Virginia museum to auction off letter by Alexander Hamilton

PORTSMOUTH, Va. – A letter written by Alexander Hamilton will go to the highest bidder at an auction to raise money for restoration work at a Virginia museum.

The Virginian-Pilot reports the letter, written by a Founding Father of the United States and the first secretary of the Treasury, was written Sept. 14, 1794.

In the letter, Hamilton makes a military request for wagons during the Whiskey Rebellion. That was a violent uprising in the 1790s in western Pennsylvania that arose in response to a federal tax on whiskey production.

The newspaper says the money raised by auctioning the letter will benefit the Hill House Museum, a historic home in Portsmouth furnished with family belongings collected through generations.

The auction will take place March 22 at Quinn’s Auction Galleries in Falls Church.

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Information from: The Virginian-Pilot, http://pilotonline.com