Esther De Berdt Reed originally hoped the colonies could reconcile with the British Crown. Born in London, she only moved to Pennsylvania in 1770, after meeting and falling in love with a Philadelphia lawyer.

Portrait of Esther de Berdt Reed, circa 1770s

She and her husband Joseph Reed blamed arrogant British officials for the rising animosity in Boston and Philadelphia, but by 1774, they had lost patience with British contempt for Americans, the absolute uncontrolled power of Parliament and the tyranny of the mother country. 

Joseph was a successful attorney and the couple moved in Philadelphia's elite circles. Esther entertained a number of revolutionary leaders in her home, including...in the words of her biographer Owen S. Ireland...

"...the most charismatic of them all, George Washington: well over 6 feet tall, a horseman, a dancer and eloquent "presence" with "an animal vitality" and "an air of power reigned in." 

Washington dined at Esther's table May 9,1775, where she joined the discussion of political and military matters. He stayed the night at the Reeds home and when he returned for dinner a month later, he asked Joseph to ride with him to New York. On the way he persuaded Joseph to risk his life, the security and prosperity of his family and take up arms against his king.

Joseph became an aide to Washington along with Alexander Hamilton. Later he became a general in the Continental Army, and like other wives of the patriots, Esther stayed at home caring for her children. 

That was one reason, Peggy Hartzell chose to honor Esther.

"[I wanted] to celebrate strong women who paved the way while raising families during the revolution. Esther DeBerdt Reed was pregnant and gave birth to a 4th child while organizing with other women to raise money to support the troops in the fight for Independence."

Peggy Hartzell's contribution to Philadelphia Sculptors' Timeline of American History Exhibit at Laurel Hill Mansion, East Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

For her installation, Peggy chose cyanotype, a photographic printing process that produces blue images using ferric salts and potassium ferricyanide. This in homage to an English botanist and photographer Anna Atkin, who used the medium in her early groundbreaking work as a woman in the field of biology in the 1830s. 

Peggy created cyanotype fabric flags featuring Esther and Laurel Hill Mansion, a historic pre-revolutionary house hosting the art exhibit and coincidentally, where Esther stayed for a summer during the war.

Prior to that, in January 1780, Esther anonymously published a broadside declaring colonial women were equal to men in their patriotism. 

 "...if the weakness of our Constitution, if opinion and manners did not forbid us to march to glory by the same paths as the Men," Esther wrote, "we should at least equal, and sometimes surpass them in our love for the public good." 

Entitled Sentiments of an American Woman, Esther wrote that the ambition of revolutionary women was akin to heroines like Joan of Arc, who'd already proven to the universe that Philadelphia women would make good freedom fighters.

"Born for liberty, disdaining to bear the irons of a tyrannic government, we associate ourselves... [with the] Batildas, the Elizabeths, the Maries, the Catharines, who have extended the empire of liberty, and contented to reign by sweetness and justice, have broken the chains of slavery, forged by tyrants in the times of ignorance and barbarity."

Esther went on to lay out an eight point plan for women to help fund the war effort, entreating well-to-do women to give up their finery and luxuries and donate to the Continental Army. 

She assured poor women to give if they could according to their means.

"The shilling offered by the Widow or the young girl, will be received as well as the most considerable sums presented by the Women who have the happiness to join to their patriotism, greater means to be useful."

Sentiments of an American Woman launched the Ladies’ Association of Philadelphia. The women went door to door and by July 4,1780 they raised over $7,000, almost $30,000 in today’s dollars.

There's some disagreement among historians about George Washington's response to the women's fundraising. 

"Washington's Headquarters" (Yorktown) - painting by Sidney King (National Park Service)

Some say Esther wanted to give the money directly to the soldiers, but Washington suspected it would be wasted on alcohol. He told Esther it was up to her what she did with the money, but suggested she use the funds to buy cloth and sew shirts for the army men.

Another source asserts Washington would not allow women to move beyond their domestic roles and ordered them to use the money for cloth and sew the shirts.

Either way, linen was purchased and now our story weaves history and the current moment.

Esther took her portion of cloth and left the city to escape the summer heat and disease. She moved with her children to Laurel Hill located on a high bluff along the Schuylkill River.

Laurel Hill Mansion is a historic pre-revolutionary house in East Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

Nature and the river view boosted Esther's resilience and offered her comfort as she busied her hands sewing shirts for the troops and penning letters to her husband off at war.

Peggy designed her cyanotype fabric flags to hang in the trees on the Laurel Hill property and connect a sense of place with a visceral appreciation for the restorative effects of nature especially in today's trying times. 

Laurel Hill Mansion sits on lands that were for millennia inhabited by the Lenni Lenape until they were acquired by William Penn in 1682. According to Peggy, William Penn had the intention that the land would welcome people of all faiths. 

Some three hundred years later we can remind ourselves that “We the People” is a work in progress," Peggy says. "We honor our founding mothers and the rights of women. We honor the original people who lived on this land for thousands of years respecting the rights of the land, waters and all living things including the trees, plants, animals, insects and birds."

That summer of 1780, the Ladies’ Association of Philadelphia made 2,200 shirts for the Continental troops. Women in Maryland, New Jersey, and Virginia followed Esther's example and organized their own efforts military relief.

Unfortunately, Esther did not live to see the end of the war, nor the birth of a new nation conceived in liberty and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal.

She returned to the city at the end of August to see her husband General Joseph Reed and there she contracted dysentery, a sickness that fell many a Continental soldier.

"Her constitution enfeebled by her recent confinement sank under an attack of acute disease and she breathed her last, her husband, her aged mother and children the eldest being 8 years of age [around her]." 

Esther died September 18th, 1780. She was 34.

According to an account written published in 1850 by a relative, all classes of society testified respect for Ester's memory. George Washington knew her well and left on record his expression of respectful sorrow. 

DeBerdt Reed's life yields remarkable insight into the scope of women's political influence in an age ruled by the strict social norms structured by religion and motherhood
 

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