{"id":9211,"date":"2023-04-30T14:44:08","date_gmt":"2023-04-30T12:44:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tacotichelaar.nl\/wordpress\/?page_id=9211"},"modified":"2026-08-10T12:22:05","modified_gmt":"2026-08-10T10:22:05","slug":"john-skey-eustace","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/tacotichelaar.nl\/wordpress\/john-skey-eustace\/","title":{"rendered":"John Skey Eustace"},"content":{"rendered":"

John Skey Eustace<\/b>\u00a0(born 10 August, 1760 in\u00a0Flushing, Queens<\/a>, died 25 August 1805 in\u00a0Newburgh, New York<\/a>) was an officer and a veteran of both the American and French Revolutionary Wars.[1]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0A mercurial figure, Eustace was a revolutionary soldier, colonel of the\u00a0Continental Army<\/a>\u00a0(1781), and\u00a0mar\u00e9chal de camp<\/a>\u00a0in the\u00a0French Revolutionary Army<\/a>\u00a0between 1792 and 1793. In 1794 he supported the\u00a0Batavian revolution<\/a>\u00a0and arrested for a short time. In February 1797 he was expelled from France, suspected of spying for the British. He was arrested in Dover for his advise to the Dutch revolutionaries and subsequently expelled from England, after which he traveled to America retired in New York. Eustace regularly published his official and private correspondence. Eustace was close to and corresponded with several of the\u00a0Founding Fathers<\/a>, however he was also regarded as a political adventurer of doubtful purpose and character.[2]<\/a><\/sup>[3]<\/a><\/sup>[4]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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Life<\/span><\/h2>\n
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The\u00a0Wren Building<\/a>, at the\u00a0College of William & Mary<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

John Skey Eustace was the grandson of Colonel Lauchlin Campbell,[5]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0a Scottish immigrant living at\u00a0Campbell Hall<\/a>,\u00a0Orange County, New York<\/a>. From 1738-40 Campbell brought 83 families from Scotland to New York at his own expense on the false promise of land grants from the New York colonial governor\u00a0William Cosby<\/a>.\u00a0[6]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0His daughter Margaret (1733-1809) was born on\u00a0Islay<\/a>\u00a0(Inner Hebrides) and married at a young age to Dr. John Eustace (1720-1769), a colonial physician and\u00a0justice of the peace<\/a>\u00a0who corresponded with\u00a0Laurence Stern<\/a>.[7]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Around 1764 his father left his family and moved to\u00a0Wilmington, North Carolina<\/a>. John’s sister Kitty had become\u00a0Lord Dunmore<\/a>\u2019s mistress when she was still a teenager and he was governor of New York. On gaining his post in Virginia in 1771, Dunmore arrived with Kitty\u2019s mother and little brother in tow.[citation needed<\/span><\/a><\/i>]<\/sup>\u00a0Eustace grew up in\u00a0Norfolk, Virginia<\/a>, where his mother ran a boarding house.[8]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0She was friendly with\u00a0Thomas Burke<\/a>. Dunmore arranged for young John\u2019s education, first with a tutor and then at the College of William & Mary.[9]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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Several interpreters on Duke of Gloucester Street,\u00a0Colonial Williamsburg<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In late 1775, Dunmore sent Eustace to Boston with a letter to Gen.\u00a0William Howe<\/a>\u00a0recommending him for a post in the British army. His travel companion, a British officer, was concealing Lord Dunmore’s military plans.[10]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Somehow the fifteen-year-old ended up being marched to the headquarters of Gen. George Washington, the opposing commander-in-chief.[citation needed<\/span><\/a><\/i>]<\/sup>\u00a0He joined the\u00a0Continental Army<\/a>\u00a0during the\u00a0Siege of Boston<\/a>.[11]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0After the Continental Army was reorganized Eustace served successively as an\u00a0aide-de-camp<\/a>\u00a0to\u00a0Charles Lee<\/a>,\u00a0Joseph Reed<\/a>,\u00a0John Sullivan<\/a>\u00a0(1777) and\u00a0Nathanael Greene<\/a>\u00a0(1779).[12]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Eustace participated in the repulse of the\u00a0first British attack on Charleston<\/a>,\u00a0Battles of Trenton<\/a>,\u00a0Princeton<\/a>, and\u00a0Germantown<\/a>. In 1778 he was at the\u00a0siege of Newport<\/a>, during the military campaign of 1779 against the\u00a0Iroquois<\/a>\u00a0and loyalists on the New York border, known as the “Sullivan Expedition<\/a>“. General Lee regarded him as his adopted son and declared him as his heir,[13]<\/a><\/sup>[14]<\/a><\/sup>[15]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0but the handsome Eustace decided to desert the unpredictable Lee who lost the\u00a0Battle of Monmouth<\/a>. Lee was subsequently court-martialed and his military service was brought to an end. Lee was succeeded by\u00a0Von Steuben<\/a>.[16]<\/a><\/sup>[14]<\/a><\/sup>[17]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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\"Painting,<\/a><\/p>\n

