Women of the American Revolution

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Women of the American Revolution

• AMAZING WOMEN in WAR and PEACE
• History raves about the heroics of
  men in war
• but few instances are mentioned in which
  female courage was displayed.
• Yet during every conflict, and the peaceful
  years between,
• they too were there.
• verses 1776

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Margaret Cochran Corbin

• Margaret fought alongside her husband in the
  American Revolutionary War.
• She often cooked for the men, washed their
  laundry and nursed wounded soldiers.
• She also watch the drills and no doubt learned
  them.

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Margaret Cochran Corbin

• On November 16, 1776,while stationed at Fort
  Washington, New York, the fort was attacked by
  British and Hessian Troops.
• Her husband John was in charge of the cannon and
  Margaret assisted him.
• Sometime later John was killed, but Margaret
  continued loading and firing the cannon by
  herself until she was wounded by a grapeshot
  which tore her shoulder, mangled her chest and
  lacerated her jaw.

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Margaret Cochran Corbin

• The fort was captured by the British, but the
  wounded were set free.
• They ferried Margaret across the river and then
  transported her all the way to Philadelphia in a
  wagon.
• She never recovered fully from her wounds and was
  left without use of her left arm for the rest of
  her life.

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Margaret Cochran Corbin

• Margaret is buried behind the Old Cadet Chapel at
  West Point which is near the place of the battle,
  in Fort Tryon Park in New York City, a bronze
  plaque commemorates Margaret Corbin" the first
  American woman to take a soldiers part in the
  War for Liberty.
• She was the first woman to receive pension from
  the United States government as a disabled
  soldier.

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Martha Washington

• In the winter Martha would knit socks for the
  soldiers and mend their clothing.
• She would feed the sick and the wounded.
• Her warm smile and soft words comforted many
  soldiers.

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Sybil LudingtonFemale Paul Revere

• Sybil Ludington was a typical 16 year old girl in
  1777.
• On April 26, 1777, word reached her house that
  the British were burning the town of Danbury,
  Connecticut, which was only 25 miles away.
• Her father was a colonel in the local militia and
  his men were scattered over a wide area around
  the Ludington house.
• Sybil convinced her father to let her ride and
  summon the men.

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Sybil Ludington

• She rode on horseback over 40 miles on dark,
  unmarked roads to spread the alert.
• She rode alone with only a stick to prod her
  horse and to knock on the doors spreading the
  alert in time.
• The men whom she helped gather arrived just in
  time to help drive the British back to their
  ships in Long Island Sound.

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Sybil Ludington

• Sybils contribution to the war was not
  forgotten.
• Present day visitors that come to Putnam County
  New York can follow the path she took on that
  midnight ride by following markers placed along
  the route.

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Martha Bratton

• In June 1780, a party of British cavalry under
  Capt. Huck came to her house wanting to know her
  husbands whereabouts.
• She remained bold and fearless even after hours
  of questioning.

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Martha Bratton

• Later that evening her husband Col. Bratton took
  the Royalists by surprise, totally defeating
  them. Mrs. Bratton attended to the wounded of
  both sides, and showed them impartial attention.
• Just before the fall of Charleston, Governor
  Rut-ledge entrusted to Mrs. Brattons care a
  quantity of gun powder. She blew it up when it
  was in danger of being captured.

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Deborah Samson

• Deborah Samson was never mentioned as a hero in
  her day but Private Robert Shurtliff was always
  mentioned in glowing terms as being one of the
  toughest, strongest, most patriotic soldiers.
  Shurtliffs physical endurance was legendary.
• What no one suspected was that Deborah and Robert
  were one and the same person.

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Deborah Samson

• Her great grandfather came over on the Mayflower
  and was governor of Plymouth, you may remember
  Governor William Bradford.
• By the time Deborah was 15 she was five foot
  eight inches tall, almost a foot taller than the
  average woman of her day, and taller than the
  average man.
• When she was five her father abandoned the
  family. Her mother unable to take care of seven
  children sent some of her children to live with
  other families.

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Deborah Samson

• Deborah was taken to the home of Deacon Jeremiah
  Thomas, the proud father of 10 sons.
• Hours of strenuous farm work broadened her
  shoulders and hardened her muscles.
• She received no formal schooling, but obtained an
  education by having the Thomas boys review their
  studies with her each evening.

