In 1776 he was sent by congress to France as special ambassador on a secret mission, which resulted in his securing substantial loans from French capitalists and in inducing Lafayette, De Kalb and other trained military officers of the French army, personally to take service in the Continental army in the war against Great Britain. With Franklin and Lee he negotiated the treaties of amity and commerce between the United Colonies and France, as signed at Paris, Feb. 6. 1778. 

The contracts he made with the French officers were deemed extravagant in the matter of compensation, and his financial transactions generally were questioned. Congress, by resolution passed Nov. 21, 1777, recalled him and sent John Adams as his successor. He appeared before congress in 1778 and there had a long and bitter controversy. He was greatly befriended by John Adams and John Jay, who had implicit faith in his financial integrity. 

He was required by congress to make a detailed statement of his financial transactions, and in order to do so was obliged to return to France in 1782 to obtain the vouchers of his receipts and disbursements. In consequence of the unauthorized publication of certain of his private letters and dispatches to his brother which had been intercepted, the French government would not receive him and he was obliged to seek refuge in Holland.  

He then went to England where he died in poverty. 

In 1842 congress made a full examination of the unfortunate affair and vindicated the memory of the eminent diplomatist by paying to his heirs a considerable sum of money found to be due him after an impartial adjustment of his accounts as financial agent. Yale college gave him his A.M. degree in 1763. He is the author of: Paris Papers; or Mr. Silas Deane's Late Intercepted Letters to His Brother and Other Friends (New York, 1751); and published in his own defence An Address to the Free and Independent Citizens of the United States of North America (1784), issued in America and England. 

He died in Deal, England, Aug. 23, 1789." 
  
American Biographical Library, The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans, Volume 3, page 186

He was ordered to France in March 1776 as a secret political and financial agent, and in September was commissioned as Ambassador with Franklin and Lee; negotiated and signed the treaty between France and the United States in Paris on February 6, 1778; personally secured the services of Lafayette, De Kalb, and other foreign officers, for which he was accused of extravagance, and was recalled in 1777 and investigated by Congress; returned to France to procure transcripts of his transactions there, and found that the publication of some of his confidential dispatches had embittered that Government against him, and he was  compelled to go to Holland, and thence to Great Britain, greatly impoverished; died on board ship sailing from Gravesend to Boston September 23, 1789; interment in Deal, on the Kentish coast, England. 

In 1842 Congress vindicated his memory by deciding that a considerable sum of money was due him, which was paid to his heirs." 

Biographical Directory of the American Congress, 1774-1949, Biographies, page 1069

• On March 1, 1776, the Committee of Secret Correspondence appointed Silas Deane, a former delegate to the Continental Congress, as its agent in France. He was instructed to pose as a Bermudian merchant dealing in Indian goods. He was also appointed as an agent of the Secret Committee, charged with making secret purchases and with attempting to gain secret assistance from the French Crown. Later, both Deane and Lee would be converted from agents to commissioners to the French Crown, albeit secret ones, until the open and formal alliance of France with the Americans.
• Shortly after arriving in Paris in the spring of 1776, Silas expanded the Franco-American relationship begun by Arthur Lee, who had been working secretly from England. He worked with Beaumarchais and other French merchants to procure ships, commission privateers, recruit French officers, and purchase French military supplies declared "surplus" for that purpose. 
• On September 26, 1776, Congress selected Franklin, Deane, and Lee (Lee replaced Thomas Jefferson who stayed home to tend his sick wife) as secret commissioners to France. Deane had already been operating as a secret agent there for six months.
• On the high seas, British supply ships and troop ships often fell to American privateers operating under letters of marque and reprisal from the Continental Congress. Franklin, for example, ran a flotilla of Irish and French privateers from the American mission in Paris. Success in intercepting British vessels was so great that the British accused their captains of taking bribes from the Americans to surrender their ships. One privateer, operating under contract to Silas Deane and a French business associate and utilizing a French ship obtained by Benjamin Franklin, was the Bonhomme Richard, commanded by John Paul Jones.
• Silas Deane arranged for the "John the Painter" to make entry into England and begin his series of sabotoge bombings against sites in England. James Aitken, aka "John the Painter", was eventually caught and hung in England in March, 1777.
• While serving in Paris as an agent of the Committee of Secret Correspondence, Silas Deane is known to have used a heat-developing invisible ink, compounded of cobalt chloride, glycerine and water, for some of his intelligence reports back to America. Even more useful to him later was a "sympathetic stain" created for secret communications by James Jay, a physician and the brother of John Jay. Dr. Jay, who had been knighted by George III, used the "stain" for reporting military information from London to America. Later he supplied quantities of the stain to George Washington at home and to Silas Deane in Paris. 
• On March 30, 1778, Franklin, Lee, and Deane were received at the French Court as "official" representatives of the United States of America. 