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Baron von Steuben drilling troops at\u00a0Valley Forge<\/a><\/i>, by E.A. Abbey (c. 1904),\u00a0Pennsylvania State Capitol<\/a>, Harrisburg<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

Eustace was taught the essentials of military drills, tactics, and discipline based on Prussian techniques by Von Steuben who protected him.[18]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In 1779 Eustace proposed an interview with\u00a0Col. Archibald Campbell<\/a>, a respected and perhaps related\u00a0governor of Georgia<\/a>.[19]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In January 1780 he resigned from the army but not from war.[20]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He was involved in the\u00a0Battle of the Chesapeake<\/a>\u00a0and appointed colonel on 29 August 1781 of the militia in\u00a0State of Georgia<\/a>\u00a0by\u00a0Nathan Brownson<\/a>.[21]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In the same year he became adjutant general and assisted governor\u00a0Stephen Heard<\/a>.[22]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In he lived in\u00a0Augusta, Georgia<\/a>\u00a0and contacted\u00a0Governor Morris<\/a>.[23]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In 1782 he lived in\u00a0Ebenezer, Georgia<\/a>;[24]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0now a ghost town then the capital.<\/p>\n

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During the American Revolution, many Georgians and Carolinians moved to Florida along with their slaves. In December he was sent on a mission to Saint-Augustine,\u00a0East Florida<\/a>\u00a0to deal with the council (Gen. Tonyn<\/a>) on captured slaves.[25]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In March he returned to\u00a0Charlestown<\/a>.[a]<\/a><\/sup><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n

Having been informed that\u00a0Sir Guy Carleton<\/a>\u00a0has ordered the restoration of such slaves as have left their owners and followed the British armies and fleet, he has appointed Col. John Skey Eustace and Maj. Peter Deveaux as commissioner to arrange the business with\u00a0Gen. Leslie<\/a>; asks for his friendlyc cooperation with them and promises that they will comply with the rules of the etiquette of flags; expresses his admiration of the humanity shown by Sir Guy Carleton.[27]<\/a><\/sup><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

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On 6 May 1783, Carleton and George Washington met face to face for the first time after years of long-distance communication; Carleton made it clear to Washington that the ex-slaves would not be returned to their former masters.[28]<\/a><\/sup><\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n
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Viceroyalty of New Granada<\/a>\u00a0(in pink) and the province of Venezuela (in yellow) in 1742<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In September 1783, Britain accepted American independence, and the war officially ended. Eustace became a member of the\u00a0Society of the Cincinnati<\/a>\u00a0and practiced briefly as a lawyer.[12]<\/a><\/sup>[29]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He was invited to a general meeting of the Society in Philadelphia, in May 1784, but did not attend.[30]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Several times he had met with the well-informed lawyer\u00a0Francisco de Miranda<\/a>\u00a0travelling from North-Carolina to Massachusetts.[31]<\/a><\/sup>[32]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0At the end of 1783, Eustace sailed to Cuba, Trinidad and Venezuela to learn Spanish.[33]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He may have been influenced by the dynamic Miranda who had a secret project to emancipate the\u00a0Kingdom of Venezuela<\/a>\u00a0from Spanish rule. He then lived in Madrid, where he opened a snuff, cigar and tobacco shop. In 1787, he visited Havanna and London. With the encouragement of Miranda, he complained to the Spanish court about abuses he had suffered at the hands of colonial officials.[34]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0They unsuccessfully tried to interest a friend of Miranda, Prime Minister\u00a0William Pitt the Younger<\/a>, in a project for the liberation of\u00a0Venezuela<\/a>.[35]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

