The Journals of Major Samuel Shaw: The First American Consul at Canton: With a Life of the Author
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Samuel Shaw was an American Revolutionary officer. He was the first United States consul to China.
Background
He was born on October 2, 1754 in Boston, Massachussets, United States, the son of Francis and Sarah (Burt) Shaw. It is said that his grandfather, Thomas Shaw, emigrated from Scotland the third quarter of the seventeenth century. Samuel's father was a prosperous merchant.
Career
At the outbreak of the Revolution he obtained a commission as second-lieutenant in the artillery. He served during the siege of Boston and at its conclusion accompanied the army to New York. For a time he was stationed at Fort Washington. He participated in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth, and shared in the sufferings of Valley Forge.
During the remainder of the war, he served principally in New York and New England. He was promoted to the rank of first lieutenant in the 3rd Continental Artillery on January 1, 1777, and became captain on April 12, 1780. During much of the war he was aide-de-camp to General Knox. It was his fortune in the latter capacity to be present when Washington took possession of New York after its evacuation by the British and to assist in arranging for the disbandment of the Continental Army. He was secretary of the committee of officers that formed the Society of the Cincinnati.
On retiring to civil life, he was commended by Washington for intelligence, activity, and bravery. His capacity for business, demonstrated while in the army, led a group of merchants, bent upon establishing commercial relations with the Orient, to offer him the post of supercargo on the Empress of China, the first American vessel dispatched to Canton. He set sail in February 1784 and returned in May 1785.
He was appointed by General Knox to a place in the war department. He had in the meantime addressed a letter to John Jay, the secretary of foreign affairs, describing his voyage, and in 1786 he had the honor of being elected by Congress the first American consul in China.
Resigning his position in the war department, he set sail for Canton in February 1786. After an absence of three years he returned to the United States. His appointment as consul was renewed by President Washington. He sailed for China again in 1790 on board the Massachusetts, one of the finest merchantmen of the day, which had been built at his direction near Quincy, Massachussets. After selling the vessel to agents of the Portuguese government in the East Indies, he invested the proceeds in a return cargo and arrived in the United States in January 1792.
In 1793 he embarked on his third and last voyage to the Orient. While visiting Bombay, he developed a disease of the liver. Finding no cure at Canton, he took passage for America and died near the Cape of Good Hope.