Lt. Abijah Hammond, Jr (February 22. 1757-December 30, 1832) was an American artillery officer in the Revolutionary War in the Continental line. After the war, he became a merchant and real estate investor active in various endeavors important to the development of New York.

Early life

Hammond was born in

Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is located roughly west of Downtown Boston, and comprises a patchwork of thirteen villages. The city borders Boston to the northeast and southeast (via the neighborhoods of ...

in 1757. He was the oldest of seven children of Abijah Hammond, Sr. and Mary Saltmarsh. His father, Abijah Hammond, Sr. was a private in the

American Revolutionary War The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...

Revolutionary War

In 1776, Hammond was commissioned in the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...

as a 2nd Lt. at age 19 in the

3rd Continental Artillery Regiment The 3rd Continental Artillery Regiment also known as Crane's Continental Artillery Regiment became part of the Continental Army on January 1, 1777, as Colonel John Crane's Continental Artillery Regiment. The regiment was made up of 12 artillery c ...

commanded by Colonel John Crane under Captain Benjamin Frothingham. In the early part of the campaign of 1777, Mr. Hammond went with his company to the North, and was in

Fort Stanwix Fort Stanwix was a colonial fort whose construction commenced on August 26, 1758, under the direction of British General John Stanwix, at the location of present-day Rome, New York, but was not completed until about 1762. The bastion fort was bui ...

, (afterwards

Fort Schuyler Fort Schuyler is a preserved 19th century fortification in the New York City borough (New York City), borough of the Bronx. It houses a museum, the Stephen B. Luce Library, and the Marine Transportation Department and Administrative offices ...

,) during the time it was besieged by General Barry St. Ledger. In early 1780, he was promoted to 1st. Lt. He subsequently went with his regiment to Virginia. He was present at the

Battle of Brandywine The Battle of Brandywine, also known as the Battle of Brandywine Creek, was fought between the American Continental Army of General George Washington and the British Army of General Sir William Howe on September 11, 1777, as part of the Am ...

, the

Battle of Germantown The Battle of Germantown was a major engagement in the Philadelphia campaign of the American Revolutionary War. It was fought on October 4, 1777, at Germantown, Pennsylvania, between the British Army led by Sir William Howe, and the American ...

, the

Battle of Monmouth The Battle of Monmouth, also known as the Battle of Monmouth Court House, was fought near the Village of Monmouth Court House, New Jersey, Monmouth Court House in modern-day Freehold Borough, New Jersey and Manalapan, New Jersey, Manalapan, on J ...

and the

Battle of Yorktown The siege of Yorktown, also known as the Battle of Yorktown and the surrender at Yorktown, was the final battle of the American Revolutionary War. It was won decisively by the Continental Army, led by George Washington, with support from the Mar ...

. At Monmouth, he was wounded, once by a sabre cut and again by a musket ball, and at

Valley Forge Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...

endured the hardships of the Winter of 1777-78. He was attached to the Adjutant-General's Department under Colonel

Alexander Scammell Alexander Scammell (March 22, 1747 – October 6, 1781) was an American military officer and attorney who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He was wounded on September 30, 1781, near Yorktown and subsequently di ...

, toward the close of the war. In 1781, as his health was declining during the war, he petitioned and was permitted a leave of absence from General Washington. ‘ When the army, after the war, was reorganized, General Washington tendered him the command of an artillery regiment, which he declined.

Society of the Cincinnati

He was an original member of the New York State

Society of the Cincinnati The Society of the Cincinnati is a lineage society, fraternal, hereditary society founded in 1783 to commemorate the American Revolutionary War that saw the creation of the United States. Membership is largely restricted to descendants of milita ...

, serving as its treasurer in 1793. It was from this organization, that he developed his friendship with

Alexander Hamilton Alexander Hamilton (January 11, 1755 or 1757July 12, 1804) was an American military officer, statesman, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the first U.S. secretary of the treasury from 1789 to 1795 dur ...

, later serving as a pallbearer at his funeral in 1804. He was succeeded by his son, Charles Henry Hammond, in the New York State

Career, Politics, and Society

Hammond was a

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

merchant and a director of both the

Bank of New York The Bank of New York Mellon Corporation, commonly known as BNY, is an American international financial services company headquartered in New York City. It was established in its current form in July 2007 by the merger of the Bank of New York an ...

(later becoming BNY Melon) and the

Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures The Society for Establishing Useful Manufactures (S.U.M.) or Society for the Establishment of Useful Manufactures was a private state-sponsored corporation founded in 1791 to promote industrial development along the Passaic River in New Jersey i ...

. In addition to being a merchant, Hammond owned and developed large tracts of real estate in Manhattan (owning most of Greenwich) Long Island, and upstate New York. The town of

Hammond, New York Hammond is a Administrative divisions of New York#Town, town in St. Lawrence County, New York, St. Lawrence County, New York (state), New York, United States. The population was 1,191 at the 2010 census. The name is derived from early land owner ...

is named after him. Over his lifetime starting in 1793, eight hundred transactions were recorded, mostly in New York City and New York County locations. Typically, he bought and subdivided the land, selling parcels to individuals of all walks of life. In 1792, Hammond donated a device for drilling for water to the New York City government, which ordered experiments to begin on a vacant lot adjoining city hall. On November 7, 1796, the 20th New York State Legislature elected 12 presidential electors, all Federalists. One of the 12 was Abijah Hammond. Hammond and the others all cast their votes for

John Adams John Adams (October 30, 1735 – July 4, 1826) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the second president of the United States from 1797 to 1801. Before Presidency of John Adams, his presidency, he was a leader of ...

and

Thomas Pinckney Thomas Pinckney (October 23, 1750November 2, 1828) was an American statesman, diplomat, and military officer who fought in both the American Revolutionary War and the War of 1812, achieving the rank of major general. He served as Governor of So ...

