawk's British Band, Hamilton again served in the volunteer militia. Accounts of the war indicated that Hamilton was often in charge of the militia's indigenous allies. At the war's onset it was known that many of the Sioux and Menominee
The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
were eager to join the conflict against the Sauk. Hamilton was sent to the Michigan Territory, north of Prairie du Chien
Prairie du Chien () is a city in and the county seat of Crawford County, Wisconsin, United States. The population was 5,506 at the 2020 census. Its ZIP Code is 53821.
Often referred to as Wisconsin's second oldest city, Prairie du Chien was esta ...
, to recruit the assistance of indigenous allies. The result was successful and several parties of U.S. aligned Native Americans joined the war.[Smith, ''The History of Wisconsin: In Three Parts, Historical, Documentary, and Descriptive'', p. 263.]
In June, Hamilton's return to Fort Hamilton
Fort Hamilton is a United States Army installation in the southwestern corner of the New York City borough of Brooklyn, surrounded by the communities of Bay Ridge and Dyker Heights. It is one of several posts that are part of the region which i ...
with a large group of militia-aligned Native Americans coincided with the arrival of one of the survivors of the June 14 Spafford Farm massacre. The survivor, Francis Spencer, arrived at the fort around the same time as Hamilton did - accompanied by U.S. aligned Menominee
The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
.[ Afraid that the fort, like his party at the farm, had also been attacked, Spencer retreated back into the woods. He avoided the fort for between six and nine days, when hunger finally drove him into the open and he realized his mistake.][
Wakefield, John Allen; Stevens, Frank Everett, ed. ]
History of the War between the United States and the Sac and Fox Nations of Indians, and Parts of Other Disaffected Tribes of Indians, in the Years Eighteen Hundred and Twenty-Seven, Thirty-One, and Thirty-Two
'; Reprinted as: ''Wakefield's History of the Black Hawk War'', Original Publication: Jacksonville, Ill.: Calvin Goudy, 1834. Reprint Publication: Chicago: The Caxton Club, 1908, Chapter 4, Section 70. Retrieved September 25, 2007.[ Trask, Kerry A. ]
Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America
', (Google Books
Google Books (previously known as Google Book Search, Google Print, and by its code-name Project Ocean) is a service from Google Inc. that searches the full text of books and magazines that Google has scanned, converted to text using optical ...
), Henry Holt Company, New York: 2007, pp. 230-231, (). On June 16, about an hour after the fight at Horseshoe Bend Horseshoe Bend may refer to:
Places
Australia
* Horseshoe Bend, New South Wales, an inner city suburb in the City of Maitland in the Hunter Region
* Horseshoe Bend Station, a pastoral lease that operates as a cattle station in the Alice Sprin ...
, Hamilton arrived on the battlefield with U.S. aligned Menominee
The Menominee (; mez, omǣqnomenēwak meaning ''"Menominee People"'', also spelled Menomini, derived from the Ojibwe language word for "Wild Rice People"; known as ''Mamaceqtaw'', "the people", in the Menominee language) are a federally recog ...
, Sioux and Ho-Chunk warriors.[ According to Dodge, the warriors were given some of the ]scalp
The scalp is the anatomical area bordered by the human face at the front, and by the neck at the sides and back.
Structure
The scalp is usually described as having five layers, which can conveniently be remembered as a mnemonic:
* S: The ski ...
s his men had taken, with which they were "delighted".[ Dodge also reported that the allied warriors then proceeded onto the battlefield and mutilated the corpses of the fallen Kickapoo.][June 16: Henry Dodge Describes The Battle of the Pecatonica]
" Historic Diaries: The Black Hawk War, ''Wisconsin State Historical Society''. Retrieved September 25, 2007.
Wisconsin Territory politics
Hamilton (a Whig) was elected as a member of the 7th Michigan Territorial Council (the "Rump Council" for what was to become the Wisconsin Territory
The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...
) from Iowa County, and served as President for that body's only meeting in 1836.Schafer, Joseph, ed. ''The Rump Council'' Separate No. 211 from the Proceedings of the Society for 1920. Madison: The State Historical Society of Wisconsin [1920?
pp. 151-152 and ''passim''] He served in 1842 and 1843 as an elected member of the Wisconsin Territorial Assembly, Wisconsin Territorial House of Representatives,[ from Iowa County.] Hamilton lost an 1843 election for the national-level office of Wisconsin Territory
The Territory of Wisconsin was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from July 3, 1836, until May 29, 1848, when an eastern portion of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Wisconsin. Belmont was ...
delegate to the United States Congress
The United States Congress is the legislature of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, composed of a lower body, the House of Representatives, and an upper body, the Senate. It meets in the U.S. Capitol in Washing ...
, and in 1848 he lost an election for delegate to the Wisconsin Constitutional Convention. Though well known as a smelter and miner in the lead region of southern Wisconsin and northern Illinois
Northern Illinois is a region generally covering the northern third of the U.S. state of Illinois. The region is by far the most populous of Illinois with nearly 9.7 million residents as of 2010.
Economics
Northern Illinois is dominated by t ...
