REVOLUTIONARY WAR PATRIOT

 

LTC Jacob Reed, Hatfield, PA

Lieutenant Colonel Jacob Reed was the son of Johann Phillip Reed who immigrated from Mannheim, Germany, landing at Philadelphia on the ship Friendship, October 17, 1727.  My nephew Mike Davis discovered during his Ancestry research that my grandmother Ida Ulm-Davis was six generations removed from LTC Reed but only one generation removed from the Reed name of her mother, Nettie Belle Reed-Ulm.  Jacob was an American patriot from the start and had an adventurous life during his lifetime, set during the Revolutionary War of 1776.  He was born in Philadelphia Co., Pa., June 30, 1730 and died in New Britain Township, Bucks Co., Pa., November 2, 1820 at the age of 90.  On May 6, 1777, he was commissioned Lieutenant-Colonel of the 1^st Battalion of the Philadelphia County Militia.  He saw active service under General George Washington at the battles of Trenton, Germantown and Brandywine.  Three years later he was elected Major of the 5^th Battalion, Pennsylvania Troops, until the end of the war.

One of the significant project teams I was involved with early in my Industrial Engineering career at VF Corp. was developing and installing an automated shopping experience for the original outlet center in the USA at Reading, Pennsylvania, where the corporate offices resided at that time.  We were one of the pioneers in the apparel business to apply printed UPC labels at our plants and efficiently scan them at the checkout stations.  Those trips to Berks County neighboring Philadelphia, Montgomery and Bucks counties stirred a lifelong interest in the early development of this country and the Revolutionary War.  Little did I realize at the time that my grandmother had distant roots in that struggle, understanding that ancestry branches quickly become voluminous with each succeeding generation.  And it’s fortuitous that my son-in-law was born and raised in Montgomery county where his parents still reside and we’ve celebrated holidays at their home while I stayed near and scouted Valley Forge National Park.

LTC Reed was active during the entire war serving under General Washington and participating in the battles of Trenton, Germantown and Brandywine. The British army evacuated Philadelphia on June 18, 1778, moving toward Trenton, N.J.  General Washington broke camp the next day at Valley Forge to intercept them.  He was known for conversing with soldiers that were familiar with the lay-of-the-land before a battle.  This led him and part of his staff to Jacob Reed’s log cabin in the area for a hastily prepared dinner at their old home in Hatfield.

Since Jacob was a notable advocate of the patriotic cause, he was a marked man by the British and Tories.  During the winter of 1777 and 1778 Jacob was surprised and made captive by his Tory enemies.  They first shot him in the leg, then tied him to a tree, tarred and feathered him and began to dig his grave.  Supporters arrived to set him free as the Tories fled the country.  Their property was subsequently confiscated.  On another occasion as Jacob was riding from home a Hessian sniper shot at him and the bullet grazed his head as the horse bolted away to safety before he could reload.

A Great-Great-Granddaughter, Mrs. Findley Braden, composed a poem entitled He Fought with Washington on the occasion of the Historical Society of Montgomery County, Norristown, PA dedicating a monument on October 8, 1901 at Emmanuel (Leidy’s) Church to LTC Jacob Reed.  She wrote this prophetic verse as humanity was entering the twentieth century and two world wars.

It reads in part:

“O wise forefather, still so calmly sleeping!

He cannot hear our eager words today,

Sun, moon, and stars their faithful watch are keeping,

While we can only kneel, and humbly pray,

That out amid the world’s dull whirl and rattle,

We, too, may stand courageous through all strife,

Not heroes on some deadly field of battle,

But on the deadlier field of modern life.”