A letter written by Alexander Hamilton in 1780 and believed to have been stolen decades ago from the Massachusetts State Archives is back on display — though not in the exact room where it happened.
The founding father’s letter will be part of the Commonwealth Museum’s annual Fourth of July exhibit, Commonwealth Secretary William Galvin’s office said. It’s the first time the public has had a chance to see it since it was returned to the state after a lengthy legal battle.
It will be presented along with the original copy of the Massachusetts Declaration of Independence.
Hamilton, the first Treasury secretary who has regained attention in recent years for the hit Broadway musical bearing his name, wrote the letter to the Marquis de Lafayette, the French aristocrat who served as a general in the Continental Army.
Dated July 21, 1780, it describes an imminent British threat to French forces in Rhode Island.
“We have just received advice from New York by various channels that the enemy are embarking, threatening the French fleet and army,” Hamilton wrote. “Fifty transports are said to have gone up the Sound to pick up troops and proceed direct to Rhode Island.”
Hamilton’s letter described an immediate British threat to French forces in Rhode Island. iStock/Getty Images
Signed “Mr. Noon Bridge, A. Hamilton, Asst.
The letter was forwarded by Massachusetts General William Heath to state leaders, along with a request for troops to support French allies, Galvin’s office said.
The letter is believed to have been stolen during World War II by a State Archives employee and then sold privately.
It resurfaced a few years ago when an auctioneer in Virginia got it from a family that wanted to sell it. The auction house determined it was stolen and contacted the FBI. A federal appeals court ruled in October that it belongs to the state.
The Commonwealth Museum is open from 9am to 4pm on Mondays.
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