To James Madison from Haym M. Salomon, 9 January 1827
From Haym M. Salomon
38 Pine Street New york 9 Jany 1827.
My dear Sir
I avail myself of the introduction of a mutual freind (and one who has been joined with me and others in promoting the views of your political cabinet & that of your predecessor) to ask you for such information respecting some of the european individuals who were engaged in various situations in promoting the object of the revolution from 1780 to 84 as I have mentioned below.
My father Haym Salomon1 was a native of Poland (a countryman & freind of count Pulaski)22 he died in Philadela. about the end of 1784 left no relations in the country, myself not quite a month old, a brother about 5 years old, a young widow, entirely unacquainted with his affairs who with my brother also some time since departed this life.
Some gentlemen in Philadela. (he my father dying without a will) took his affairs into their keeping from whom we never obtained any thing previous to their bankruptcy & death. On a late visit to Philadelphia a person handed to me a few papers & memorandums said to have been left by my fathers cheif clerk who had shot himself about the time of the death of Mr Swanick.3 These papers are a quantity of draft drawn by my father on the bank of N. A. also his bank book shewing that those draft had been duly paid to the individuals to whom they were payable. The amot seems considerable & the names of the individuals are—
Monsieur Roquebrune4
Monsieur De La Forrey5
Chevalier De La Luzern6
Don Francisco De Rendon7
& the superintendant of France, also Barbie de Marbois.
I was informed you were well acquainted at that time with what the objects of these foreingers were in Phil and that perhaps you might have also known my father and could give me some intelligence of what the relative situation was which these individuals stood to him & our govt. It appears that notwithstanding those sums to these individuals he had occasionally large balances in speicie in the bank tho not at the time of his death.
It has been reported to me that before my father left the city of N. York 1778 he had undertaken for congress or some of the generals the accomplishment of some important enterprise. That it was discd by th⟨e⟩ british general Clinton he was committed for it & sentenced to Military death from which he only escaped by the sacrifice of a large sum in gold and arrived safely in Phil a few days afterwards where he remained till his death which was about 18 months after the peace.
I will fell extremely gratefull for any particulars of this or any other circumstance which may have come to your knowledge regarding him.
I trust my dear sir when you see the object of this that you will excuse this intrusion upon the sanctity of your retirement And will accept my gratefull Acknowledgements &c &c
Haym M Salomon8
RC (NN). Docketed by JM.
1. Haym Salomon (ca. 1740–85) was a Polish nationalist who fled in 1772 to England and thence to New York, where he established a brokerage business. As a decided Whig, he was twice arrested as a spy during the British occupation of the city. After bribing his way out of prison following his second arrest in 1778, Salomon escaped to Philadelphia, where he reopened his brokerage. He found financial success and the opportunity to aid the revolutionary cause; he became paymaster general of the French army and superintendent of finance Robert Morris’s broker between 1781 and 1784, advancing specie and holding government notes to support the war effort during its critical last years. In 1782, Salomon advanced JM salary that the State of Virginia had been tardy in paying (, 5:87–88).
2. Count Casimir Pulaski (ca. 1748–79) was a Polish nationalist who fought with distinction as brigadier general of cavalry in the Continental Army. He died as a result of wounds suffered at the Siege of Savannah on 9 October 1779 (, 4:310–11 n. 8).
3. John Swanwick (1740–98) was a clerk and later partner in the Philadelphia merchant firm of Willing and Morris. He served in the U.S. House of Representatives, 1795–98 (Ferguson et al., Papers of Robert Morris, 1:8 n. 1).
4. Mr. Roquebrune was the head clerk of the treasurer of the French army in America (ibid., 5:83 n. 3).
5. Antoine-René-Charles-Mathurin de la Forest (1756–1846) was French consul general in Philadelphia (Maeva Marcus et al., eds., The Documentary History of the Supreme Court of the United States, 1789–1800 [8 vols. in 9; New York, 1985–2007], 6:552 n.).
6. Anne César, Chevalier de La Luzerne (1741–91) was French minister to the United States from 1779 to 1784 (, 2:23 n. 9).
7. Francisco Rendon was the unofficial Spanish representative to the United States, 1779–85 (Ferguson et al., Papers of Robert Morris, 1:272 n. 1).
8. Haym M. Salomon (b. ca. 1784) was a New York City merchant and dealer in powder and shot. His efforts on behalf of his father’s claims for reimbursement for large advances made to the fledgling government of the United States (more than $300,000), though several times judged meritorious by congressional committees, went unfulfilled (Isaac Markens, The Hebrews in America: A Series of Historical and Biographical Sketches [New York, 1888], 24; Herbert B. Adams, “A Sketch of Haym Salomon,” Publications of the American Jewish Historical Society 2 [1894]: 5–19).