A Legal Document Signed by Hamilton's Second in His Fatal Duel

This affidavit is from a federal court case that federal District Judge Nathaniel Pendleton heard in Georgia.

Complete Transcript

Before Nathaniel Pendleton District Judge of George personally came Hannah Miller who being duely sworn deposeth, that she was at the house of Robert Stafford this day, and saw there, several Jackets & petticoats of muslin, and callicoe lying on the floor, & some bags, which Mrs Stafford said were full of the same kind of Cloathes. She supposed there might be seven or eight bags. Mrs Stafford said the negro Captain desired Stafford to bring them away from the wreck to his house. She went on board at Capt Readys, and Captain Ready said the sloop was coming to St Marys to bring the negroes things here. And some of the same bags, or the whole are now on board the sloop brought here. Has heard of some of the things being at Dilworths somd at Williams's. The Deponent says Mrs Stafford told her that those that were not in bags were given by the negroes for provisions, & for bringing the things on shore. She heard Mrs McClain say there was some silver spoons, & other silver ware, but did not say how many, nor who had them, but believed it was the negroes. Hannah Miller

Sworn before me 14th March 1796

Nathl Pendleton.

Nathaniel Pendleton (1756-1821) was born in Virginia and read law with his uncle Edmund Pendleton. He entered the Revolutionary War Army at the age of 19, and served as aide-de-camp to General Nathanael Greene in the southern campaigns. He practiced law in Savannah, Georgia after the war, and served as the state's Attorney General from 1785 to 1786. In 1789, President George Washington appointed Pendleton as the first Judge for the federal District of Georgia. He resigned in 1796, and returned to private practice in New York. He served as a second to Alexander Hamilton in his fatal duel with Aaron Burr in 1804.

Hannah Miller married James Woodland Jr. on April 15, 1796.

Robert Stafford was born in England and owned property in British East Florida. When the Spanish regained control of East Florida in 1783, Stafford, his brother, and many other British landowners resettled in the United States, especially in neighboring Georgia. Stafford became a planter on Cumberland Island in Georgia.

Captain William Reddy (d. 1797) was a planter who lived in British East Florida in the 1770s and moved to Camden County, Georgia, in 1787. He was one of the original founders of St. Marys, Georgia, and owned a plantation on Cumberland Island. After his death, Robert Stafford was the administrator of his estate.