. He was also an avid reader, especially of books relating to the ancient societies in and around the Mediterranean. Hammond was a commissioner at the first meeting of the

New England Society of New York The New England Society in the City of New York (NES) is one of several lineage organizations in the United States and one of the oldest charitable societies in the country. It was founded in 1805 to promote “friendship, charity and mutual a ...

in 1805. Hammond was also a

Freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

. In 1799, Hammond was the "second" for

John Barker Church John Barker Church, John Carter, (October 30, 1748 – April 27, 1818), was an English born businessman and supplier of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. He returned to England after the Revolutionary War and served ...

in the duel between Church and

Aaron Burr Aaron Burr Jr. (February 6, 1756 – September 14, 1836) was an American politician, businessman, lawyer, and Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father who served as the third vice president of the United States from 1801 to 1805 d ...

. Church was the brother in law of

. Hamilton subsequently died in his duel with Burr in 1804. In the New York City "pig wars" of the 1810s, Hammond mobilized two hundred fellow merchants and property owners to sign a petition demanding the removal of all free-running pigs. Although this effort did not immediately sway the city council, the pigs and their owners were eventually driven out to New Jersey

New York Manumission Society

In 1785, he joined the

New York Manumission Society The New York Manumission Society was founded in 1785. The term "manumission" is from the Latin meaning "a hand lets go," inferring the idea of freeing a slave. John Jay, first Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States as well as stat ...

, an American organization founded in 1785 by

John Jay John Jay (, 1745 – May 17, 1829) was an American statesman, diplomat, signatory of the Treaty of Paris (1783), Treaty of Paris, and a Founding Father of the United States. He served from 1789 to 1795 as the first chief justice of the United ...

, among others, to promote the gradual abolition of slavery and manumission of slaves of African descent within the state of New York. At the February 8, 1786 meeting, a committee was appointed consisting of Alexander Hamilton and Abijah Hammond to “endeavor to procure an Act of the Legislature to prevent the exportation of any Slaves from this State—”. In subsequent years, Hammond served on additional committees in the society and over the course of several years, divested himself of the domestic servant slaves he owned. Hammond also recognized the plight of the poor in describing their conditions as closely resembling slavery when he stated in 1820: "Most of the poor are sold, as the term is, that is, to those who agree to support them on the lowest terms, to purchasers nearly as poor as themselves who treat them in many instances more like brutes than like human beings, and who instead of applying, the amount they received from the poor master, for the comfort of the pauper, spend it to support their own families, or which is too often the case, in purchasing ardent spirits; under the maddening influence of which, they treat these wretched pensioners, and not infrequently their own wives and children, with violence and outrage."

Tontine Coffee House

In 1793, Hammond became an original shareholder of the

Tontine Coffee House The Tontine Coffee House was a coffeehouse in Manhattan, New York City, established in early 1793. Situated at 82 Wall Street, on the north-west corner of Water Street,Nathans, p. 133 it was built by a group of stockbrokers to serve as a meetin ...

. The Tontine was among New York City's busiest centers for the buying and selling of stocks and other securities after the

Buttonwood Agreement The Buttonwood Agreement is the founding document of what is now the New York Stock Exchange and is one of the most important financial documents in U.S. history. The agreement organized securities trading in New York City and was signed on May ...

had been signed the year prior. When the Tontine's trade proceedings had outgrown the venue, the

New York Stock Exchange The New York Stock Exchange (NYSE, nicknamed "The Big Board") is an American stock exchange in the Financial District, Manhattan, Financial District of Lower Manhattan in New York City. It is the List of stock exchanges, largest stock excha ...

Board (NYSEB) was formed in 1817.

Personal life

Hammond first married Hannah Fairservice on 29 March 1778. They had two children. After the death of Hannah, he married Catherine Ludlow Ogden, the daughter of

Abraham Ogden Abraham Ogden (December 30, 1743 – January 31, 1798) was an American lawyer and politician who served as U.S. Attorney for the District of New Jersey from 1791 to 1798 and negotiated the Treaty of New York (1796). Early life Ogden was bo ...

and Sarah Frances Ludlow, brought forth ten children. After the death of Catherine in 1814, he married Margaret Aspinwall.New York Marriages, 1686-1980", database, FamilySearch (https://familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VK1K-J2M : 21 January 2020), Abijah Hammond, 1816 Hammond passed away on December 30, 1832 at his mansion on

Throggs Neck Throggs Neck (also known as Throgs Neck) is a neighborhood and peninsula in the south-eastern portion of the borough of the Bronx in New York City. It is bounded by the East River and Long Island Sound to the south and east, Westchester Creek o ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hammond, Abijah Jr 1757 births 1832 deaths People from Newton, Massachusetts Continental Army soldiers 18th-century American merchants