• Donald C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center
• Archive & Finding Aids
Introduction |
 |
Container List
Series 1,
Biographical
Series 2,
Correspondence
Series 3,
Documents
Series 4,
Ephemera
Series 5,
Photographs
GUIDE to the
LT. COLONEL JOHN M. HAMILTON PAPERS, 1863-1925
JOHN M. HAMILTON (1839-1898). Papers, 1863-1925 (bulk 1898).
1.5 cubic feet (1 document box, 1 flat box).
Location: 0221-0222.
Introduction:
Papers and photographs of Lt. Colonel John M. Hamilton,
a soldier whose career spanned almost 40 years, from the Civil War through
the Indian Wars, until finally ending with his death on San Juan Hill
during the Spanish-American War. The collection includes biographical
material such as newspaper and first-person accounts of Hamilton’s
military career. There is substantial correspondence, mostly arising out
of Hamilton’s death and the attempts of his widow, Isabel B. Hamilton,
to obtain a pension. Notable correspondents include Frederic Remington
and Theodore Roosevelt. Other letters provide multiple first-person accounts
of the Battle of San Juan Hill and the death of Hamilton. Official documents
show the progression of Hamilton’s life and career, including officer
appointments signed by presidents Andrew Johnson and Grover Cleveland.
Ephemeral items in the collection include broadsides and invitations that
provide a glimpse into life at a frontier fort, two drawings from life
that depict aspects of the frontier military, and the autographs of two
major 19th century military figures: General George Crook and General
Adna R. Chaffee. Photographs include portraits of John and Isabel Hamilton,
and an interesting group of photographs showing life at Fort Robinson,
Nebraska at the end of the 19th century, including a striking portrait
of a 9th U. S. Cavalry Regiment bugler.
Biography:
John Morrison Hamilton was born in Charleston, Ontario on June
1, 1839. Around 1860, Hamilton moved to Geneva, New York, in the Finger
Lakes region, where he had relatives. He intended to go into business.
Less than a month after the Civil War began, Hamilton enlisted as a private
in the 33rd New York Volunteer Infantry Regiment. Before his two-year
enlistment expired in June 1863, Hamilton saw action in some major battles
of the war including First and Second Manassas, Antietam, Fredericksburg,
and Chancellorsville, where he suffered a minor injury. Hamilton reenlisted
in December 1863 as a second lieutenant of the 9th U. S. Colored Infantry,
among the first African American regiments raised during the Civil War.
After the war, Hamilton was brevetted a captain of volunteers, later achieving
the permanent rank of first lieutenant.
Hamilton served in the army after the war, first as captain of the 39th
Infantry Regiment stationed in Brownsville, Texas and later doing Reconstruction
duty in Louisiana. Captain Hamilton managed a transfer to the 5th U. S.
Cavalry Regiment, serving as a recruiting officer in Brooklyn, New York.
While in Brooklyn, Hamilton fell in love with Isabel Bowie whom he married
on June 28, 1871. For almost three decades “Bella” Hamilton
would accompany her husband to military posts all over the West.
In 1872-1874, Captain Hamilton served with the 5th U. S. Cavalry under
the command of General George Crook in campaigns to suppress the Tonto
Apaches, earning a citation for “conspicuous services and gallantry”
for actions in February and March 1873. Much later, he was brevetted a
major for bravery for his performance during the Tonto Apache campaign.
In 1876, Hamilton was again assigned to Crook’s command, this time
for punitive action against Dull Knife’s Cheyenne in the Big Horn
Mountains, in the aftermath of the Battle of the Little Big Horn. Later,
Hamilton participated in actions against the Bannock Indians in 1878 and
the Ute Indians in 1879-1880. Canadian citizen Hamilton finally became
a naturalized American citizen in 1882, and he and his family, which now
included two daughters, moved to Fort Robinson, Nebraska. Later in the
1880s Hamilton and his family relocated to Fort Riley, Kansas. Hamilton
was finally promoted to major in 1887 and was transferred to the 1st U.
