Phillip Thomas Tucker, PhD, writes extensively on American history with a new and fresh perspective that most other historians often neglect or omit. He is the author of more than 40 ground-breaking books on various aspects of American history. Dr. Tucker's books have won awards, including national, and have been regularly featured with the History Book Club and the Military Book Club.
Released by Skyhorse Publishing, New York, New York, in August of 2017, Phillip Thomas Tucker's Alexander Hamilton's Revolution, His Vital Role as Washington's Chief of Staff focuses on Hamilton's crucial time in the American Revolution. One respected reviewer and scholar emphasized how: "Alexander Hamilton's Revolution is more than the story of Colonel Hamilton's wartime feats and multifaceted role as an aide to General George Washington. Phillip Thomas Tucker explores the fascinating story of Hamilton's relationship with Washington, unraveling what each thought of the other, what each meant to each other . . . This is an illuminating book, written with verve and intensity."
While Alexander Hamilton is best remembered as Washington's Secretary of the Treasury after the American Revolution, Hamilton's path to that key role was circuitous and irregular, however. Though he worked extensively with General Washington at headquarters from March 1777 to early 1781, Hamilton chafed at the inherent limitations of the role, even as his industriousness and meticulous nature made him a natural fit.
His key Chief of Staff position traded on and built upon the core strengths Hamilton had early developed as a clerk and a student, and the extensive political and logistical wartime challenges made him a strong proponent of a central government that could successfully meet the many stern challenges upon which the infant republic's survival depended. Still, he was unhappy and desperate to have his own military command to provide his talents on the battlefield and well beyond the unseen confines of headquarters while working in obscurity under Washington's long shadow.
Hamilton tendered his resignation after a sharp personal clash with Washington in early 1781. However, his own sense of determination and the intercession of Philip Schuyler, his father-in-law, led Hamilton back to participate in the American Revolution with renewed vigor. Hamilton ultimately received the light infantry command he wanted by the time of the decisive showdown at Yorktown, Virginia. Here, in October 1781, he played a key offensive role in the most decisive battle of the American Revolution and began rebuilding the relationship with Washington that would carry him to the status of American icon and legend.
