Salvador Memorial
Historic Site

Memorial of Francis Salvador

Francis Salvador, the first Jewish person to die in the Revolutionary War, was a London-born pioneer who moved to South Carolina in 1773. A vocal supporter of independence, he became the first Jewish person to hold political office in the state. Known as the "Southern Paul Revere," Salvador warned of attacks during the war but tragically died in an ambush in 1776 at just 29 years old, leaving behind a legacy of courage and commitment to freedom.

Charleston
189 Coming St Charleston, SC 29403
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The memorial to Francis Salvador stands as a reminder of the sacrifice that many Jewish Americans made during the War of Independence. Salvador was a practicing Jewish man from London, who moved to the colonies in 1773 to develop his family's landholdings in the Ninety Six district of the Carolinas. Quickly, he began making influential friends throughout the Carolinas, which ended up finding him swept up in the independece fervor early on during his stay in the colony. As a result of his friendships and influential status as a planter, Salvador became the first professing Jew to hold representative office in the colonies through the Provincial Congress of South Carolina in 1774 and 1775. When war reached South Carolina in 1776, Salvador helped lead a militia unit to thward Native American attacks in Ninety Six, also gaining the nickname of the "Southern Paul Revere." However, on the first of August, 1776, Salvador was tragically killed in a combined Loyalist and Cherokee ambush. Having been shot in battle, his head was subsequently scalped by Cherokee warriors. In 1950, the memorial that you see in front of you was constructed to commemorate his sacrifice and the 200th anniversary of Charleston's Jewish congregation.