David Humphreys (July 10, 1752 – February 21, 1818) was an American Revolutionary War colonel and aide de camp to George Washington, a secretary and intelligence agent for Benjamin Franklin in Paris, American minister to Portugal and then to Spain, entrepreneur who brought Merino sheep to America, and member of the Connecticut state legislature.

He was offered a position as a Yale instructor, which he refused and instead taught part-time at a New Haven private school run by his brother, Daniel.

In July 1776, Humphreys enlisted in the Continental Army as a volunteer adjutant in the 2nd Connecticut Regiment and was stationed in New York state.

He later was engaged in military action in the Battle of Ridgefield following the burning of Danbury, Connecticut and in a later raid on Sag Harbor, New York.

[4] In the Sag Harbor raid, the Continental Army captured 90 prisoners, destroyed 12 enemy brigs and sloops, an armed vessel and an enormous quantity of stores, and returned to Connecticut without the loss of a single soldier.

[7] Humphreys was promoted to captain and major and served on the staffs of Continental Army Generals Parsons, Israel Putnam, and Nathanael Greene.

[8] On June 23, 1780, Humphreys was appointed aide-de-camp at Washington's headquarters staff, and he became a confidential friend and adviser to the general.

[10] When Washington resigned his commission and presented himself before Congress, Humphreys was one of two aides who accompanied him into the chamber; the other was Benjamin Walker.

[14] In a letter of introduction to Franklin, Washington described Humphreys, writing: "This gentleman was several years in my family as aide-de-camp -- his zeal in the cause of his country -- his good sense, prudence and attachment to me, rendered him dear to me; and I persuade myself you will find no confidence which you may think proper to repose in him, misplaced.

He possesses an excellent heart, good natural and acquired abilities and -- sterling integrity -- to which may be added sobriety and an obliging disposition.

At Washington's invitation, Humphreys stayed at Mount Vernon during the 1780s, acting as the general's private secretary and managing his correspondence.

When Washington took the oath of office in New York City after being elected the nation's first president in 1792, Humphreys accompanied him on the trip from Mount Vernon and stood beside him during the ceremony.

Humphreys established evening and Sunday schools for his employees and organized them into a uniformed military company, which he drilled personally.

"Humphreys considered their fleece of a superior quality and believed that their mixture with American sheep would eventually result in the production, through manufacture, of finer fabrics in America," his biographer wrote.

Coats made from the "golden fleece" were worn by President Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Captain Isaac Hull.

[8] He was one of the writers in the Hartford Wits; other members included Joel Barlow, Timothy Dwight IV, John Trumbull, and Lemuel Hopkins.

[29] In 1786, Humphreys wrote an account of the confinement and proposed execution of British Captain Charles Asgill for the New-Haven Gazette.