How much of our understanding of the Battle of Yorktown is from Hamilton's writings and potential bias?

by OliverHazzzardPerry

I've visited the Yorktown battlefield, but we all now know how much of a braggart Hamilton was. Did this impact how we remember this battle and it's impact on the war?

DBHT14

Very little, to the extent that it is a non issue.

The Yorktown Campaign involved almost every single major player in the Continentals, French Expeditionary Forces, and British Army(and French and Royal Navy) in the 2nd half of the war. Many of whom were prolific writers or would have been writing what amounts to memos and after-action reports to their superiors. Nor of course was Hamilton unique in his personal history with General Washington, Colonel Jonathan Trumbull, Tench Tilghman, and Robert Harrison all served in the extensive body of ADC's for the Commander in Chief and for either longer or in more senior positions than Hamilton. Notably Trumbull and Harrison were his Military Secretary for several years each.

To also look at the body of sources there are on Yorktown we can just look at currently accessible first-hand accounts.

For instance here is a list of sources on the battle compiled by the Army War College. https://ahec.armywarcollege.edu/img/feature/Yorktown_1781_Reference_Bibliography.pdf

Down in the Personal section note how it has accounts from all 3 nations, including Cornwallis and Washinton's papers, and many are sourced from letters sent at the time.

You might also be interested in the Army's Center for Military History's account of the campaign. In essence, it is the US's Official History of the campaign. Hamilton and the Assault on Redbout's 9 & 10 get all of 1 sentence! https://history.army.mil/html/books/rochambeau/CMH_70-104-1.pdf

It does also call out a source that for a long time has been a fantastic source. The jounral of Joseph Plumb Martin, who served much of the war in either the militia or Continentals and has left an unsparing but readable picture of life in uniform for the American enlisted man in the war.