But we had more time in which to tell our story and decided to stick closer to the historical record; long before Hamilton entered the picture, Angelica eloped with John Barker Church. By the time of the famous winter’s ball she’d been married for nearly three years and was the mother of two children. More importantly, Hamilton’s frequent letters to Eliza during the period they were courting and betrothed are effusively affectionate and emotional, portraying what we believe was very likely as much of a love match as it was a consideration of what her wealth could do for him （a common consideration at the time for both men and women）。 If anyone appears as a potential rival for his affections during that period, it wasn’t Angelica—it was John Laurens, to whom Hamilton wrote a number of quite intimate letters that have led some historians, including us, to question the nature of the men’s relationship.
Hamilton’s Rift with General Washington
Like all historical fiction, the musical often plays with the true chronology, of necessity, sometimes superbly condensing and other times cleverly conflating historical events. For example, when the Broadway version of Washington catches Hamilton participating as John Laurens’s second in the duel with Charles Lee, they have words and Washington sends Alex home, where he learns that Eliza is pregnant and that she wrote to the general and begged him to send her husband home.
The historical Hamilton did in fact have words with Washington that resulted in a breach in their relationship that some believe never fully healed. However, the real rift occurred in February 1781 when Eliza, who was not yet pregnant, joined Alexander at the army’s winter camp at New Windsor. Washington had a momentary loss of patience, and Alexander used his terse words as an excuse to resign following months of frustration Alexander felt at not being promoted to a field command. In My Dear Hamilton, we imagined Eliza’s reaction to the news that Alexander was no longer part of Washington’s military family, and it was quite different from the one the musical’s Eliza expressed.
Eliza and the Marquis de Lafayette
The musical delightfully introduces America’s Favorite Fighting Frenchman as Alexander’s friend.
One of the great joys we had in writing My Dear Hamilton was dramatizing the historical friendship the marquis shared with Eliza, too. Given her father’s role in military affairs, Eliza likely met the marquis when they were both twenty-year-olds in Albany in late 1777. If not then, they certainly would’ve met when both Alexander and the marquis were at the winter encampment at New Windsor. Indeed, it was the marquis delaying Alexander with conversation that piqued Washington’s impatience and sparked the disagreement that ended in Alexander’s resignation. Eliza saw Lafayette in 1784 when he returned to the United States for a four-month visit, and in 1795, she and Alexander took in Lafayette’s son, Georges, when Adrienne Lafayette sent the boy to the United States for safety. In 1824, Eliza likely had an even greater organizational role in Lafayette’s reunion tour than the one we depicted in My Dear Hamilton. In reality, Eliza and Lafayette were friends in their own right and it was a friendship that lasted most of her life.
The Maria Reynolds Affair
There’s no disputing that Alexander Hamilton became embroiled in a sex scandal—because he did, quite literally, write it down right there. In excruciating detail. With appendices. The musical’s timeline presents a wonderful spiral of loss and forgiveness as Eliza learned of the affair with the 1797 publication of the Reynolds Pamphlet, and then has her and Alexander largely estranged until Philip Hamilton’s death by duel. Their reconciliation out of grief over their son occurs before the election of 1800.
My Dear Hamilton asserts a number of differences here. Historically, the affair is documented to have occurred in 1791–92. And Hamilton published the Reynolds Pamphlet in 1797 in an attempt to clear his name of charges of speculation. Philip Hamilton died by duel in November 1801, after the election of 1800.
Even so, the big question remained: when did Eliza know?
We think it’s highly likely that she already knew before the Reynolds Pamphlet. When James Monroe and others first confronted Hamilton about possible financial impropriety, rumors Eliza would’ve heard spread thereafter. In August of 1793, Eliza and Alexander nearly died of yellow fever, and the next year, Alexander tendered his resignation from public office. Though he remained a public figure, he appears to have become more focused on his family. His letters to Eliza are tender, devoted, appreciative, and seemingly apologetic. To us, the timing of all that felt more than coincidental, leading us to posit that Eliza learned of his infidelity in 1792. We like to believe their near-death experiences and reconciliation led Hamilton to reevaluate his priorities and dedicate himself to Eliza and their growing brood.