On his return to this country Congress, in August, 1778, desired him to give an account of his transactions in France, as well as a particular state of the funds entrusted to his care. They were not satisfied with his reports, and on December 1 resolved to hold night sessions to consider the subject, and so notified Mr. Deane. But he, instead of attempting to satisfy their curiosity as to his financial transactions abroad, published in the Philadelphia newspapers of December 4, 1778, "An address to the free and virtuous citizens of America," in which he bitterly assailed the Congress, reflected upon the integrity of some leading members, and insinuated that there was a design to break faith with France, &c. 

The matter was threshed out in Congress and in the public prints, Tom Paine, in particular, in his incisive and trenchant style, under the signature of "Common Sense," showing the insincerity and essential falsity of Deane's charges, and the urgent need he was in of clearing his own skirts from the taint of incapacity, dishonesty and corruption. A very good summary of the controversy is given in Gordon's History of the American War, 3: 38, 216. The fullest account is in the Deane Papers, Vol. III., N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1888." 

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE  REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY  OF THE   STATE OF NEW JERSEY.  VOLUME III. EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS RELATING  TO NEW JERSEY.  VOL. III. 1779.  EDITED BY WILLIAM NELSON. 

Later in the same year he became the conspicuous leader of a plot to displace Washington and give the command of the army to General Gates, then the hero of the hour by reason of the surrender of Burgoyne's army at Saratoga. Into this plot a considerable number of members of congress and such statesmen as John Adams, Benjamin Rush and other as prominent patriots were unconsciously drawn. 

General Gates was made president of the board-of-war and Lafayette the proposed leader of a Canadian campaign in which Conway was to be second in command. Letters from Conway to prominent men, alleging Washington's responsibility for disasters in the south, and even forged papers purporting to be signed by Washington, added to the spirit of discontent until the plot was exposed to Washington, who speedily restored subordination.  

Lafayette refused to lead the Canadian expedition unless he should have as his second officer Baron de Kalb. Conway had meanwhile been promoted to the rank of major-general and congress on Dec. 14, 1777, confirmed the promotion in spite of Washington's disapproval. In the following March, however, he made a conditional offer to resign, which congress promptly accepted, making it unconditional, and he was obliged to leave the army. Gen. John Cadwallader in July, 1778, challenged Conway, and the meeting resulted in Conway's being badly wounded in the mouth. He complimented his antagonist on his marksmanship and as soon as physically able wrote an apology to Washington. He returned to France, re-entered the army and was made governor of Pondicherry and the French settlements in Hindustan. His quarrel with Tippoo Saib is said to have damaged greatly the prospects of French acquisitions in India. In 1792 he was given command of the royalist troops in the south of France but fled the country during the revolution and died about 1800." 
  
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume II, page 355

He was 1st lieutenant of a company under Captain Chester; commanded a company of light infantry at Bunker Hill, where he was wounded, and was commended for his gallantry in general orders. He was appointed aide-de-camp to Gen. Israel Putnam in 1775, and in 1776 was private secretary to General Washington with the rank of lieutenant-colonel. 

He wrote the order for making public the Declaration of Independence in New York city, July 9, 1776, and refused to accept despatches from Lord Howe, addressed to "Mr." George Washington. He took part in the battles of Long Island, Princeton, White Plains and Trenton; raised the 3d Connecticut regiment, and participated in Gen. Samuel H. Parsons's disastrous expedition to Long Island, where he was captured, Dec. 10, 1777, and imprisoned for three years. 

