Oliver Pollock (1737,
Bready,
County Tyrone
County Tyrone (; ) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland, one of the nine counties of Ulster and one of the thirty-two traditional counties of Ireland. It is no longer used as an administrative division for local government but retai ...
, Northern Ireland – December 17, 1823,
Pinckneyville, Mississippi
Pinckneyville is an unincorporated community in Wilkinson County, Mississippi. Its elevation is 239 feet (73 m).
The town was named for the prominent Pinckney family of South Carolina, from which many of its settlers came. Charles Pinckney help ...
) was a merchant and financier of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, of which he has long been considered a historically undervalued figure. He is often credited with inventing the U.S.
Dollar sign
The dollar sign, also known as peso sign, is a symbol consisting of a capital " S" crossed with one or two vertical strokes ($ or ), used to indicate the unit of various currencies around the world, including most currencies denominated "p ...
in 1778.
Early life
Pollock sailed to North America at the age of 23 in 1760 with his father from his native Ireland to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
. He settled in
Cumberland County, Pennsylvania. Two years later, he began his career as a merchant, trading from port-to-port with the Spaniards in the
West Indies
The West Indies is a subregion of North America, surrounded by the North Atlantic Ocean and the Caribbean Sea that includes 13 independent island countries and 18 dependencies and other territories in three major archipelagos: the Greate ...
, and was headquartered in
Havana, Cuba. It was here that he became close with the Governor-General
Alejandro O'Reilly
Alejandro O'Reilly, 1st Count of O'Reilly, KOA (; October 24, 1723 in Baltrasna, Co. Meath, Ireland – March 23, 1794 in Bonete, Spain), English: Alexander, Count of O'Reilly, Irish: ''Alastar Ó Raghallaigh, ''was an Irish-born military refo ...
. O'Reilly was later made the Governor of Louisiana by
the King of Spain.
Pollock began working as a merchant in
and, through his relationship with O'Reilly, was favorably received by
Spanish Louisiana
Spanish Louisiana ( es, link=no, la Luisiana) was a governorate and administrative district of the Viceroyalty of New Spain from 1762 to 1801 that consisted of a vast territory in the center of North America encompassing the western basin of t ...
's officials, who granted him free trade within the city. He became the most successful businessman in the city as a result of the scarcity of provisions at the time, bringing in a desperately needed shipment of flour. However instead of taking advantage of the colonists, Pollock sold the flour for half the going price. In 1770 he married Margaret O'Brien of New Orleans, with whom he had eight children before her death in 1799.
By the outbreak of the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was a major war of the American Revolution. Widely considered as the war that secured the independence of t ...
, Pollock had become very wealthy and had significant political influence. Pollock stayed in New Orleans for eight years and also worked as a plantation owner and selling land in
Baton Rouge.
Revolutionary War period
Oliver Pollock, a friend of the governor of Louisiana, served in April of
1776
Events January–February
* January 1 – American Revolutionary War – Burning of Norfolk: The town of Norfolk, Virginia is destroyed, by the combined actions of the British Royal Navy and occupying Patriot forces.
* Januar ...
as a secret mediator between
Luis de Unzaga
Luis de Unzaga y Amézaga (1717–1793), also known as Louis Unzaga y Amezéga le Conciliateur, Luigi de Unzaga Panizza and Lewis de Onzaga, was governor of Spanish Louisiana from late 1769 to mid-1777, as well as a Captain General of Venezuela ...
and the
Founding Fathers Patrick Henry
Patrick Henry (May 29, 1736June 6, 1799) was an American attorney, planter, politician and orator known for declaring to the Second Virginia Convention (1775): " Give me liberty, or give me death!" A Founding Father, he served as the first a ...
and
Robert Morris in order to bring the first secret aids for the birth of the
United States of America
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territo ...
. In 1777 he was appointed "commercial agent of the United States at New Orleans", making him the representative of the colonies in the city. He used his fortune to finance American operations in the west, and the
successful campaign of General
George Rogers Clark in Illinois 1778 occurred with his financial support. In the same year, he borrowed $70,000 from Spanish Louisiana's Governor
Bernardo de Gálvez
Bernardo Vicente de Gálvez y Madrid, 1st Count of Gálvez (23 July 1746 – 30 November 1786) was a Spanish military leader and government official who served as colonial governor of Spanish Louisiana and Cuba, and later as Viceroy of New Sp ...
, but the financial needs of the country at the time left him with a loss. In September of that year, Pollock introduced Col. David Rogers and Capt.
Robert Benham (politician)
Captain Robert Benham (November 17, 1750 – February 6, 1809), was a frontier pioneer, served in local government and was a member of the first elected legislature for the State in Ohio, 1799 & 1800.
Family
Benham was born in Monmouth County ...
to the Governor. Rogers was delivering an important letter from Patrick Henry from Virginia. This meeting led to Spain joining the war against England.
Pollock served as Gálvez's aide-de-camp during the Spanish campaign against the British that began with the Spanish declaration of war in June 1779. Gálvez and the Spanish troops swept through the future
states of Louisiana, Alabama, and Florida, defeating the British with the
capture of Fort Bute
The Capture of Fort Bute signalled the opening of Spanish intervention in the American Revolutionary War on the side of France and the United States. Mustering an ad hoc army of Spanish regulars, Acadian militia, and native levies under Gilbert ...
and campaigning through the victorious
siege of Pensacola
The siege of Pensacola was a siege fought in 1781, the culmination of Spain's conquest of the British province of West Florida during the Gulf Coast campaign.
Background
When Spain entered the War in 1779, Bernardo de Gálvez, the energeti ...
in 1781. Pollock's diplomacy assisted in the surrender of
Fort Panmure
Fort Rosalie was built by the French in 1716 within the territory of the Natchez Native Americans and it was part of the French colonial empire in the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi.
Early history
As part of the peace terms that ...
(future
Natchez, Mississippi).
In 1783 he was appointed an agent by the United States in Havana, where he would be imprisoned for his debts a year later, amounting to $150,000. In 1785 he was released on parole and returned to
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania#Municipalities, largest city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the List of United States cities by population, sixth-largest city i ...
, where he met a sympathetic
Robert Morris, another financier of the war who had also incurred debts as a result. Morris however had collected a sum of money to buy Pollock time from his debtors. Both Congress and the state of Virginia had continually refused to clear his debts from the war, until 1791 when Congress passed an act discharging them, but in the same year he would return in poverty to Cumberland County.
Late life
Pollock ran for Congress three times, but was not elected, despite garnering the popular vote. In 1800 he again found himself in debt, but within a few years had accumulated property. He owned plantation land in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana including
Trudeau House
Trudeau House, near Tunica in West Feliciana Parish, Louisiana, was built in about 1830. It is a two-story brick and frame building with "hesitant touches of the Greek Revival style." It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places ...
. He remarried in 1805, to Winifred Deady; they had no children. He finally retired in 1819 to Pinckneyville, Mississippi to the home of his daughter Mary, wife of Dr. Samuel Robinson, dying in 1823. His burial site is located in the family cemetery there, although his portraits and personal effects were lost in a fire during the Civil War.
Legacy
In addition to his unintended influence on the uptake of the dollar sign to represent the US dollar, Pollock is depicted in a large public sculpture in downtown
Baton Rouge, Louisiana. His life is also commemorated on a plaque nearby.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pollock, Oliver
1737 births
1823 deaths
Financiers of the American Revolution
Kingdom of Ireland emigrants to the Thirteen Colonies
Patriots in the American Revolution
People from County Tyrone