David Humphreys ( soldier ) David Humphreys ( July 10 , 1752 – February 21 , 1818 ) was an American Revolutionary War colonel and aide de camp to George Washington , American minister to Portugal and then to Spain , entrepreneur who brought Merino sheep to America and member of the Connecticut state legislature . A poet and author , he was one of the " Hartford Wits . " Early life . Humphreys ' father was parson of the church from 1733 , the year after he graduated from Yale , to 1787 — a run of 54 years . Daniel Humphreys was the second husband of Sarah Riggs Bowers , known in Derby as " Lady Humphreys " for her " dignity and refinement of character , " according to author Leo T . Molloy . As a boy , Humphreys was passionately fond of books . His father prepared both him and his brother , Daniel , for his own " alma mater , " Yale College , and entered both of them there . David was 15 years old when he entered the school and 19 when he graduated in 1771 with distinguished honors . While at Yale , he was a member of the Linonian Society . Among his college friends were Timothy Dwight IV , who later became one of Yale ' s great presidents ; John Trumbull , poet and lawyer ( not the artist ) ; and Joel Barlow , poet and diplomat . After graduation , Humphreys became principal at the public school in Wethersfield , Connecticut for two years . He then worked as a tutor for the youngest of the 11 children of Col . Frederick Philipse at the Philipse Manor house in what is now Yonkers , New York . Philipse was a prominent and outspoken Tory — which only roused the tutor ' s Patriot leanings . In 1774 Humphreys returned to New Haven , received a master of arts degree from Yale and was offered a position as an instructor , which he refused . He instead taught part - time at a private school run by his brother , Daniel , in New Haven . ( Two contemporaries who also taught school in their early careers were John Adams and Nathan Hale . ) American Revolution . In July 1776 , Humphreys enlisted in the Continental Army as a volunteer adjutant in the 2nd Connecticut Regiment , then stationed in New York . The regiment consisted of several companies of Derby men . He later saw action in the battle following the burning of Danbury , Connecticut and in a later raid on Sag Harbor , New York . In that raid the Americans 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 . Humphreys was detailed to report the success directly to General Washington in New Jersey . It was probably the first meeting between the two . Humphreys was promoted to captain and major . He served on the staffs of General Parsons , Israel Putnam and Nathanael Greene . On June 23 , 1780 , Humphreys was appointed aide - de - camp of Washington ' s headquarters staff , and he became a confidential friend and adviser to the general . After the Battle of Yorktown , Washington entrusted the surrendered British colors , along with the general ' s report on the battle , to Humphreys and another aide for delivery to Congress . A painting of Humphreys arriving with them , titled " The Delivery of the Standards ' to the Continental Congress in Philadelphia , November , 1781 , " now hangs at the headquarters of the New Haven Museum and Historical Society , which also has a ceremonial sword that Congress voted be presented to Humphreys . The sword was presented in 1786 by Gen . Henry Knox . Humphreys was also commissioned a lieutenant - colonel , with his commission backdated to his appointment as an aide to Washington . 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 Tench Tilghman ) . Humphreys then traveled with Washington and Martha Washington back to Mount Vernon . Washington later recommended to Congress that it appoint Humphreys secretary of foreign affairs ( the appointment went to John Jay instead ) . Public service in the new nation . Humphreys was appointed to a commission to negotiate treaties of commerce with European nations . Other members of the commission were John Adams , Thomas Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin . In a letter of introduction to Franklin , Washington described Humphreys : " 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 . " Back in Derby by 1786 , Humphreys was elected to the October session of the Connecticut General Assembly . He was appointed head of the state militia and marched to West Springfield , Massachusetts to help deal with the civil strife and tumult of Shays ' Rebellion , but by the time he had arrived , Massachusetts authorities were already in control of the situation . In 1787 his mother died on July 27 and his father on September 2 . At Washington ' s invitation , Humphreys stayed at Mount Vernon for a time , acting as the general ' s private secretary . When Washington , elected president , took the oath of office in New York City , Humphreys accompanied him on the trip from Virginia and stood beside him during the ceremony . In 1791 , Humphreys had the distinction of being the first minister appointed to a foreign country under the Constitution , when he was appointed minister to Portugal , the first neutral country to recognize the United States . In that post he negotiated the ransomed release of American prisoners from the Dey of Tripoli . In 1796 he was appointed as minister to Spain , which then controlled the Mississippi River and all of Latin America except for Brazil . John Quincy Adams succeeded him in Lisbon . He remained minister to Spain until 1801 , and during his stay there met and married Anne Frances Bulkeley , a cultured and wealthy English woman . Her father , John Bulkeley , was a banker , merchant and trader . Entrepreneur . The couple moved to Boston , where they bought a home on Chestnut Street on Beacon Hill and " entertained lavishly . " But Humphrey bought a farm in Derby and managed to spend considerable time there . He also bought a factory in what is now Seymour , Connecticut that produced scythes and other iron tools . For a time , the community was called " Humphreysville . " Having seen poor conditions in mills in England , he was determined to avoid a similar situation in his Rimmons Falls plant in Seymour . He took in many boys from New York City at the mill , training , educating and clothing them . Humphreys established evening and Sunday schools for the boys and organized them into a uniformed military company which he drilled personally . " It was largely through his efforts that the state inaugurated its efforts at factory inspection , " according to Leo Molloy . As a farmer , he was actively interested in agricultural improvements , and his farm became an experimental station . He helped found the Agriculture Society of Connecticut and became its first president . Merino sheep . In 1802 , Humphreys bought a herd of merino sheep in Spain and had them imported directly to Derby . Out of 25 rams and 75 ewes , five rams and two ewes died in the passage . They attracted a good deal of attention in town . " 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 . " He sold some of the sheep , which then were resold in a flurry of speculation . He set up the first successful woollen mill factory in the new country , and it quickly achieved the reputation as the best producer of broadcloth in the United States . Coats made from the " golden fleece " were worn by President Thomas Jefferson , James Madison and Captain Isaac Hull . Humphreys " is regarded as the founder of the woollen industry " in America . Poet and author . Humphreys enjoyed writing and had a voluminous correspondence with Washington , now in the Library of Congress . He also wrote for the public and was the author of a " Life of General Israel Putnam , " whose staff he served on . He was one of the writers called the " Hartford Wits " ( the others were Joel Barlow , Timothy Dwight IV , John Trumbull and Lemuel Hopkins ) . In 1802 , he wrote an anti - slavery poem entitled " A Poem on the Industry of the United States of America . " He also served again as a member of the Connecticut state house of representatives , from 1812 to 1814 . He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of London in June 1807 Last years . He died in his room at Butler ' s Tavern , in New Haven , Connecticut , where he stayed when he was attending to affairs in Derby , and was interred at Grove Street Cemetery .