, Hamilton, a Whig in a heavily Democratic region, was unable to achieve the political fame he desired.[
]
Mining career
When Hamilton moved from Illinois to Wisconsin in the late 1820s he established a lead ore
Lead is a chemical element with the symbol Pb (from the Latin ) and atomic number 82. It is a heavy metal that is denser than most common materials. Lead is soft and malleable, and also has a relatively low melting point. When freshly cut, l ...
mine that became known as Hamilton's Diggings; he later renamed the settlement Wiota.[ During the 1832 Black Hawk War a fort was erected at Hamilton's Diggings, it was known as Fort Hamilton.][Butterfield, Consul Willshire. ''History of Lafayette County, Wisconsin'',]
Google Books
, Western Historical Co.: 1881, p. 476. Retrieved September 25, 2007. Two contemporary descriptions of Hamilton's Diggings provide a glimpse into the mining life of Hamilton and the others settled at present-day Wiota. An 1831 account from Juliette Kinzie noted the unkempt conditions as "shabby" and "unpromising".[ Kinzie also decried the foul language from the miners, whom she called the "roughest-looking set of men I ever beheld."][Trask, ''Black Hawk: The Battle for the Heart of America'', p. 62.] The other description of early Wiota was provided by Theodore Rodolf in 1834. Rodolf, a one-time political opponent of Hamilton, contrasted the settlement's apparently rough exterior with small, finer details, such as the presence of a quarto
Quarto (abbreviated Qto, 4to or 4º) is the format of a book or pamphlet produced from full sheets printed with eight pages of text, four to a side, then folded twice to produce four leaves. The leaves are then trimmed along the folds to produc ...
edition of Voltaire's works, printed in Paris.[Murphy, Lucy Eldersveld. ''A Gathering of Rivers'',]
Google Books
, University of Nebraska Press: 2004, p. 111, (). Retrieved September 25, 2007.
His mother visited Hamilton at Hamilton's Diggings during the winter of 1837–38.[ Williams, Kenneth P. ''Grant Rises in the West: The First Year, 1861-1862'',]
Google Books
, University of Nebraska Press: 1997, (), p. 6. Retrieved September 26, 2007. During the same period, Hamilton briefly owned the Mineral Point ''Miners' Free Press''; he sold it to a group from Galena and the paper became known as the ''Galena Democrat''.[ Thwaites, Reuben Gold and Bradley, Isaac Samuel. ''Annotated Catalogue of Newspaper Files in the Library of the State Historical Society of Wisconsin'',]
Google Books
, Democratic Printing Co.: 1898, p. 164. Retrieved September 26, 2007.
When gold was discovered in California, in 1848, gold fever
A gold rush or gold fever is a discovery of gold—sometimes accompanied by other precious metals and rare-earth minerals—that brings an onrush of miners seeking their fortune. Major gold rushes took place in the 19th century in Australia, New Ze ...
spread into the Midwest lead-mining region. Hamilton set out for California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
, arriving in 1849, with high hopes, and new equipment. His life in the west would prove to be a disappointment and he later regretted moving there. Hamilton told a friend in California that he would "rather have been hung in the 'Lead Mines' than to have lived in this miserable hole (California)."[
]
Personal life; illness and death
Hamilton never married and presented a rough, garish appearance.[
Hamilton had been in ]California
California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...
about one year when he died from what he called "mountain fever",[ most likely cholera during an 1850 epidemic. Before his death Hamilton fell ill for two weeks. He suffered multiple symptoms, including ]dysentery
Dysentery (UK pronunciation: , US: ), historically known as the bloody flux, is a type of gastroenteritis that results in bloody diarrhea. Other symptoms may include fever, abdominal pain, and a feeling of incomplete defecation. Complications ...
, and, according to his doctor, died from "malarial fever resulting in spinal exhaustion terminating in paralysis superinduced by great bodily and mental strain."
William S. Hamilton died in Sacramento, California
)
, image_map = Sacramento County California Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Sacramento Highlighted.svg
, mapsize = 250x200px
, map_caption = Location within Sacramento ...
on October 9, 1850 at age 53.[ He was interred in the Sacramento Historic City Cemetery.] The section of the cemetery where he is buried was named Hamilton Square in his honor.[Old City Cemetery Committee, Inc.]
"Hamilton Square Perennials"
Sacramento, 2005. Retrieved on 2010-09-29.
Images
File:Hamilton_Square_plaque.jpg, Hamilton Square, Sacramento City Cemetery (plaque)
File:Hamilton_Square,_Sacramento.jpg, Hamilton Square, Sacramento City Cemetery
File:William_S_Hamilton_grave_monument.jpg, Hamilton's grave monument
File:William_S_Hamilton_grave_monument,_closeup.jpg, Hamilton's grave monument (closeup). The image is of his father.
References
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hamilton, William S.
1797 births
1850 deaths
Alexander Hamilton
American city founders
American people of Dutch descent
American people of Scottish descent
American people of the Black Hawk War
Editors of Wisconsin newspapers
William S.
Members of the Illinois House of Representatives
Members of the Michigan Territorial Legislature
Members of the Wisconsin Territorial Legislature
Military personnel from Illinois
People of the California Gold Rush
People from Lafayette County, Wisconsin
Politicians from Albany, New York
Politicians from Springfield, Illinois
Schuyler family
United States Military Academy alumni
Wisconsin Whigs