254 THE FEENCH BLOOD IN AMERICA 



youthful student from the island of Nevis. Oddly enough, it turned 

 out that one of the Tories with wlioin the lad had been conducting his 

 newspaper controversy was Dr. Cooper, president of King's College. 



A Soldier But DOW the time for action came, and Hamilton, who 



had leaped from boyhood into manhood, devoted himself 

 to the study of war. So apt a scholar was he that when 

 the New York Convention ordered the raising of an ar- 

 tillery company, he was made its captain. His company 

 was brought to a high state of discipline so rapidly that 

 it attracted the attention of General Greene, who brought 

 the young officer to the attention of Washington. 



cim '^^o Nothing could hold this precocious genius back. He 



Washington was with the Continental Army on Long Island and in 

 New Jersey. At Princeton and Trenton he shared in the 

 laurels. He constructed some earthworks with such un- 

 usual skill that they were noticed by Washington, who 

 traced them to their author. So di-awn was the great 

 commander to the youth that he appointed him aide-de- 

 camp to himself with rank of lieutenant-colonel, and 

 made him secretary and confidential adviser. This 

 when he was twenty, in 1777, Washington was forty- 

 five, and members of his staff were old enough to be 

 Hamilton's father, yet he won them all by his modesty 

 and genuineness and ability. For four years he served 

 on Washington's staff, and then their official relationship 

 came to an end through a misunderstanding, Hamilton, 

 however, remained with the army, preferring life on the 

 line. At York town, commanding a corps under Lafay- 

 ette, he led an assault upon a British redoubt with 

 such gallantry, taking the redoubt at the point of the 

 bayonet, that Lafayette was high in his praise, while 

 Washington said, "Few cases have exhibited greater 

 proof of intrepidity, coolness and firmness than were 

 shown on this occasion." By his courage Hamilton won 



The Little the name of "the Little Lion," He had the military 

 instinct, and would have made a great general, had his 



