drew, when I commanded the Virginia troops in the Illinois conquest, upon Mr. Oliver Pollock, agent for the United States at New Orleans, were considered by me to be for specie, as the respective bills expressed in dollars; and that the service Mr. Pollock rendered upon all occasions in paying these bills I considered at the same time, and now, to be one of the happy circumstances that enabled me to keep possession of that country. Given under my hand this day, at New York, the 2d July, 1785. GEORGE R. CLARK."

Limited space will not permit the introduction of still more evidence to prove the claim advanced above, that, next to General Clark himself, the honor of the Illinois conquest is due to Oliver Pollock. The question will naturally arise, Who was Oliver Pollock?

About the year 1760 Jaret Pollock emigrated from near Coleraine, Ireland, to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, accompanied by his sons James and Oliver, and probably John. Oliver Pollock, born circa 1737, removed in 1762 or 1763 to Havana, Cuba, and engaged in mercantile pursuits in connection with an eminent business house in that city. He soon mastered the Spanish language, married an Irish lady of Havana, and thus probably identified himself with the Roman church. Through the influence of one of the priests, Father Butler, president of the Jesuit college, he won the friendship of O'Reilly, governor-general of Cuba. When France conceded Louisiana to Spain in 1762, Pollock opened commercial relations with New Orleans, and removed there in 1767. He soon established a high reputation in commercial circles, extending his trade to England, Spain, France, and the Atlantic coast of America. In 1769, when O'Reilly became governor of Louisiana, his arrival with three thousand troops at New Orleans threatened that little town with famine, so that flour advanced to thirty dollars a barrel. On the day when the last barrel was sold at that price, Pollock most opportunely arrived at New Orleans with his vessel laden with bread-stuff. As soon as he learned of the suffering of the famished people, he promptly placed his entire cargo of flour at the governor's disposal, bidding him to fix his own value upon it, which offer was as promptly and generously refused. Pollock, in his narrative of the incident, states, "I then said that as the king had three thousand troops there, and the inhabitants were in distress for flour, I did not mean to take advantage of that distress, and I offered my flour at fifteen dollars or thereabouts per barrel, which he readily agreed to, and observed that he would make a note of it to the king his master, and that I should have a free trade there as long as I lived; and I did enjoy

VOL. XXII.-No. 5.-29

that privilege so long as I stayed in the country." Thus he laid the foundation of his large fortune.

Pollock's relations to the various governors of Louisiana were those of personal friendship. His intimacy with them, his energy, courage, business sagacity, and integrity gave him a widely extended influence. His attachment to the united colonies when the war for the independence began was sincere and enthusiastic, and he rendered them many services secretly and effectively. An incident which shows the estimation in which he was held is worthy of note. When John Bernard de Galvez succeeded Louis Unzaga, as royal governor of Louisiana in 1777, the latter introduced Pollock to the former as a personal friend. I give it as Pollock narrated it. "After he had introduced me and got into his carriage at Don Galvez's door, he suddenly came out again and observed to me that he had forgotten the principal part of his business, and that I must go in with him to Don Galvez again, upon which he observed to Don Galvez that as he (Galvez) was lately from the court of Spain he must know the intentions of the court-whether they were going to take part with Great Britain, or with France and the American rebels; observing at the same time that if the court of Spain was going to take part with Great Britain, Oliver Pollock should not remain in the country twenty-four hours; but if they were going to take part with France, Oliver Pollock was the only man in the colony he could confide in, meaning as an English merchant.'

Pollock's reputation as a financier and zealous patriot had become so well known in Philadelphia that on the 12th of June, 1777, the secret committee-Franklin, Morris, and Lee-appointed him commercial agent of the United States at New Orleans, directing him to ship at once to Philadelphia $50,000 worth of goods, blankets, etc., for the army. Later in the year the governor of Virginia also appointed him the special agent of that colony. He held this responsible position with fidelity until 1783, having during those years advanced to the United States and Virginia on the basis of his own credit over $300,000 in specie.

It is well known that the credit of the united colonies was so impaired during the Revolutionary war that their paper money was worthless, and specie was beyond their reach. The scarcity of the latter extended even to Louisiana. The colonies were unable to fulfill their pledges. Naturally enough their failure embarrassed Pollock. In reply to his appeal for remittances, the secret committee wrote him, July 19, 1779, recognizing his claims, his sacrifices, and his faithfulness to duty, but lamenting their inability to make good any promises. In the Calendar of Virginia State Papers occurs a letter from Pollock of May 4, 1780, to John Todd, county

lieutenant of Illinois, in which he says: "By this I have received a bill on France for £65,8145% for my advance made to Virginia in 1778, but I am unable to negotiate it at New Orleans on account of the great scarcity of specie, which will continue until a supply can be gotten from Havana. This gives me great concern, because it prevents my using the bills of General Clarke and other officers." In January, 1782, he appealed through his attorney, Daniel Clark, to Governor Harrison of Virginia, for payment of his claim for $139,739.1%, money advanced to the western troops in Illinois. He stated that he was then in debt for upward of $80,000 which he had borrowed for Virginia. In May, 1782, he again appealed to Governor Nelson of Virginia, stating that he had been obliged to sell his landed estate, slaves, dwelling-house, and stores, to meet bills drawn by order of the state of Virginia. His appeals met with no substantial response. Virginia was really in no condition to liquidate her indebtedness.

