John Skey Eustace
He was arrested in Dover for his advice to the Dutch revolutionaries and subsequently expelled from England, after which he traveled to America and retired in New York.
Eustace was close to and corresponded with several of the Founding Fathers, however he was also regarded as a political adventurer of doubtful purpose and character.
[6] His daughter Margaret (1733-1809) was born on Islay (Inner Hebrides) and married at a young age to Dr. John Eustace (1720-1769), a colonial physician and justice of the peace who corresponded with Laurence Stern.
[9] In late 1775, Dunmore sent Eustace to Boston with a letter to Gen. William Howe recommending him for a post in the British army.
[11] After the Continental Army was reorganized Eustace served successively as an aide-de-camp to Charles Lee, Joseph Reed, John Sullivan (1777) and Nathanael Greene (1779).
[16][14][17] Eustace was taught the essentials of military drills, tactics, and discipline based on Prussian techniques by Von Steuben who protected him.
[10] He was involved in the Battle of the Chesapeake and appointed colonel on 29 August 1781 of the militia in State of Georgia by Nathan Brownson.
Having been informed that Sir Guy Carleton has ordered the restoration of such slaves as have left their owners and followed the British armies and fleet, he has appointed Colonel John Skey Eustace and Maj. Peter Deveaux as commissioner to arrange the business with General Leslie; asks for his friendly 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.
[33] They unsuccessfully tried to interest a friend of Miranda, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger, in a project for the liberation of Venezuela.
[34] Between 1789 and 1791, John S. Eustace lived in Bordeaux, and kept George Washington and Thomas Jefferson informed of the events of the French Revolution.
[35][36] With the support of the American consulate, he applied to the Minister of War (Marquis de Grave) with a request for naturalization and admission as a volunteer to the French army.
On 20 April 1792, Eustace was accepted into the French service with the rank of colonel and sent to Orchies, Valenciennes and Menen at the border.
[40][41] On 29 November, Eustace sent a letter to the commander of Maastricht demanding the surrender of French emigrants who had taken refuge in this Dutch city.
He then personally visited Maastricht, where he dined with Major General Prince von Hesse-Darmstadt, the German commander in Austrian service.
However, Eustace ignored the order and, claiming to be dangerously ill, retired to the Carmelite nuns at Tongerlo Abbey, where he successfully resisted an attempt to question and arrest him.
[50] On 12 May, Eustace, whose professed love for Miranda had turned into bitter hatred, openly avowed that he considered it an honor to detest the accused, whereupon Fouquier-Tinville promptly announced that his testimony could not be accepted.
[52] On 8 August he left the French army and asked the Comité de Sureté Générale for a passport to return to America.
[55] 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 Palais-Égalité left for Switzerland on an American passport with the help and in the company of Eustace.
[58] John Quincy Adams wrote several letters of introduction for Eustace, who wanted to return to the United States via the Netherlands.
He had been in contact with Rutger Jan Schimmelpenninck, Willem Anne Lestevenon, Carel Wouter Visscher and many other leading patriots about the future of the Batavian Republic.
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 Pieter Stadnitski).
[60] In June 1796 Eustace lived in Paris and was engaged in developing a plan for the "fraternal invasion of Ireland", scheduled in December, and the creation of a "French Gibraltar" on the coast of England.
[1] In June 1798 he asked the Constitutional Convention to be paid for military services rendered during the American Revolutionary War.
He offered a trunk containing all his papers, as well as personal as official to Alexander Hamilton who regarded him “a very unwelcome correspondent.”[80] He retired in Newburgh, New York.