S. Cavalry Regiment. While with the 1st Cavalry, he was stationed at Forts
Custer and Assinniboine and participated in quelling the Lakota uprising
of 1890-1891, the last major engagements of the Indian Wars.
During the first part of the 1890s, he was in garrison, serving as an
acting Inspector General in the Departments of the Columbia and the Platte.
He returned to the 1st Cavalry at Fort Sill, Indian Territory in 1895,
and late the next year was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant Colonel
of the 9th U. S. Cavalry at Fort Robinson. While stationed at Fort Robinson,
he entertained noted author and artist Frederic Remington. Hamilton figures
prominently in Remington’s article, “The Essentials at Fort
Adobe,” which appeared in the April 1898 issue of Harper’s
New Monthly Magazine.
Shortly after Remington’s article appeared, an impending war with
Spain over Cuba, now known as the Spanish-American War, began to dominate
the news. The 9th Cavalry made its way first to Chattanooga, Tennessee
and later to Tampa, Florida to prepare for a possible invasion of Cuba.
With the regimental colonel incapacitated due to illness, command of the
regiment fell to Lt. Colonel Hamilton. The 9th Cavalry—without their
horses—embarked for Cuba aboard the S. S. Miami. Hamilton penned
a last short letter to his wife onboard ship, while in sight of Moro Castle
at the mouth of Santiago Harbor. On July 1, 1898, the 9th Cavalry, with
Hamilton in command, along with elements of the 6th and 10th U. S. Cavalry
Regiments and Theodore Roosevelt’s Rough Riders, occupied a skirmish
line at the base of San Juan Hill. Although they had no definite orders,
the American troops charged up San Juan Hill, with the nearly 60 year
old Hamilton charging with his troops, waving his hat in encouragement.
The charge overran the first line of Spanish entrenchments, but while
Hamilton continued to direct and encourage his troops, a bullet through
the throat cut him down, killing him instantly. Lt. Colonel Hamilton was
buried later that day almost where he fell with a simple wooden headboard;
a bottle was buried with the body to ensure proper identification. Later
that month, the Cavalry Division headquarters at El Caney, Cuba, was renamed
Camp Hamilton in his honor. In the words of Lieutenant James H. Reeves,
who served with him, Hamilton was “a gallant, true, brave soldier.”
In April 1899, the body of Lt. Colonel Hamilton was reinterred in Geneva,
New York. Sometime after 1903 his body was buried for the last time, with
full military honors, in Arlington National Cemetery. Isabel Hamilton
died in Oklahoma City in May 1918; she was buried alongside him in Arlington.
Source
Price, B. Byron. “Remembering a Soldier,” Persimmon Hill,
Spring 1995, pp. 61-65.
Scope and Content:
The collection has been arranged in five series, Biographical,
Correspondence, Documents, Ephemera,
and Photographs.
The core of the collection is a scrapbook of memorabilia related to the
career of Lt. Colonel John M. Hamilton, probably assembled by his granddaughter.
After accessioning, the book was photocopied to document the original
layout and appearance of the pages. The scrapbook was then sent to a paper
conservator; it was disassembled, the letters, documents, photographs,
and other items in the scrapbook were removed, stabilized, and, if necessary,
repaired. In addition to the scrapbook, a drawing, 14 photographs, and
a letter relating to Lt. Colonel Hamilton were also donated. See the Processing
Note for more details.
The scrapbook was originally arranged in rough chronological order. It
was decided to use an archival arrangement by series, rather than maintaining
the original order of the scrapbook. This was done for several reasons:
the scrapbook was already disassembled, so any artifactual value had already
been lost; user access is improved by series arrangement, as compared
with the partial chronological arrangement of the original scrapbook;
and the non-scrapbook materials related Hamilton are better integrated
into the collection using a series arrangement. To assist researchers
interested in reconstructing the scrapbook, the following tools are available:
photocopies of the original pages can be found in the accession file;
the container list notes the original scrapbook pages in square brackets
(the front of the page is indicated by “A,” the back by “B”);
and individual collection items have scrapbook page numbers noted in pencil
on the verso. The paper conservator’s report, which documents treatment
and repair of collection items, is also available.