France<\/span><\/h3>\n

Between 1789 and 1791, John S. Eustace lived in Bordeaux, and kept\u00a0George Washington<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Thomas Jefferson<\/a>\u00a0informed of the events of the French Revolution.[36]<\/a><\/sup>[37]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0With the support of the\u00a0American consulate<\/a>, he applied to the Minister of War (Marquis de Grave<\/a>) with a request for naturalization and admission as a volunteer to the French army.[38]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Therefore he met mayor\u00a0P\u00e9tion de Villeneuve<\/a>, minister of war\u00a0Servan<\/a>, his successor\u00a0Bouchotte<\/a>\u00a0and minister of finance\u00a0Clavi\u00e8re<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On 20 April 1792, Eustace was accepted into the French service with the rank of colonel and sent to\u00a0Orchies<\/a>,\u00a0Valenciennes<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Menen<\/a>\u00a0at the border.[39]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0On 5 June, he was appointed in the staff of the\u00a0Northern Army<\/a>\u00a0(Arm\u00e9e de Belgique) under\u00a0Nicolas Luckner<\/a>.[40]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He refused to join\u00a0Marquis de LaFayette<\/a>, his successor.[39]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0The goal was to liberate\u00a0Austrian Netherlands<\/a>. Eustace was introduced to\u00a0Louis-Alexandre Berthier<\/a>. On 9 July he was promoted to\u00a0field marshal<\/a>\u00a0and on 7 September\u00a0brigadier general<\/a>\u00a0under\u00a0Charles-Francois Dumouriez<\/a>. He participated in the\u00a0battles of Valmy<\/a>\u00a0and the\u00a0Jemappes<\/a>, commanding an infantry brigade. On 20 November Eustace occupied the city of\u00a0Lier<\/a>\u00a0where he planted a\u00a0Tree of Liberty<\/a>\u00a0and ordered local authorities to rename the city square in honor of General Washington. He also issued instructions to rename various boulevards in the town in honor of himself, general Dumouriez and several French deputies.[41]<\/a><\/sup>[42]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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Entrance Tongerlo Abbey<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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Rouget – Fran\u00e7ois Miranda, g\u00e9n\u00e9ral de division \u00e0 l’arm\u00e9e du Nord en 1792 (1756-1816)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

On 29 November, Eustace sent a letter to the commander of Maastricht demanding the surrender of \u00a0French emigrants<\/a>\u00a0 who had taken refuge in the city. He then personally visited Maastricht, where he dined with Prince Frederick of Hesse-Kassel, governor of Maastricht. Eustace also maintained official and private correspondence with the prince, which he later claimed demonstrated their \u201cmutual Confidence and Esteem\u201d. In December, Dumouriez suspended Eustace from command on a charge of having insulted the prince. On 13 December, Francisco de Miranda succeeded him. Dumouriez ordered Eustace to report to Paris to explain his conduct before the National <\/a>Convention<\/a>. Eustace ignored the order and, claiming to be dangerously ill, retired to \u00a0Tongerlo Abbey<\/a> where he resisted an attempt to question and arrest him.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

On 1 February 1793 the\u00a0French First Republic<\/a>\u00a0declared war on\u00a0George III\u00a0 <\/a>of Great Britain and the William V of Orange.[43]<\/a><\/sup> The declaration presented the conflict as a war against the two rulers, rather than against the British and Dutch peoples. By mid-February Lazare Carnot<\/a>\u00a0proposed that annexation be undertaken on behalf of French interests whether or not the people to be annexed so wished.[44]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0It seems both Eustace and Miranda disagreed; on 14 March Eustace wrote a letter to Dumouriez.[45]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

