quently and repeatedly entertained at her house many of his military friends. Among these were Washington, La Fayette, Hamilton, Wayne, Greene, Maxwell, Lincoln, Henry Lee, Stevens, Walter Stewart, Ethan Allen, Pulaski, Butler, Sinclair, Woodward, Varnum, Paul Jones, Cochrane, Craik and many others.
General and Mrs. Washington were several times her guests, and the hospitality which Mrs. Wilson had the privilege thus repeatedly to extend to these illustrious guests was not forgotten by them, but most kindly acknowledged by very marked attentions to Mrs. Wilson's daughter and only child on her entrance into society in Philadelphia, during the presidency of Washington. By personal calls and invitations to her private parties, Mrs. Washington distinguished the young woman by consideration rarely shown to youthful persons.
It was not alone for friends and acquaintances and persons of distinction and known rank that Mrs. Wilson kept open house in the Revolution. Such was the liberality of her patriotism that her gates in the public road bore in conspicuous characters the inscription: "Hospitality within to all American officers and refreshment for their soldiers," an invitation not likely to be allowed to remain a mere form of words on the regular route of communication between northern and southern posts of the army.
From the commencement of the struggle for freedom till its close, Mrs. Wilson was a personal witness and participator in scenes of more than ordinary interest. She was in Philadelphia on the day the Declaration of Independence was made, and made one of a party—embracing the elite of the beauty, wealth and fashion of the city and neighborhood—to be entertained at a brilliant fete given in honor of the event, on board the frigate "Washington" at anchor in the Delaware, by