Alphabetical subject or name arrangement is primarily used; the one exception
is the Documents series, which is arranged chronologically to better assist
an understanding of Lt. Colonel Hamilton’s military career. The
bulk of the collection dates from 1898.
Biographical
(1871-1918) series has been divided into two subseries: military and personal.
Both subseries primarily comprise newspaper and magazine clippings. The
military subseries includes Frederic Remington’s April 1898 Harper’s
New Monthly Magazine article about the 9th U. S. Cavalry at Fort
Robinson, Nebraska. The “Colonel” referred to in the article
is Lt. Colonel Hamilton; during Remington’s research trip to Fort
Robinson he became quite friendly with Hamilton and his wife. After Hamilton’s
death in Cuba later in the year, Isabel Hamilton wrote to solicit Remington’s
assistance in obtaining a widow’s pension (see Correspondence series).
Also included is a published account of the pivotal November 1876 battle
with Dull Knife and the Cheyenne in the Big Horn Mountains of Wyoming
in which Hamilton is mentioned. Other material includes a newspaper cartoon
of the members of a court martial on which Hamilton served. The bulk of
the military subseries comprises 1898 newspaper articles about the 9th
U. S. Cavalry and the death of Lt. Colonel Hamilton at the Battle of San
Juan Hill. Two typescript accounts of Lt. Colonel Hamilton’s death
by firsthand observers are also included.
The personal subseries consists entirely of newspaper clippings documenting
important events in the Hamilton family: an 1871 announcement of the marriage
of John M. Hamilton and Isabel Bowie, several accounts of the reinterment
of Lt. Colonel Hamilton in Geneva, New York, two articles about Isabel
Hamilton’s attempt to secure a widow’s pension, and obituaries
for Isabel Hamilton and Hamilton’s mother.
Correspondence
(1873-1925) series comprises primarily letters concerning the death of
Lt. Colonel Hamilton and its aftermath. Included is Hamilton’s last
letter home, written on the S. S. Miami en route to Cuba; several eyewitness
accounts of Hamilton’s death on San Juan Hill, including one by
his orderly, Private William H. Lee; and letters written to Isabel Hamilton
in response to her pleas for a widow’s pension, including several
letters from Theodore Roosevelt, who gained national fame after the Battle
of San Juan Hill, three holographic letters from artist Frederic Remington,
and letters from several generals and senators, including two from General
‘Fightin’ Joe’ Wheeler, who served in the Spanish-American
War in the twilight of his career. Other notable correspondents include
Lieutenant (later Major General) Leonard Wood. A letter from an unknown
correspondent to one of Hamilton’s daughters provides an interesting
description of San Juan Hill as it appeared in 1925. Several other letters
refer to Hamilton’s experiences in the Indian Wars, including his
own firsthand account of the battle with the Cheyenne Indians in the Big
Horn Mountains in November 1876.
Documents
(1863-1900) series includes 15 documents, which show the arc of Hamilton’s
military career from his service with Co. H of the 33rd New York Volunteer
Infantry Regiment during the Civil War to the widow’s pension awarded
to Isabel Hamilton by way of a private bill in the U. S. House of Representatives
in 1900. Notable documents in the series include Hamilton’s 1863
discharge from Co. H of the 33rd New York Volunteer Infantry; officer
appointment documents signed by presidents Andrew Johnson and Grover Cleveland;
General Orders No. 14, Department of Arizona, which cites Hamilton for
“conspicuous services and gallantry” in engagements with the
Tonto Apaches in February and March 1873; and General Orders No. 9, Headquarters,
Cavalry Division, which changes the name of the main cavalry encampment
in Cuba to Camp Hamilton in honor of Lt. Colonel Hamilton.
Ephemera
(1864-circa 1896) series includes several items Hamilton collected through
his life, some related to his personal life, some to his military career.
