REED, JOSEPH (1741-85). An Amctricau patriot of the Revolutionary period. He was born at Trenton, N. J., August 27, 1741, and graduated at the College of New Jersey. now Princeton, in 1757. From 1763 to 1765 he studied law in England, being entered at the :Middle Tem ple. He then began practice at Trenton. and in 1767 became deputy secretary of New Jersey. On his return in 1770 from a second visit to England, where lie married a daughter of Dennis Deberdt, the agent of Massachusetts in England. he re moved to Philadelphia, served on the Committee of Correspondence, and was president of the Pennsylvania Provincial Congress in 1775. In 1775 he served as a delegate to the Continental Congress and became Washington's secretary and aid-de-camp. lie was adjutant-general during the New Jersey campaign, the success of which was due in no small degree to his knowledge of the country. In 1777 he declined the posts of Chief Justice of Pennsylvania and Commissioner of Indian Affairs, and a promotion to the rank of brigadier-general, and remained in the army as a volunteer without pay. serving
with credit in the battles of Brandywine, Germantown, and Monmouth. He was a member of the Continental Congress in 177S, and signed the Articles of Confederation. He was president of the Pennsylvania Supreme Executive Council from 177S to 1781, in which capacity he helped to suppress the revolt of the Pennsylvania line in the latter year. He had previously caused the trial of Arnold for maladministration. Dur ing his administration he aided in founding the University of Pennsylvania and advocated the gradual abolition of slavery. Reed died March 5. 1785. Consult W. B. Reed, Life and Corre spondence of Joseph Reed (Philadelphia, 1847).