Esther de Berdt Reed (1746–1780) urged women to join in the Patriots’ cause and support the American Revolution. Through her efforts, she raised thousands of dollars to aid American soldiers when they were in dire need.
Reed was born in London in 1746 to an English merchant who traded with the colonies. When she was just 17 years old, she met and fell in love with a young American lawyer from Philadelphia named Joseph Reed.
The two kept in touch but were unable to wed. Esther’s father didn’t want his daughter to move away to America. The couple were secretly engaged and Joseph returned to American for five years. Joseph returned to England in 1769 to find that political turmoil had disrupted the colonial trade business, leaving Esther’s family on the brink of bankruptcy.
Esther’s father had just passed away, so Joseph and Esther married in May 1770. In October, Joseph took his wife and her widowed mother back with him to Philadelphia to save the family the embarrassment of bankruptcy.
A New Start in the New World
The Reeds built their new family in Philadelphia, and Joseph soon succeeded as a lawyer and businessman. Esther helped write letters and kept records in his law practice. Over the years, the couple had six children and grew more patriotic. They soon believed that freeing the colonies from the English government’s control was the right thing to do.Joseph served as a member of the First Continental Congress in the fall of 1774, when representatives from the 13 Colonies met to discuss the issues with Britain. He was forced to leave law practice and leave his wife alone to take care of the family when he served as Gen. George Washington’s military aide from July 1775 to January 1777. While Joseph was away serving his country during the Revolutionary War, Esther was forced to flee Philadelphia several times with her family to escape to safety.
Then in 1778, the Reeds’ lives changed when Joseph was elected the first president of the Pennsylvania government, a position equivalent to governor. Pennsylvania was the hub of activity at this point in the revolution. As the war continued on to its fifth year in 1780, Gen. Washington wrote to congress in May stating that his troops were in dire conditions and lacked food and clothing. They were in immediate need of relief. Esther, now known as the first lady of Pennsylvania, soon got motivated to help.
In June 1780, Esther wrote an anonymous essay titled “Sentiments of an American Woman,” which was published in several newspapers. In the essay, she urged fellow women to join the Patriot cause and help the Colonies’ men better fight for their freedom. She used historical examples of women’s efforts in other wars around the world through history to persuade her fellow American women to give up their luxury items like jewelry. By selling precious materials, they could raise money to support the soldiers.
Soon after her essay was published, she and several women met at a church in Philadelphia and formed the Ladies Association of Philadelphia to further their cause. They took to the streets of Philadelphia and knocked door to door to collect funds.
According to American Revolution.org, President (Joseph) Reed’s biographer said, “All ranks of society seem to have joined in the liberal effort, from Phillis, the colored woman, with her humble seven shillings and six pence, to the Marchioness de La Fayette, who contributed one hundred guineas in specie, and the Countess de Luzerne, who gave six thousand dollars in continental paper.”
The efforts were deemed successful. Reed wrote to Gen. Washington that she had raised over $300,000 in Continental money (in gold or coinage, it was worth $7,500, approximately $30,000 today) to aid the soldiers. The women originally wanted the money to go to each soldier for them to spend as they pleased. However, Washington told Reed in a letter that he feared some of the soldiers would use the money for things like drinking or gambling. He asked that Reed use the money to buy linen and make shirts for the soldiers since they were in need of clothing.
But two weeks after the linen was purchased, tragedy struck. Reed grew sick of dysentery and passed away on Sept. 18, 1780. Benjamin Franklin’s daughter Sarah Franklin Bache took the reins of the operation and the women ended up giving 2,000 shirts to soldiers that had the name of each volunteer seamstress stitched in it. Over 1,640 women either donated or sewed shirts for the Patriot men.
Even though she would never live to see America gain its independence, Reed was recognized posthumously as a member of the Daughters of Liberty due to her efforts during the Revolution.
