Francis Salvador

Francis Salvador (1747 – August 1, 1776), was the first American Jew to be killed in the American Revolution. Salvador was born in London, but emigrated to America from London, where his great-grandfather, Joseph Salvador, was a prominent businessman, and leader of the local Portuguese-speaking Sephardic Jewish community. His name was originally Jessurum Rodriguez.

Emigration to America

Salvador's family had extensive interests in America, including a large parcel of land in South Carolina. The Salvador family was financially ruined by the Lisbon earthquake of 1755 and subsequent failure of the East India Company, retaining their land in South Carolina and little other wealth . Salvador moved to the family land in South Carolina, in 1773, with the hope that he would be able to recoup some of their losses, intending to send for his wife, Sarah, and their children as soon as he was able.

Representative to Congress

After arriving in Charleston in December 1773, Salvador established himself as a planter on 7000 acres (28 km²) he acquired from his uncle. Salvador became involved with the American movement for independence and was elected to South Carolina's General Assembly within a year of arriving, the first Jew to hold that office in any of the English colonies in North America. He was just 27, and would hold the post until his death.(The History of the Jews in Spain by Jane S. Gerber.)

In 1774, Salvador was chosen to be a delegate to the revolutionary Provincial Congress of the colony, which first met in Charleston in January 1775. The group framed a bill of rights and composed an address to South Carolina's royal governor setting forth the colonists' complaints against the Crown. Salvador was appointed to a commission which negotiated with the Tories in the northern and western parts of the colony. The commission's primary goal was to ensure that these colonists would not actively aid the English crown.

The second Provincial Congress assembled in November of 1775, and Salvador pressed for its members to instruct the colony's delegation to the Continental Congress to cast their vote for independence. Salvador chaired the ways and means committee of this second Congress, at the same time serving on a select committee authorized to issue bills of credit as payment to members of the militia. He was also made part of a commission established to preserve the peace in the interior parts of South Carolina.

Death

The English Indian Agent, Alexander Cameron, was discussing with the Seneca, and other Indians, the pending hostilities between the colonists and Great Britain. What was said is debatable. The Cherokee say that he urged them to stay neutral since they could not distinguish a loyalist from a rebel (that would soon change). In 1776 the loyalists would place a peeled pole in the yard of their homes to identify themselves and they would be "Passed over" in the Indian raids (See, "Memoirs of Major Joseph McJunkin). I can find no reference to a July 1, 1775 attack by the Cherokee. Salvador may have raised the alarm due to loyalists' activities among the Indians that appeared just as threatening. Several witnesses did say that Cameron was inciting the Indians to join in the War on the side of the British. Subsequent activities bear this out. Salvador rode to the front lines with Colonel William Thomson, aiding the militia in the defense of the settlements.

The Cherokee may have just organized the ambush, when they learned of the approaching army, to defend their towns. They were defeated and their towns burned.

On the morning of August 1, Salvador was shot by a Cherokee. He was discovered after falling into some bushes, and was promptly scalped. He died, aged twenty-nine.

Concerning his death, Colonel William Thomson wrote to William Henry Drayton, in a letter dated "Camp, two miles below Keowee, August 4th, 1775", as follows: "Here, Mr. Salvador received three wounds; and, fell by my side...I desired [Lieutenant Farar], to take care of Mr. Salvador; but, before he could find him in the dark, the enemy unfortunately got his scalp: which, was the only one taken...He died, about half after two o'clock in the morning: forty-five minutes after he received the wounds, sensible to the last. When I came up to him, after dislodging the enemy, and speaking to him, he asked, whether I had beat the enemy? I told him yes. He said he was glad of it, and shook me by the hand – and bade me farewell – and said, he would die in a few minutes." Reference, "Documentary History of the American Revolution: Consisting of Letters and Papers Relating to the Contest for Liberty, Chiefly in South Carolina. (Vol. 1)" by Robert Wilson Gibbes, pp. 125-127. By November of 1775, Francis Salvador had alreay died in the above described events. If he did urge independence, as was probable at the time, it must have been at an earlier date.

As a side note, Salvador probably never learned that the delegation in Philadelphia had heeded his advice and voted for independence.

See also

• History of the Jews in Charleston, South Carolina

References