To Alexander Hamilton from Major General William Alexander, Lord Stirling, 12 April 1777
From Major General William Alexander,
Lord Stirling1
Basking Ridge [New Jersey] April 12, 1777. “… the time of Capt. James Scotts2 Company will expire the 14th.… I believe it will be best that I be furnished with His Excellency’s dismission of them by the day. I wrote to his Excellency … about the Appointment of Wilcocks.3 If he is approved of, I wish you would get both McWilliams4 & him in orders.…”
ALS, Hamilton Papers, Library of Congress.
1. William Alexander, or Lord Stirling, was a native of America who in 1755 instituted legal proceedings to secure the title Earl of Stirling, to which his father had been heir presumptive before leaving Scotland for America. Although he lost the suit, he used the title and was generally known by it. At the time this letter was written, Stirling, whose home was in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, was a major general in the Continental Army.
2. James Scott, captain of a volunteer company from Virginia.
3. William Willcocks (or Wilcocks) of New York, who was appointed Stirling’s aide-de-camp on April 13, 1777.
4. Major William McWilliams of Virginia, who was appointed Stirling’s aide-de-camp on March 19, 1777.