In 1783 Pollock was appointed United States agent at Havana, whither also his friend Governor Galvez had been transferred. He left New Orleans, however, indebted to the royal treasury $151,696 for moneys advanced to the United States colonies, for which no reimbursement had yet been received from the secret committee. In May, 1784, the Virginia bills on France, which he had paid with his own means, were sent to Havana for collection. Not having the money to take them up, Pollock was arrested for the debt and kept in close custody for eighteen months until the arrival of Governor Galvez, through whose influence he was released on executing a bond to pay the Spanish minister, on his arrival in Philadelphia, the sum of $151,696. In December, 1785, congress awarded him $90,000, but there was no money in the treasury and it was not paid until 1791.

Meanwhile he was not idle. When he left New Orleans, in 1783, he left a friend," Mr. Patterson, as a hostage for his debts contracted to Spanish officers and subjects on account of the United States and the state of Virginia, and particularly in serving to secure the conquest of the Illinois country." Failing to secure the money awarded him by congress, he resolved to return to New Orleans and relieve his hostage. He fitted out a vessel in Philadelphia, loaded it with flour, sailed to Martinique, disposed of his cargo, laid in another, sailed to New Orleans, and again engaged in mercantile pursuits with such diligence and good fortune that in 1790 he was enabled to pay all his debts and to return to Philadelphia a free man,

He bore with him the most flattering testimonials from Estevan Miro, then governor of Louisiana. One of these, addressed to the governor of Virginia, states the fact that "Mr. Pollock, in the execution of his orders as agent of the United States and the state of Virginia, had contracted

very considerable debts in New Orleans which he was unable wholly to discharge although he disposed of all his estate, real and personal, in this country, at a great disadvantage, for the purpose of fulfilling his engagements with his creditors in this province. Mr. Pollock has, since his arrival here, very honorably and to the entire satisfaction of his creditors in this province, discharged all his remaining debts to a considerable amount, which he owed on account of the United States and the state of Virginia. The just integrity evinced by this gentleman in the faithful discharge of his engagements entered into for the service of his country strongly interests me in his favor, and induces me to pray you will have the goodness to take him under your excellency's protection, and that you will be pleased to give him your aid in obtaining as speedy a reimbursement as may be for the moneys now due to him from the United States and the state of Virginia, which I shall esteem a personal favor conferred upon myself."

In 1792 Pollock returned to Cumberland county, Pennsylvania, called "Silver Springs," and bought a large estate near Carlisle. He was several times a candidate for congress. He was an active member of the Friendly Sons of St. Patrick, in Philadelphia, and an original member of the Hibernian society. He died at Pinckneyville, Mississippi, December 17, 1823, at the home of his son-in-law, D. Samuel Robinson, and at a great age.

The state of Virginia eventually returned to Pollock every cent that he had advanced in response to her demands; but as that eminent Virginian, William Wirt Henry, has justly said, "She owes him a debt of gratitude that has remained too long unpaid." The United States still owes him a pecuniary debt as justly due as that which François Vigo claimed, and based on evidence even more incontrovertible. Surely when we consider the immense value to the United States of that vast territory which George Rogers Clark, with Virginia's troops and Oliver Pollock's money, wrested from the possession of Great Britain, covering the states of Ohio, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, and Missouri, how shall we estimate the part which Pollock played in that great drama? If Colonel "Vigo's name is enrolled with DeKalb and Steuben and Lafayette" because he supplied Clark with $12,000 in specie, it is not too much to say that Pollock's name should be enrolled with Morris and others whose aid in securing the independence of the colonies was as essential to success as was the military genius of Washington and Greene.

Horace Edwin Hayden

WILKESBARre, PennsylVANIA.

THRILLING STORY OF A BRITISH SURGEON'S EXPERIENCE

IN THE REVOLUTION

[From Hugh Gaines' New York Gazette of January 10, 1777. A copy of this newspaper was recently found as the lining to a compartment where valuable documents have been lying folded for considerably more than a century.]

"Doctor Smith, late of Maryland, who has been a Prisoner among the Rebels ever since Nov. 1775, having lately escaped from them, has favored us with the following Narrative or Journal, which is so well authenticated, that it may be firmly relied on as Truth.

NARRATIVE OR JOURNAL

Of Dr. John F. D. Smith, Captain and Surgeon in the Queen's Royal Rangers, who was taken Prisoner by the Rebels in Nov. 1775, and lately escaped from them, and arrived here in the Daphne.

As the Public, and especially many Persons in a high Station can have but little Idea of the Sufferings of those unhappy People who have had the misfortune to fall into the Hands of the Rebels, especially if they have ever been active against them, I think it a Duty incumbent on me to publish the following plain Narrative of facts, every Tittle of which can be well attested. At the same Time disclaiming every intention of rendering the Condition of these deluded and mistaken Men, who are Prisoners, any worse. It would be unworthy of the British Arms to retaliate Cruelty, and it is far from my Disposition to wish it, altho' no Person can be more principled against the Rebels than I have been since the Beginning of the Rebellion, and I have suffered in Property and in Person as much as any one whose Life has been spared, having had my whole Property sold and confiscated, and being often reduced to the Brink of the Grave. Yet to show, that they complain of our Treatment of their Prisoners with a very bad Grace, it is almost necessary to make this Public.

On the Night of the 19th Nov. 1775, Col. Connolly, Lieutenant Cameron, and myself, were made Prisoners in Frederick County, Maryland, over the Blue Ridge of Mountains, by 36 Riflemen, who rushed suddenly into our Room, and with cock'd Rifles presented at us in Bed, obliged us to surrender. They, without the least Provocation, abused us with every opprobrious Epithet Language is capable of. We were then carried to a Committee in Hagar's Town, and examined separately, after being searched for Papers. This Committee was ignorant, rude and abusive, and sent us under a strong Guard to Frederick Town for farther Examination.