David Humphreys (1752 - 1818)

David Humphreys

David Humphreys was an American soldier, statesman, diplomat, writer, poet, and biographer.

He received his bachelor's degree from Yale University, where he became a member of the Hartford Witters and taught, and went to serve in the Continental Army in the summer of 1776.

A close friend and aide to George Washington, Humphreys was an eyewitness and active participant in the early years of the United States. During his long career, Col. David Humphreys served as a soldier, secretary, diplomat, and was a writer, poet, orator, biographer, and industrialist. His speeches, poems, literary works, and correspondence with Washington and others of the founding generation serve as a valuable source for historians of the early republic in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries.

Because of his intelligence and diligence, David Humphreys had a long record of service and held many public offices, among others serving as U.S. minister to Spain from 1797 to 1801. He was a member of the Royal Society of London and the American Antiquarian Society.