Personal items include a sash from the Loyal Orange Lodge No. 331, Charleston,
Ontario that belonged to his father, David Hamilton; holographic copies
of The Gettysburg Address and Abraham Lincoln’s favorite poem, “Oh,
Why Should the Spirit of Mortal be Proud” (also known as “Mortality”);
and a lock of Isabel Hamilton’s hair. Items related to Hamilton’s
military career include the autographs of Generals George Crook and Adna
R. Chaffee, two 1886 broadsides advertising plays presented at Fort Riley,
Kansas in which Isabel Hamilton acted; two invitations to a 9th U. S.
Cavalry Band concert at Fort Robinson, Nebraska; and two pencil drawings
done by soldiers while in the field during the Indian Wars. One is a colored
pencil drawing of cavalry soldiers on foot patrol during the 1873 Tonto
Apache campaign and the other shows a soldier doing laundry at the White
River Agency near Meeker, Colorado.
Photographs
(circa 1871-1898) series includes 24 photographs. Photographs include
two of Isabel Hamilton, one in middle age and the other in old age; several
photographs and one negative of Hamilton in uniform; an image of the main
street of Charleston, Ontario with the Hamilton family home indicated;
and a photograph of the Hamilton grave marker in Arlington National Cemetery.
Images documenting Hamilton’s military service include a group portrait
of soldiers taken at Fort Assinniboine, Montana, an 1898 group portrait
of officers taken at Tampa, Florida (with Hamilton indicated), and a group
of 12 snapshots of life at Fort Robinson, Nebraska, including photographs
of Hamilton, soldiers at target practice, family life at the Fort, and
a 9th U. S. Cavalry bugler.
Subject Terms:
Personal Names:
Crook, George, 1829-1890
Hamilton, Isabel B., d. 1918
Hamilton, John M., 1839-1898
Remington, Frederic, 1861-1909
Roosevelt, Theodore, 1858-1919
Wheeler, Joseph, 1836-1906
Corporate Names:
United States—Army—Cavalry, 1st
United States—Army—Cavalry, 5th
United States—Army—Cavalry, 9th
Subject Headings:
African American soldiers
Apache Indians—Wars, 1872-1873
Broadsides
Cheyenne Indians—Wars, 1876
Fort Robinson (Neb.)
Graphite drawings
Invitations
Military pensions
Photographs
San Juan Hill, Battle of, Cuba, 1898
Scrapbooks
Soldiers—United States
Soldiers’ bodies—Disposition of
Spanish-American War, 1898
United States—History—1865-1898
Processing Note:
Geraldine C. Putney of Oklahoma City, Hamilton’s granddaughter,
donated a scrapbook documenting the life of Lt. Colonel John M. Hamilton
in 1994; Elizabeth Putney Winn, Putney’s daughter, donated additional
photographs in 1997. The collection accession number is 1994.27.08, which
was the number originally given to the scrapbook; the collection also
includes a drawing with accession number 1994.27.07, 14 photographs accessioned
as 1997.09.02-.15, and one letter concerning the reinterment of Lt. Colonel
Hamilton in Arlington National Cemetery, donated by another member of
the Winn family, but apparently never formally accessioned.
The scrapbook was disassembled; the documents, photographs, and other
materials in the scrapbook were removed and stabilized by a professional
paper conservator in 1994. Jonathan Nelson processed the collection in
November 2004.
Ownership and Literary Rights:
Lt. Colonel John M. Hamilton Papers is the property of the Donald
C. & Elizabeth M. Dickinson Research Center, National Cowboy &
Western Heritage Museum. Literary right, including copyright, belongs
to the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, with the exception
of copyrighted artwork images and published literary works, which are
the property of the respective copyright holders. It is the responsibility
of the researcher, and his/her publisher, to obtain publishing permission
from individuals pictured, relevant copyright holders, and the National
Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum.
Restrictions on Access:
The collection is open for research. It is advisable for researchers
to discuss their proposed research with staff prior to visiting the Center.
Preferred Citation:
Lt. Colonel John M. Hamilton Papers, Box ##, Folder ##, Dickinson
Research Center, National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma
City, Oklahoma.
