"I don't require you to yoke yourself to me like that Peggy," I said crossly. As soon as we were in the hall, I shook my arm free of her grasp. She didn't wait for me to speak, instead pulling me forcibly away from him and from the room. Which of course I did: I'd been too long alone in the colonel's company, and Mamma or worse, Papa had noticed. "Mamma wishes you to come bid good night to our guests, Eliza," she said pointedly, seizing me by the arm to make sure I understood. But before I could demur, my sister Peggy suddenly appeared, popping up like a sprite beside Colonel Hamilton. I hadn't intended to pledge friendship, and no lady ever wished to have a gentleman in her debt. Too late I realized I shouldn't have smiled with such encouragement, or let him misinterpret my good wishes. "Now that you've honored me once again with a pledge of friendship, Betsey, I shall remain always in your debt." "My friends call me Eliza." "Then I shall call you Betsey, to set myself apart from your other friends." He smiled again, and added a disarming-little nod that made me smile in return. "I cannot think of anything that would give me greater pleasure, Miss Elizabeth." "I am honored by your kindness," he said gravely, and bowed as gracefully as any French courtier might. ''I'll pray for your safe delivery in battle, and for God's blessings upon you as you triumph over our enemies." "II shall add you to my prayers, Colonel Hamilton," I said. Surrounded as I had always been by my own large and loving family, I couldn't conceive of being so utterly alone in the world. I shook my head, unable to accept his grim explanation. I can be that most perfect soldier, free to sacrifice myself without thought of those I must leave behind." "My father left my mother at an early age on the Caribbean island of Nevis, and after she died I came alone to New York for my studies. "I am quite without family, Miss Elizabeth, or even a true home of my own,” he confessed. "A most noble sentiment, but consider how your loss would affect your poor mother, your sisters." If I die, I do so knowing that I have helped secure our country's dearest freedoms." That is why each time I am called to battle, I accept that 'Liberty or Death' is no empty, vainglorious slogan for me. "But I also know that these dreams and glories exact a terrible price." "I do, Colonel Hamilton," I said, pleased that he'd imbued me with such patriotic qualities instead of flattering me with compliments on my eyes or my complexion, the way most gentlemen would. You crave liberty, and have no more patience with injustice or tyranny than I." You understand the sacred rights of mankind, and perceive the injustice of how those rights have been taken from us. "I heard it in your speech, and see it in your face now. "I knew from the first that you understood, Miss Elizabeth," he continued, lowering his voice like a conspirator. Despite the fact that the rest of my family and our guests were not ten feet from us in the drawing room, my conversation with Colonel Hamilton had made me forget them all, and turned this window corner into a place so private that we might have stood in another house entirely. Although I knew I should step back and away from him, the way I should with any man who was too forward with me, I didn't. He leaned toward me, a fierceness in his blue eyes. The following excerpt details their first encounter at her parents' home in Albany, New York in November of 1777. In the novel's opening chapter, Eliza Schuyler is a young woman of 20 when she first meets her future husband. The novel, written from Eliza's perspective, includes rich historical details of the places she visited, the people she met, and the clothes that she wore. Present alongside Alexander at pivotal moments in early American history, the story follows their courtship and marriage through the tumultuous years of the Revolutionary War and the uncertain decades of the early American Republic. The chapter and the chapter house can be accessed at, /HudsonDAR, /robertjenkinshouse, and (518) 828-9764.A work of historical fiction, I, Eliza Hamilton, tells the story of Elizabeth "Eliza" Hamilton, née Schuyler, the wife of Alexander Hamilton. The chapter owns and maintains its meeting house, the Historic Robert Jenkins House, at 113 Warren Street in Hudson. In accordance with the National Society DAR, members work to perpetuate the memory and spirit of the women and men who achieved American independence, to promote the development of an enlightened public opinion, and to foster patriotic citizenship. A nonpartisan organization welcoming eligible women without regard to race, creed, or religion, it includes more than 100 members who trace their lineage back to a patriot in the American Revolution–whether serving as soldier, shopkeeper, or seamstress. The Hendrick Hudson Chapter of the DAR was chartered 125 years ago in 1896.
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