He was brevetted brigadier-general in 1780 and succeeded General Steuben to the command of the light infantry under Washington. He was a founder of the Society of the Cincinnati in 1783, and was the grand marshal during Washington's inauguration in New York city as first President of the United States. He removed to Claverack, Columbia county, N.Y., in 1789; was married to Catherine Hageboom, and their son, James Watson Webb, was born there, Feb. 8, 1802. General Webb died at his home in Claverack, N.Y., Dec. 3, 1807." 
  
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume X

See also The Taking of Ticonderoga, which mentions Silas Deane.

In supporting the resolutions adopted by the society, of which Lee was the author, he sustained an able discussion with the unknown author of the "Letters of Junius." He gained the friendship of Burke, Priestly, Dunning, Baire and Sir Willlain Jones, and was admitted to a fellowship in the Royal society. He was appointed by the general court of Massachusetts in 1770 as representative for that colony in London as associate with Benjamin Franklin, and in 1775, when Richard Penn reached London with the last petition from the Continental congress and the appeal to the English people, of which his brother, Richard Henry Lee, was the author, he undertook to have the petition reach the king, but in vain. 

He was appointed by congress, with Franklin, Jay and Dickinson, to open correspondence with friends of America in Europe and was made the secret agent of the committee in London, and he opened negotiations with the French government which led to his residence in Paris during the spring and summer of 1776. In 1776 congress appointed him a joint commissioner with Benjamin Franklin and Silas Deane to secure a treaty of alliance with France, and in 1777 he was intrusted with special missions to the governments of Spain and Prussia, and in October, 1778, was continued as sole commissioner to Spain, also acting in the same capacity to the court of Prussia but residing in Paris. His frequent quarrels with Franklin and Deane led to his recall in the autumn of 1779. He was a representative in the general assembly of Virginia, 1781; a delegate to the Continental congress, 1781-84; Indian commissioner in western New York and Pennsylvania, 1784, and a member of the board of treasury, 1784-89. He was opposed to the adoption of the Federal constitution, and his opposition appears to have been due to excessive distrust in the motives that actuated his fellow patriots and his concern for the rights of the colonists. 
    
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume VI, page 373

"The photograph (apparently in this publication in book form, not on the web) shows the Webb-Deane-Stevens House and Museum in Wethersfield, Connecticut, managed by the Connecticut Society of Colonial Dames of America, where General Washington met with the comte de Rochambeau on 21 May 1781.  

1775: 
"Washington lodged the night of June 29-30 in the home of Silas Deane and his second wife, Elizabeth Saltonstall Deane, in Wethersfield, then passed through Durham, Middletown, and New Britain.  

1781 
"On May 19th Washington established his headquarters in the home of Joseph Webb, Jr. in Wethersfield. Abigail Chester Webb was Washington's hostess. The Webb house is next door to the Deane house where Washington had lodged in 1775. Silas Deane's first wife Methitable Webb was the widow of Joseph Webb, Sr." 

"IZARD, Ralph, statesman, was born at "The Elms," near Charleston, S.C., in 1742; son of Henry and Margaret (Johnson) Izard; grandson of Ralph and Magdalene Elizabeth (Chastaigner) Izard and of Governor Robert Johnson, of South Carolina, and great grandson of Ralph Izard, who came to America from England during the reign of Queen Anne, and was the founder of the South Carolina branch of the family; and also great grandson of Governor Sir Nathaniel Johnson. 

Ralph Izard was early sent to England and placed at school at Hackney, finishing his education at Christ college, Cambridge. Returning to America, he took possession of his estate in South Carolina, but spent much of his time in New York, where he met his future wife, Alice, daughter of Peter De Lancey, of Westchester, N.Y., and niece of James De Lancey, lieutenant- governor of the province. He was married in 1767, and in 1771 returned to England and residence in London. 

At the outbreak of the Revolutionary war he made several attempts to intercede with the king in behalf of the colonists,but without success. In 1777 he removed with his family to France, and soon after was appointed by congress commissioner to the court of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Considering it inexpedient to proceed to the court of Tuscany, he continued his residence in Paris, where he supported Arthur Lee in opposition to Dr. Franklin and Mr. Deane. When Commodore Gillon was sent from South Carolina to Europe to purchase frigates, and for that purpose to obtain a loan, he could not effect the object on the security of the state government alone. Mr. Izard then pledged his whole estate, and the vessels were secured. 

