The Contributions Of Alexander Hamilton's Life

After being given news of the battle of Lexington and Concord, Alexander Hamilton began to prepare for the war. With an old friend Robert Troup and other King's College men, Hamilton formed a volunteer musket drill unit and, with the assistance of some of his veteran professors, trained a group of young college boys to shoot and fight. Hamilton also began studying artillery with the help from his math professor. Alexander and his volunteers had their first military action on the night of August 23, 1775, when they helped capture twenty-one cannon at a British stockade on the tip of Manhattan Island in New York. The operation was not really dangerous, because the stockade was only protected by one warship, which could do little to stop the land-based raid. Hamilton achieved some measure
Still, his time with Washington showed to be the most educational experience of Hamilton's life. He developed the leadership skills necessary to life as a public figure, as well as forming a strong and lasting friendship with George Washington. This friendship helped Hamilton harden his political beliefs. But not everything about Hamilton's life in the military was hard work. As a young and dashingly handsome colonel, Hamilton and Washington's other assistants often visited many eligible young ladies. For years, Hamilton openly denied he would ever marry, but he eventually fell in love with Elizabeth Schuyler, whom he married on December 14, 1780. Betsey was the daughter of the American general Philip Schuyler, which brought Hamilton both military connections and wealth, but most historians now believe that Hamilton did indeed love his wife very much. In July of 1781, Washington gave Hamilton command of an infantry battalion in New York. Hamilton and his men fought bravely and willingly at the Battle of Yorktown in October of the same