Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

See the University of Virginia Library’s use policy.

Preferred Citation

Letters of Thomas Cruse to James Hamilton, Accession #3967 , Special Collections Dept., University of Virginia Library, Charlottesville, Va.

Acquisition Information

These letters were purchased by the University of Virginia Library from Maggs Brothers Ltd., London, Great Britain, on July 18, 1952.

Scope and Content Information

This collection consists of twenty-three letters of Thomas Cruse, Alexandria, Virginia, to James Hamilton, Carlisle, Pennsylvania, 1810-1813, during the administration of James Madison. In general, the letters are chiefly concerned with business matters, dividends from the investments of the two men in bridge stock, banks, and other types of stock; the deposition of a brewery house rented by Cruse; and the visit of one of the daughters of Thomas Cruse with his friend, Hamilton.

Cruse also writes about attending a levee at the White House, where "Mr. Madison appears to be bending under the weight & cares of office" (1810 Jan 2); the presence of ice across the river in Alexandria, causing worry about the safety of the bridge in which they had invested, financial news, and his concerns about democracy and the government of his adopted country (1810 Feb 23); his ideas about Carlisle College in particular and education in general (1810 Aug 20); a fire in Alexandria, which destroyed over thirty houses and endangered the wharf and ships (1810 Sep 26); a description of the new French minister, whom he saw on the way to Washington (1811 Feb 14); and his concern about the effects of the blockade on Virginia's rivers and the Chesapeake Bay (1813 Mar 8).

Arrangement

These letters are arranged in chronological order.