This portrait of William S. Hamilton is commonly misidentified in books, publications, and on the internet as that of his older brother Philip Hamilton who was killed in a duel in 1801.
Recent research by A.K. Fielding author of Rough Diamond: The Life of William Stephen Hamilton[1]published 2021 by Indiana University Press, cites the Wisconsin Historical Society has in their collection a letter dated 1880 from Philip Hamilton II identifying the image as a photo of a miniature portrait of his older brother William.
The image as William S. Hamilton was first published in 1903 by Frank E. Stevens in a book titled The Black Hawk War .
William's nephew Allan McLane Hamilton published the image in his 1910 book and has been the source of its widespread use and misidentification as Philip Hamilton.
Licensing
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↑Fielding, A.K. (June 8, 2021). Rough Diamond: The Life of Colonel William Stephen Hamilton, Alexander Hamilton's Forgotten Son. Indiana University Press. pp. 3–5. ISBN 978-0-253-05397-8. OCLC 1193557853.
Captions
Portrait of William S. Hamilton commonly mistaken as that of his older brother Philip