Hello all,
Like many others, I've become enchanted and infatuated with the musical "Hamilton", which for those of you not in the know, is a musical following the life of Alexander Hamilton. I'm aware that the musical fictionalizes various events (for example, John Laurens, Hercules Mulligan, the Marquis du Lafayette, and Alexander Hamilton meeting before the war), but that it overall follows his life story fairly accurately.
My question focuses on his wife, Elizabeth Schuyler. The last song of the play, Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? focuses on her efforts to share and honor her husband and his accomplishments. While Genius does a great job in adding context, I am interested in learning about how her job was perceived/received.
Thank you for your time!
All REALLY good questions. I'll chip in where I can
The song mentions she interviews "every soldier who fought by [his] side", is this true? How did these officers perceive this?
You make a good point in singling out officers here. The play does not do a whole lot to show the perspective of common people, particularly private soldiers. This is an exaggeration.
Also, "fought" might be a generous word. Hamilton spent most of the war as a staff officer who eventually wheedled his way into the most plum command imaginable: a night attack by the best soldiers in the army that would all but ensure the success of the siege of Yorktown and possibly guarantee victory for the Americans in the war. Giving Hamilton this command was a huge risk. Before become a staff officer, Hamilton had briefly served in an artillery battery; he had zero experience leading infantry. The colonel who had been commanding the light infantry battalion was not thrilled about getting bumped aside so that Washington's favorite son could stick a feather in his cap. Hamilton, eager to show off his courage, at one point had his men climb out of their trenches and practice the manual of arms in clear view of the British. It was a miracle no one was killed, and the soldiers did not take kindly to having their lives risked so that their boss could have a good story to tell after the war. For more, see Carolyn Cox, A Proper Sense of Honor.
Nonetheless, how was this monument perceived in the overall narrative of "recognizing" Washington?
At no point was Washington in danger of being forgotten. Into the 1830s, abolitionists still had a hard time attacking slaveowners because Washington had been a slaveowner, and an attack on him was answerable with violence.* Washington's name and image continued to be invoked in American life with some frequency. It's not so much that Washington was forgotten, but there was no single public memorial for the public to center their remembrance on as the Revolutionary generation died off.