Alexander Hamilton and the Hurricane

Young Alexander Hamilton, after the devastation wrought by the terrible San Agustin Hurricane, wrote a letter that was never meant to be published. Yet it was.

Alexander Hamilton wrote a stirring account of Hurricane San Augustin at St. Croix in 1772. A hurricane in Florida in 1945. Everett Collection/Shutterstock

Alexander Hamilton was born a bastard and grew up an orphan. Some might say that he didn’t get a fair shake at the start. He was born in Nevis, a very small island that was part of the British West Indies. He was born on Jan. 11, 1755. Or 1757. There isn’t an official record of his birth. His father, James Hamilton, had left the family early in his childhood, and only a few years before his mother, Rachel Faucette, died.

Alexander Hamilton, circa 1785. Engraving by Girsch. Hulton Archive/Getty Images