Alexander Hamilton’s description of the Hurricane (Royal Danish American Gazette)

In a letter to his father, which was published in the Royal Danish American Gazette on October 3, 1772, Hamilton wrote a dramatic description of the hurricane. In addition to reporting the events, he demonstrates his eloquence at an early age: “The roaring of the sea and wind, fiery meteors flying about it in the air, the prodigious glare of almost perpetual lightning, the crash of the falling houses, and the ear-piercing shrieks of the distressed, were sufficient to strike astonishment into Angels. A great part of the buildings throughout the Island are levelled to the ground.”