Description:

Letter by Hamilton's Second in the Hamilton–Burr Duel

This letter from Nathaniel Pendleton, who acted as Alexander Hamilton's fatal duel with Aaron Burr, discusses a pending legal matter with fellow attorney Amos Eaton, four years after the duel.

[HAMILTON–BURR DUEL]. Nathaniel Pendleton, Autograph Letter Signed, to Amos Eaton, July 1, 1808, New York. 1 p., 6.375" x 7.5". Expected folds; some residue at corners of verso from attachment to another sheet; very good.

Complete Transcript
Dear Sir
I have not had time to have the Renunciation of Dower, and I think it best to have them Compleated at the same time. When you send down yours to some person here, to be acknowledged send me yours to be changed. Mrs Miller is here, but I have been engaged and the deed is not yet acknowledged. The Court is sitting and I am much engaged.
yours obedtly
Nath: Pendleton
1 July 1808

Nathaniel Pendleton (1756-1821) was born in Virginia, entered the Revolutionary Army at the age of 19, and served as aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene in the campaigns in the southern states. After the war, he remained a close friend and adviser to the Greene family. He established a law practice in Savannah, Georgia, and served as the Attorney General of Georgia from 1785-1786. President George Washington appointed Pendleton as the first federal judge for the District of Georgia (1789-1796). He resigned in 1796 and returned to private practice in Dutchess County, New York. In 1804, Pendleton served as a second to Alexander Hamilton in his fatal duel with Aaron Burr. Pendleton served as a judge in the Dutchess County Court until his death from a carriage accident in 1821.

Amos Eaton (1776-1842) was born in New York and graduated from Williams College in 1799. Eaton practiced law and served as a land agent in Catskill, New York, until 1810, when he was jailed on charges of forgery and spent five years in prison. When released, he moved to New Haven, where he studied botany, chemistry, and mineralogy at Yale College. He returned to Williams College, where he gave lectures on botany and geology and published a botanical dictionary. He then delivered lectures on these subjects in the larger towns of New England and New York. In 1820, he became a professor of natural history at the Medical College at Castleton, Vermont. Stephen Van Rensselaer III appointed Eaton to teach chemistry, geology, and surveying at the Rensselaer School (now Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute) in Troy, New York, in 1825. There, Eaton introduced practical training for students, encouraging them to be experimenters and to apply their knowledge to practical ends. He was a recognized pioneer in botany and the principal land surveyor in the country. His methods forced traditional liberal arts colleges to modify their instructional methods to include practical work, and he authored more than a dozen books in botany, geology, surveying, engineering, and zoology. Eaton was married four times and fathered a dozen children.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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