This collection is comprised of six letters by or to Oliver Pollock. Five provide insight into Pollock's role as commercial agent for the United States at Havana, Cuba, between September 4, 1783, and August 30, 1784. The letters regard the docking merchant vessels in the Havana Harbor; addressing grievances and the understanding of mercantile and marine law at port; and interacting with ship owners and other American operators in Havana about merchandise and other issues. Pollock wrote the final letter while incarcerated in Havana, expressing hope that the newly appointed governor would soon release him.
Oliver Pollock, American Revolutionary financier and patriot, was born near the parish of Donagheady, Northern Ireland, ca. 1737. Pollock immigrated to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, in 1760, and then to Havana, Cuba, in 1762. With the port city under British control, Pollock facilitated trade between Cuban and North American British ports during the final year of the Seven Years' War. Following the Peace of Paris (1763), he found commercial success with the Cuban Asiento Trading Company, trading in food and manufactured commodities, as well as slaves. He relocated to New Orleans in 1769.
With the onset of the American Revolution, Pollock received an appointment by the Continental Congress in 1777 to act as commercial agent in New Orleans. His role included the organization of military supplies and ammunition distributions along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. By 1781, however, Pollock's substantial wealth and credit was exhausted, partly because of Congress' unwillingness to repay debts that had been incurred under his name. In 1783, he was appointed an American commercial agent in Cuba. Though he proved effective in this role, he found himself imprisoned for 18 months (1784-85) in Havana for failing to satisfy his creditors.
He returned to the United States in 1785, eventually settling in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Having attempted an unsuccessful bid for the House of Representatives in 1804, he relocated to Baltimore in 1805. Around 1810, he finally received compensation from the United States government for debts incurred during the Revolutionary War. He moved to Pinckneyville, Mississippi, in 1815 to reside with his daughter. There, Pollock died on December 17, 1823.
Pollock married twice, first in 1770 to Margaret O' Brien (d. 1799), with whom he had eight children and, then in 1805 to Winifred Deady (d. 1814).