David Franks ( aide - de - camp ) David Salisbury Franks ( Philadelphia , Pennsylvania 1740 – 1793 , Philadelphia ) was aide - de - camp for General Benedict Arnold during the American War of Independence . He was living in Quebec with his parents when the American Revolution broke out . A Jew , Franks in 1775 was president of the Shearith Israel congregation of Montreal , the oldest Jewish congregation in Canada , but then less than a decade old . Franks ' congregation should not be confused with a similarly named congregation in New York . According to the late historian Jacob Rader Marcus , Franks publicly defended the right of a protester to compare King George III of England to the Pope and call him a fool , and Franks was jailed and held for 16 days . The experience converted him to the colonists ' cause , and , when an army led by Benedict Arnold and Richard Montgomery invaded Canada in 1775 , Franks joined the American forces . He was appointed paymaster of the Continental Army in Quebec and apparently expended his own funds to pay the salaries of the American volunteers . Franks was promoted to major and was assigned as Arnold ' s aide - de - camp . On the failure of the American campaign in Canada , Franks withdrew in July 1776 to Philadelphia , where he joined the Continental Army and served until October 1777 . Because he spoke French , Franks was then assigned as liaison officer to the Comte d ' Estaing , commander of the French naval forces fighting on the American side . Franks served as aide - de - camp to Arnold at West Point at the time of Arnold ' s attempt to hand over the fort to the British . He and another subordinate , Richard Varick , were both cleared of complicity in the treason . After Franks was returned to active duty , General George Washington had him assigned to his command . The other officers of Franks ' s own regiment started a whispering campaign against him . Seeking to clear his name definitively , Franks asked General Washington to initiate another court - martial , one that would investigate — rather than simply drop — the scurrilous charges against him . After a month - long investigation , the court issued a thorough report completely exonerating Franks . A promotion in rank immediately followed . Franks was entrusted to carry highly secret documents to diplomats Benjamin Franklin in Paris and John Jay in Madrid . In 1783 , Franks returned to Philadelphia , but soon left for Paris to deliver to Franklin the official copy of the peace treaty that ended the war and granted American independence . According to his accounts , Franks often paid more of his expenses than his young nation could afford to reimburse . At war ’ s end , Franks was made American vice - consul at Marseilles . In 1786 , he served as American envoy in the treaty negotiations between the United States and the potentates of Morocco . Despite his complete exoneration , the trust of Washington , and his long service to his country , Jeffersonian Republicans launched vicious attacks on Franks for his association with Arnold . In 1786 , the attacks succeeded and Franks was dismissed from the diplomatic corps . He returned to the United States discredited and bankrupt . Franks was given a grant of land for his services and a position in the Bank of the United States , but he died in poverty . After he succumbed to yellow fever in the great epidemic of 1793 in Philadelphia , he was saved from a pauper ' s grave by a neighbor , who had him interred in Christ Church Burial Ground . Franks was a member of the Society of the Cincinnati .