Journal of Samuel Curwen, May 9, 1775

Dined with Stephen Collins; passed the evening at Joseph Reed's,¹ in company with Col. WASHINGTON, (a fine figure and of a most easy and agreeable address,) Richard Henry Lee, and Col. Harrison, three of the Virginia delegates. Besides Mr. and Mrs. Reed, were Mrs. Deberdt,² Dr. Shippen, and Thomas Smith. I staid till twelve o'clock, the conversation being chiefly on the most feasible and prudent method of stopping up the channel of the Delaware to prevent the coming up of any large ships to the city; I could not perceive the least disposition to accommodate matters.

Col. Caswell and Mr. Hewes, the North Carolina delegates, arrived this day, and are at our lodgings.

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¹ In July, 1774, this gentleman directed his correspondent at Boston, to pay £10 to the committee for the relief of sufferers by the Boston Port Bill.

² The mother of Mrs. Reed and widow of the Massachusetts Assembly agent to the British government.

SOURCE: George Atkinson Ward, Journal and Letters of the Late Samuel Curwen, Judge of Admiralty, etc., An American Refugee in England from 1775 to 1784, pp. 27-8