Silas Deane & the Craft of History

Silas Deane – Rise & Fall

• Born to a blacksmith in Groton, Connecticut; Yale graduate → lawyer → prosperous merchant.
• Political ascent: Committee of Correspondence, Continental Congresses, first U.S. envoy to France $1776$–$1778$.
• Achievements: secured French military aid; signed alliance $March\,1778$.
• Downfall: accused by Arthur Lee of profiteering (up to £$50{,}000$); recalled by Congress $1778$; letters urging peace with Britain intercepted $1781$, branding him a traitor.
• Exile in Flanders & London; poverty, illness, alcohol.

The Fatal Voyage $1789$

• Passage booked on Boston Packet to return to America.
• Ship held offshore >1 week by storm.
• $Sept\,22$: sudden dizziness & stomach pain on quarter-deck → death within $4$ hours.
• No preserved ship doctor’s report; primary account drafted by friend Edward Bancroft.

Rumors of Suicide

• London gossip: Deane swallowed laudanum.
• Spread by John Cutting, John Quincy Adams, Thomas Paine; all trace back to Bancroft’s “suspicion.”

Re-examination (Julian Boyd)

• Contradictory evidence:
  • Cutting saw Deane at Trumbull’s studio “never looked better.”
  • Letters reveal optimism: steam-engine mills, Lake Champlain–St. Lawrence canal, belief controversy “drawing to a close.”
• Practical issues: if laudanum bought in London, why delay >7 days to ingest?

Edward Bancroft – Key Figure

• Former pupil & “only faithful friend.”
• Roles:
  • Secretary to Deane in Paris; American spy.
  • Secret double agent for Britain (paid £$200$ → £$1{,}000$ annuity).
  • Partner with Deane in London insurance wagers, exploiting inside info on Franco-American treaty (profits ≈ £$10{,}000$).
• Chemist & Royal Society member; expert on Surinam poisons (e.g., curare).
• Managed Deane’s departure: provided clothes, funds, “medicins.”

Murder Hypothesis

• Motive: Deane’s U.S. vindication could expose Bancroft’s double agency, end pension & dye monopoly bid.
• Means: Bancroft supplied any laudanum; had knowledge & access to slow, undetectable poisons.
• Opportunity: drug handed over before sailing; activation after ship left port ensured alibi.
• No direct proof; remains conjecture.

Competing Views

• Boyd ($1959$): probable poisoning by Bancroft.
• Stinchcombe ($1975$): Deane still hopeless → suicide plausible.
• Andersons ($1984$): Natural causes (stroke) possible; chronic tuberculosis suggested.

Historiographical Lesson

• “History ≠ Past”: It is the selective construction of evidence.
• Case shows need to:
  • Question “obvious” facts.
  • Trace sources & their bias.
  • Seek hidden links (e.g., Bancroft’s roles).
• Completeness impossible; interpretation evolves with new questions & documents.