Through alleged misrepresentations, the Continental congress, in 1779, passed resolutions to recall Mr. Izard, and he returned to the United States in July, 1780, and reported at Washington's headquarters. He influenced Washington to send General Greene to take command of the southern army, for which service he received the thanks of the governor of South Carolina. He was a delegate from South Carolina to the Continental congress, 1782-83, and U.S. senator, 1789-95. He was president pro tempore of the senate from May 31, 1794, to Feb. 20, 1795, serving in the first and second sessions of the 3d congress. He was a founder of the College of Charleston and a trustee of that institution, 1791-1804. 

Of his children, George (q.v.)became governor of Arkansas Territory; Ralph was a lieutenant in the U.S. navy, and served with distinction in the war with Tripoli; and Henry was married to Emma, daughter of Arthur Middleton, signer of the Declaration of Independence. See Correspondence of Mr. Ralph Izard, of South Carolina, from the Year 1774 to 1804, with a Short  Memoir (1844), by his daughter, Anne Izard Deas. He died at South Bay, near Charleston, S.C., May 30, 1804." 
  
The Twentieth Century Biographical Dictionary of Notable Americans: Volume VI

"The careers of William and Arthur (Lee) were impeded by bitter debates with Silas Deane, each questioning the other's allegiance to his country. The controversy divided Congress in a vituperative debate. The political infighting resulted in the reorganization of the diplomatic corps and all but one of the positions held by the two brothers were eliminated. Neither brother was ever reappointed to an important government post.  

The Silas Deane affair seemed to have embittered not only William and Arthur but the Lee family as a whole. Accusations, though unproven and unfounded, tarnished the Lee family name. Ever courageous, the brothers defended one another with the same vigor and spirit that brought them so much respect and admiration in their pursuit of American liberty."

  
See Charles Isham, ed., The Deane Papers, 1774–1790 (5 vol., 1887–91); biography by G. L. Clark (1913). 

Notes and Suggestions, Commercial Activities of Silas Deane in France. S.l.: s.n., 1934. 

Silas Deane - Patriot or Traitor, Coy Hilton James, Michigan State University Press, 1975 

Silas Deane - A Connecticut Leader in the American Revolution, George L. Clark, G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1913. 

Vol. XXIII: The Deane Papers: Correspondence Between Silas Deane, His 
Brothers, and Their Business and Political Associates, 1771 - 1795. 
1930. 277 p., index. Deane Resources At the Conn Historical Society: 

A very good summary of the controversy is given in Gordon's History of the American War, 3: 38, 216. The fullest account is in the Deane Papers, Vol. III., N. Y. Hist. Soc. Coll., 1888."  
 

After the Fact:  The Art of Historical Detection by James West 
Davidson and Mark Hamilton Lytle (Knopf, 1986).  This book is as much 
about doing history as about history itself, demonstrating how 
exciting the pursuit of history can and ought to be.  Each chapter 
tackles a different type of historical research (e.g., documentary 
analysis, psychohistory, photographs, oral history) through fourteen 
intriguing case studies (e.g., the strange death of Silas Deane or the 
Salem Witch Trials). 
 

In group of newspaper articles dated 1779: 

"On Sunday passed through Morris Town, on his way to Boston, where he intends to embark for France, his Excellency Monsieur Gerard, Ambassador from the Court of France to these United States, and his suit. He was accompanied by Silas Deane, Esq."  

DOCUMENTS RELATING TO THE  REVOLUTIONARY HISTORY  OF THE   STATE OF NEW JERSEY.  VOLUME III. EXTRACTS FROM AMERICAN NEWSPAPERS RELATING  TO NEW JERSEY.  VOL. III. 1779.  EDITED BY WILLIAM NELSON.  
 

