David Salisbury Franks (c.1740-1793)
Philadelphia, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
Distinguished Jewish officer and aide-de-camp to Gen. Benedict Arnold during the Revolutionary War. Thought to be complicit in Arnold's treason, Maj. Franks was later exonerated. A yellow fever victim, he was buried at Christ Church by a Christian neighbor.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
David Salisbury Franks was among the small number of Jewish officers to serve the American cause during the Revolution, rising to major and serving as aide-de-camp to General Benedict Arnold. When Arnold's treason was exposed, suspicion inevitably fell on the men closest to him, and Franks endured investigation before being formally cleared and going on to diplomatic service. He died in Philadelphia's 1793 yellow fever epidemic and, having no coreligionists to bury him, was laid to rest at Christ Church by a Christian neighbor.
Why it matters
His story threads together religious diversity in the Revolutionary ranks and the human wreckage of Arnold's betrayal, reminding us that loyalty was often proven only after it was doubted.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
The American Revolution was fought not only on battlefields but in the fragile, shifting loyalties of the people who served the cause. It was a war of uncertain outcomes and divided communities, where reputations could be made by courage and unmade by suspicion. Philadelphia, as the largest city in the colonies and a center of Continental government, sat at the heart of that world.
The Revolutionary ranks were more varied than popular memory often allows. Among those who took up the American cause were Jewish colonists, a small minority who nonetheless served and sacrificed for a nation still deciding what religious liberty would mean. Their presence is a quiet but real thread in the story of independence.
And the war did not end cleanly for those who lived through it. Philadelphia in the 1790s remained a crowded, vital city — the seat of the federal government for a time — but it was also vulnerable to the epidemics that swept early American ports. The last chapter of this marker's story belongs to that later, perilous decade.
People & events
David Salisbury Franks was among the small number of Jewish officers to serve the American cause, rising to the rank of major and serving as aide-de-camp to General Benedict Arnold. To be close to a commanding general was ordinarily a mark of trust and promise. In Franks's case, it became a source of anguish.
When Arnold's treason was exposed — his plot to betray the American position at West Point to the British — suspicion fell, as it inevitably does, on the men who had served closest to him. Franks was among those whose loyalty was questioned. He faced investigation and had to endure the ordeal of proving that he had not shared in his commander's betrayal. In time he was exonerated, formally cleared of complicity.
His life's final act came in 1793, when Philadelphia was struck by a devastating yellow fever epidemic that emptied the city and killed thousands. Franks was one of its victims. Having no coreligionists on hand to attend to his burial, he was laid to rest at Christ Church by a Christian neighbor — a small, human gesture at the end of a life shadowed by grand events.
Its place in the American story
Franks's story threads together two strands of the American founding that we too rarely hold side by side. The first is religious diversity: his service is a reminder that people of many faiths helped win independence, and that the promise of religious liberty in the new republic was tested in the lives of real individuals, not only in the words of documents.
The second is the human cost of Arnold's betrayal. Treason does not damage only its intended target; it poisons trust throughout the circle around the traitor. Franks paid a price for proximity, forced to defend a loyalty he had never abandoned. His eventual exoneration is a modest triumph of due process over suspicion.
And his death in the 1793 epidemic connects his story to another defining American ordeal. The yellow fever that swept Philadelphia struck the nation's leading city at the height of its importance, a reminder that the founders and their contemporaries lived constantly in the shadow of disease. His burial by a neighbor of another faith is, in its own quiet way, a founding-era image of shared humanity.
If you visit
This is a landmark marker in the heart of historic Philadelphia, and the setting itself carries the story. Christ Church and its burial ground are woven into the city's founding-era fabric, and the neighborhood remains dense with the places where the Revolution and the early republic played out.
Walk the surrounding streets and you are moving through the same compact district where Continental officers, statesmen, and ordinary citizens once crossed paths. It's an ideal stop on a walking route through Philadelphia's colonial and Revolutionary sites, where a great deal of consequential history sits within a few blocks.
Let the marker slow you down. Franks's life gathered up war, suspicion, vindication, and finally an epidemic — and it ended with a simple act of kindness across a religious divide. Standing here, in a city that was both the cradle of independence and the scene of that terrible fever, you can feel how closely triumph and hardship lived together in the young nation.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Plan your visit
NearbyMake a day of it — museums, food, and places to stay near this marker.
Museums & culture
- National Constitution Centernearby · 525 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Independence Visitor Center0.1 mi away · 599 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Museum of Illusions Philadelphia0.1 mi away · 401 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Weitzman National Museum of American Jewish History0.2 mi away · 101 South Independence Mall East, Philadelphia, PA
- African American Museum in Philadelphia0.2 mi away · 701 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Franklin Print Shop0.2 mi away · 320 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Attractions
- Benjamin Franklin Gravenearby
- U.S. Mint at Philadelphia Tournearby
- President's House0.2 mi away
- Liberty Bell0.2 mi away · 526 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Second Bank of the United States0.3 mi away · 420 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Carpenters' Hall0.3 mi away · 320 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
Food & drink
- Independence Mall Cafenearby · 50 North Independence Mall East, Philadelphia
- La Colombe Coffee Roasters0.2 mi away
- Bubble Tea Room0.2 mi away · 319 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- 3J's Cafe0.2 mi away · 317 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Fork0.2 mi away · 306 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
- PrimoHoagies0.2 mi away · 304 Market Street, Philadelphia, PA
Places to stay
- Wyndham Philadelphia Historic Districtnearby · 400 Arch Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Renaissance Philadelphia Downtown Hotel0.2 mi away · 401 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Best Western Plus Independence Park Hotel0.3 mi away · 237 Chestnut Street, Philadelphia, PA
- The Philadelphia House0.3 mi away · 17 North 2nd Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Apple Hostels Philadelphia0.3 mi away · 32 South Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
- Apple Hostels0.3 mi away · 33 Bank Street, Philadelphia, PA
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Related people
- · David Salisbury Franks
- · Benedict Arnold
Related events
- · American Revolutionary War
- · Arnold's treason
- · 1793 Philadelphia yellow fever epidemic
Themes & tags
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