First off, he was on Conneticut's
Committee of Correspondence. Then later, he became a
delegate for the first and second
Continental Congress, working along with
Benjamin Franklin,
Robert Morris, and
John Jay. He was sent to France to purchase military supplies for the Revolutionary War.
His big story came when contravesial letters to friends were intercepted and published in a New York Tory newspaper. He was labeled a traitor and moved away from the commotion to end his bad reputation. Once he thought it was safe (not to mention his poverty), he took a ship back to America. On the way there, he died.
It was rumored that he commited suicide after all the actions and crimes between he and his personal friend, Edward Bancroft (partaking in the insurance game and Bancroft's entire part as a spy).
Of course nothing has ever been proven true, not that there is much documented of the history of Silas Deane to go by.