Her attendees included Jacob Duché, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, and her niece, Anna Young Smith.

She wrote poetry and a wide range of works, taught writing, and mentored women writers, like Annis Boudinot Stockton and Hannah Griffitts.

Denied, Fergusson accepted the offer of General William Howe, Commander of the British land forces, to be a commissary to patriot prisoners in Philadelphia.

Elizabeth decided to stay in Pennsylvania and her estate was confiscated for her husband's treasonous activities and her attempts to get Washington to give up the war and have the colonies enter into a peace settlement.

She shared her works — like songs, vers de société, witty yarns, and travel chronicles — with her friends.

[3][4] After the death of her sister (Jane), Elizabeth became the guardian and educator of her niece, Anna Young Smith, and nephew.

[9] Aside from writing poetry, Elizabeth's main literary project was the translation of François Fénelon's Les Aventures de Télémaque from the original French.

[3] In the same time period, she wrote The Dream of the Philosophical Farmer about the wisdom of banning the import of British goods.

[3] She hosted "attic evenings"—salon gatherings for her elite male and female acquaintances which was among the earliest American salons.

[10][11] The Oxford Companion to women's writing in the United States said it was "the most distinguished intellectual salon in British America."

[3] Talented writers like Jacob Duché, Hannah Griffitts, Francis Hopkinson, Benjamin Rush, Anna Young Smith, and Annis Boudinot Stockton attended her gatherings.

[12] She is known for the mentorship that she provided to Hannah Griffitts, Susanna Wright, Annis Boudinot Stockton, and sisters Elizabeth Willing Powel and Mary Willing Byrd.

[15] By September 21, having not heard from her husband, Elizabeth made a public announcement of her marriage, as advised by John Dickinson, a lawyer.

[13] In 1777 and 1778, Elizabeth carried a letter from Jacob Duché, at her husband's urging, that requested that Washington give up the fight against the British and end the war and she tried to bribe an official to arrange for a peace settlement.

[18] After two years of petitioning the government, Elizabeth finally regained the right to her property and moved back to Graeme Park in 1781.

[4][19] For the final ten years of her life, Elizabeth lived with friends and wrote voraciously, publishing some of her poetry and participated in the writing of commonplace books with a number of her female acquaintances, such as Hannah Griffitts.