After the French defeat at the Battle of Neerwinden (1793)<\/a> on 18 March, Eustace returned to Antwerp.[46]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 The defeat intensified the conflict between Dumouriez and the revolutionary government. On 20 March, Danton and \u00a0Delacroix<\/a> were sent to investigate his conduct.[47]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 Dumouriez eventually defected to the Austrians on 5 April.<\/p>\n

On 29 March, Eustace was brought to Paris by two gendarmes. On 6 April, he appeared before the Executive Council. On 22 April, Eustace petitioned for his release and the dismissal of the charges against him, invoking General Washington’s \u00a0Proclamation of Neutrality<\/a>.[49]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0 He was subsequently called as a witness in the proceedings against Miranda.<\/p>\n

An investigation followed into the military leadership of Miranda.\u00a0On 12 May, Eustace was called as a witness. When asked whether he knew the accused, he replied:<\/p>\n

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… he was asked the routine question, \u201cDo you know the accused?\u201d He replied, \u201cI have the honor of detesting the accused!\u201d Miranda wished him to be allowed to testify, anyhow, but this was not permitted.[50]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Fouquier-Tinville<\/a> ruled that Eustace’s testimony could not be admitted.[51]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

He then briefly worked for the Society of the Friends of Truth<\/a>, which opposed the elimination of the Girondists.[52]<\/a><\/sup>] On 8 August, he left the French army and applied to the \u00a0Comit\u00e9 de Suret\u00e9 G\u00e9n\u00e9rale<\/a>\u00a0 for a passport to return to the United States. He published a letter in Le Moniteur<\/a>,[53]<\/a><\/sup> and received compensation from the ministry for the loss of his horse and carriage and for his deprivation of liberty.54]<\/a><\/sup> Nevertheless, he remained in France.<\/p>\n

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Vue perspective du\u00a0palais royal<\/a>\u00a0du cot\u00e9 du jardin<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In June 1794, during the Great Terror, when all foreigners were under attack, the Dutch patriot\/emigre\/banker Jacob van Staphorst (1747-1812) who lived in an apartment at\u00a0Palais-\u00c9galit\u00e9<\/a>\u00a0left for Switzerland on an American passport with the help and in the company of Eustace.[55]<\/a><\/sup>[56]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Together they visited several cities, like Basel,\u00a0Schaffhausen<\/a>\u00a0and Luzern. In October the friends returned to Paris.[57]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0John Quincy Adams<\/a>\u00a0wrote several letters of introduction for Eustace, who wanted to return to the United States via the Netherlands.[58]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Eustace send five letters to his friend’s brother,\u00a0Nicolaas van Staphorst<\/a>, an influential patriot\/banker.[59]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Mid-October Van Staphorst fled to\u00a0Kampen<\/a>, where he found shelter at\u00a0Jacobus Kantelaar<\/a>.[60]<\/a><\/sup>[61]<\/a><\/sup>[b]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0This was after a request of removal of a British regiment and the discovery of a weapons cache (on Roeterseiland and in his warehouse near\u00a0Bickerseiland<\/a>).[63]<\/a><\/sup>[64]<\/a><\/sup>[65]<\/a><\/sup>[66]<\/a><\/sup>[67]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Netherlands<\/span><\/h3>\n

Mid-November Eustace arrived in Amsterdam;[57]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0a few days later the magistrates arrested and liberated him.[68]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Adams believed Eustace returned to the United States in December 1794,[69]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0but Eustace went to Paris.[70]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In Summer 1795 Eustace travelled with his friend William S. Dallam in the Netherlands.[71]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He was accused of meddling in political affairs and detained in\u00a0Scheveningen<\/a>. He had been in contact with\u00a0Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck<\/a>,\u00a0Willem Anne Lestevenon<\/a>,\u00a0Carel Wouter Visscher<\/a>\u00a0and many other leading patriots about the future of the\u00a0Batavian Republic<\/a>. Eustace advised organizing the local militia, the distribution of food and suggested the Dutch pay the French army, which happened in the summer of 1795 (see\u00a0Pieter Stadnitski<\/a>). After his release, he lived in Rotterdam and published his letters to Van Staphorst.[59]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