   
"Candidates for the title "father of the Navy" include George 
Washington, Continental Navy officers Esek Hopkins, John Barry, and 
John Paul Jones, as well as civilians John Adams, Benjamin Franklin, 
Robert Morris, Joseph Hewes, and Silas Deane. Many men in numerous 
locations played prominent roles in the founding of our national navy. 
And so, the Navy recognizes no one individual as "father," to the 
exclusion of others." 

   
"Lafayette's real introduction to America came at a dinner on August 
8, 1775, when the young Marquis came into contact with the Duke of 
Gloucester who spoke with sympathy of the struggle going on in the 
colonies. With thoughts of the "romantic" American cause, glory and 
excitement, Lafayette made plans to travel to America. Realizing his 
plans would be disapproved of by the King and his family, Lafayette 
confided in his friend the Comte de Broglie, who in turn introduced 
him to the Baron Johan de Kalb. Both men were seeking to travel to 
America and after several delays, the two men set up a journey across 
the Atlantic with written agreements from Silas Deane that they would 
be commissioned major generals." 
 

   
1774--Silas Deane, Eliphalet Dyer, and Roger Sherman represent  
Connecticut at First Continental Congress. 

 Deane was a G Partridge, R Partridge and a Tracy 
 Dyer was a Backus 
 Sherman was a Cutter 
 

    
"There were many more French prisoners-of-war on Prison and Convict 
Hulks, mostly in St. George's Harbour, when British soldiers were 
stationed in Bermuda during the American War of Independence. And also 
during that conflict, Silas Deane, a secret American agent in France, 
was spirited into Bermuda for a spying mission. On his arrival back in 
Paris, he recommended that the United States seize and fortify 
Bermuda, with French help. His activities in France led the British 
Ambassador there to complain that Mr. Deane was passing himself off to 
French officials as a native of Bermuda endeavoring to cause an 
insurrection. " 
 

   
Deane, Silas (1737-1789). Papers, 1737-1789. 5 reels. Correspondence 
of the Connecticut delegate to the Continental Congress and 
Revolutionary American diplomat to France. Includes letterbook. 
Originals are in the Connecticut Historical Society. [FILM 393] 

David Library Home Page  
 

  
 1   Ralph Partridge 1579 - 1655 
..  +Patience 1604 - 
.... 2   Elizabeth Partridge 1620 - 1664 
....  *2nd Husband of Elizabeth Partridge:  
........  +Thomas Thacher 1620 - 1678 
........... 3   Rodolphus Thacher 1648 - 1733 
...............  +Ruth Partridge 1651 - 1717 
                       George Partridge is Ruth's father; Sarah Tracy her mother.
.................. 4   Lydia Thacher 1680 - 1737 
......................  +John Deane 1678 - 1748 
........................ 5   Silas Deane 1709 - 
............................  +Hannah Barker 1710 - 
............................... 6   Silas Deane 1737 - 1789 
...................................  +Elizabeth Saltonstall 1744 -

Silas Deane was married twice and only had one child, a son named Jesse. His step-children from his first wife were embittered towards him for not closing out their father's estate, as he was executor. His second wife, Elizabeth Saltonstall, was a child of the former governor of Connecticut, Gurdon Saltonstall, and of royal ancestry. She died during his exile in Europe.

The Doutberg Page 

The Record of the Dean Family 

The Rubins Page 

  
Note: this page has a different wife for James Deane (Silas' 1xg) than the Powers-Banks genealogy does. Powers-Banks says the wife of this James was Sarah Tisdale. Powers-Banks has John Deane, son of John and Lydia (Thacher) Deane, (Silas' uncle) married to Sarah Douglas. Note that another Sarah Douglas married Jonathan Deane, son of James. This is another woman and is not a mixup, per Powers-Banks. (Note the Doutberg Page above does not identify the wife of James Dean.) Powers-Banks quotes a monument erected over their graves showing her maiden name as his source. Giving his position more credibility is that his work encompassed a genealogy of the Tisdale family, a direct line of his. 
 

Are the letters that embarrassed him and his defense essay on the web anywhere? Or, where can they be found in print? 

What exactly was his relationship to the double spy Bancroft? Was Deane just a naive dupe to allow Bancroft access to the material that Bancroft gave the British? 
 

George Partridge 

Ralph Partridge 

Stephen Tracy  

Notable Kin 

Presidents Gallery