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Irish-Invasion by\u00a0Gillray<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

In June 1796 Eustace lived in Paris and was engaged in developing a plan for the “fraternal invasion of Ireland<\/a>“, scheduled in December, and the creation of a “French Gibraltar” on the coast of England.[72]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He participated in fruitless negotiations with the British envoy,\u00a0James Harris<\/a>. Eustace, housed at the Boston hotel, at the fashionable rue Vivienne, (2nd arrondissement of Paris<\/a>), came under the surveillance of the police. In February 1797 he was expelled from France, as the\u00a0Directory<\/a>\u00a0was suspicious that Eustace was spying for the British.[73]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0[74]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He moved to England (possibly together with Harris) but was arrested at Dover mid-February.[75]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He was invited in\u00a0Burlington House<\/a>\u00a0and interrogated on the book bearing his name. He was accused in\u00a0The Times<\/a>\u00a0and several other newspapers of supporting LaFayette, Dumouriez and the\u00a0Batavian revolution<\/a>.[76]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In early March he was ordered to leave England within 24 hours but was not allowed to leave for France. Eustace travelled to Gravesend, Greenwich and Dartford to “embark for any part of the world he may propose to go”. He published an offensive pamphlet, the\u00a0Exile of Major General Eustace.<\/i>[77]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He was angry at\u00a0Rufus King<\/a>, the new ambassador to Great Britain.[78]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0On 4 February 1798 he was arrested in the Hague, and wrote a letter abjuring his heresies.[1]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

In June 1798 he asked the\u00a0Constitutional Convention<\/a>\u00a0to be paid for military services rendered during the\u00a0American revolutionary war<\/a>.[14]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0In November he travelled to Savannah to settle his mother\u2019s business affairs. He offered a trunk containing all his papers, as well as personal as official to\u00a0Alexander Hamilton<\/a>\u00a0who regarded him \u201ca very unwelcome correspondent.\u201d[79]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0He retired in\u00a0Newburgh, New York<\/a>. In January 1805 he joined the\u00a0Benevolent Society of\u00a0Orange County<\/a><\/i>\u00a0but died in the same year.[80]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

Family<\/span><\/h2>\n

In 1772, Catherine “Kitty” Eustace married James Blair, the son of the Virginia governor\u00a0John Blair Sr.<\/a>. Kitty was a fine dancer.[81]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Their scandalous divorce trial later that year in Williamsburg became a battle over Blair’s estate after his death in 1773. Kitty Eustace was represented by\u00a0John Randolph<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0Patrick Henry<\/a>\u00a0while the estate was represented by\u00a0Edmund Pendleton<\/a>\u00a0and\u00a0James Mercer<\/a>\u00a0with written arguments prepared by\u00a0Thomas Jefferson<\/a>.[82]<\/a><\/sup>[83]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0Kitty Eustace then married\u00a0Seth John Cuthbert<\/a>\u00a0in February 1777. Cuthbert became Chairman of the\u00a0Supreme Executive Council of Georgia<\/a>\u00a0in 1779. Her mother\u2019s visits to Georgia during the British occupation aroused suspicions of espionage.[84]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n

John S. Eustace’s uncle, Donald Campbell (1722\u20131784), served as deputy\u00a0Quartermaster general<\/a>\u00a0of New York on the American side during the American Revolution.[85]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0His mother’s other brothers remained loyal and served in the British army. George Campbell (1724-1799) served in Gibraltar, Havana, Martinique, and Quebec during the Seven Years\u2019 War. James Campbell (1726- ) served as a lieutenant in the\u00a0Seven Years\u2019 War<\/a>\u00a0in the 42nd Regiment at Havana, Louisburg, Martinique, and Quebec.<\/p>\n

Works<\/span><\/h2>\n

Eustace was the author of several pamphlets,[86]<\/a><\/sup>\u00a0some designed to embarrass\u00a0James Monroe<\/a>:[2]<\/a><\/sup>[87]<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n