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Deborah Samson

• When she was eighteen she became a school
  teacher.
• On May 20, 1782, Deborah disguised herself as a
  male and joined the army.
• Although the last major battle of the Revolution
  had been fought the previous October 1781, when
  Cornwallis surrendered at Yorktown, a desperate
  guerilla warfare was still being fought in some
  areas by determined Loyalists who refused to give
  up.

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Deborah Samson

• In one wild skirmish with the most feared
  Loyalist unit, lead by Colonel James Delancy,
  Shurtliff suffered a forehead wound from a saber
  slash and then was hit by a musket ball in the
  upper left front thigh.
• When she went to the hospital for the wound to
  her forehead she didnt tell the doctors about
  her thigh wound.
• She limped out of the hospital, and later, using
  her knife, managed to extract the musket ball in
  her thigh.

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Deborah Samson

• Robert Shurtliff was then selected to defend
  Congress in Philadelphia from disgruntled unpaid
  soldiers.
• While there she became ill and Dr. Barnabas
  Binney found that the almost dead soldier boy was
  in reality an almost dead girl.
• Binney had her taken to his home and never
  reported his discovery. His wife took care of her
  until she regained consciousness.

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Deborah Samson

• It was finally discovered that Robert Shurtliff
  was in reality a woman, and because of his
  heroic services, Robert Shurtliff was given and
  Honorable Discharge.
• At the time Deborah Samson was the first known
  woman to serve in a war disguised as a man.

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May 23,1983 Governor Michael J. Dukakis
signed a proclamation.
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Molly Pitcher

• Her actions during the battle of Monmouth on June
  28,1778 became legendary.
• That day was very hot and someone had to cool the
  hot guns and bring water to the thirsty soldiers.
• Thats how she earned her name Molly Pitcher, by
  bringing pitcher after pitcher of cool spring
  water to the exhausted, thirsty men.
• She also tended to the wounded and once, heaving
  a crippled Continental soldier on her strong
  young back , carried him out of reach of the
  charging British.

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Molly Pitcher

• On her next trip with water, she found her
  husband, Hays, back with the guns, and while she
  watched, Hays fell wounded.
• Without hesitation, Molly stepped forward and
  took the rammer staff from her fallen husbands
  hands.
• She was the second woman to man a gun on an
  American battlefield.

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Molly Pitcher

• For her heroic role, General Washington issued
  her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer.
• There after, she was widely hailed a Sergeant
  Molly.
• A flagstaff and cannon stand at her gravesite at
  Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

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Nancy Warwoman Morgan Hart

• Nancy was strong, six feet tall and an expert
  sharpshooter and hunter.
• Legend has it that one side of the cabin was
  covered with antlers of deer she had killed.

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Nancy Warwoman Morgan Hart

• During the Revolution six Loyalists forced their
  way into the Hart home and demanded that Nancy
  cook a meal for them.
• Nancy killed one of the Loyalists and wounded
  another.

• The five surviving Loyalists were held at gun
  point. Nancy insisted they be hanged and they
  were.

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Nancy Warwoman Morgan Hart

• Tradition has it that Nancy Hart served as a spy,
  sometimes disguised as a man.
• Once she was sent dressed like a man into a
  British camp, pretending to be crazy, and was
  able to come away with important information on
  the British troop movements.
• Another time the Georgia Patriots needed
  information about what was going on the Carolina
  side of the Savannah River. There were no
  volunteers so Nancy tied a few logs together with
  grapevines, crossed the river and obtained the
  information.

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Nancy Warwoman Morgan Hart

• On one occasion, she met a Loyalist on the road,
  she seized his gun and made him march to the
  commander of the American fort.
• Another time she was left in a fort with several
  women and it was ambushed by Loyalists and
  Indians. Nancy took charge. There was one cannon
  and she was able to place it so its fire could
  reach the enemy. With the help of a young man,
  who was hiding under a cowhide, she was able to
  fire upon the enemy and cause them to retreat.

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Laodicea Langston Daring Dicey
A Rebel For The Cause of Freedom

• Bloody Bill Cunningham and his Scouts were a
  company of loyalists. When Dicey, age 16, heard
  they were about to visit the Elder settlement
  where her brother lived, she was determined to
  warn them.
• She left home in the middle of the night and
  walked many miles, crossing streams and marshes
  on foot, as there were no bridges.
• She made it to the Elder settlement and when
  the scouts arrived, no one was there.

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Dicey Langston

• The loyalists were also displeased that Diceys
  brothers were in active service for the cause.
  They came to kill Diceys father, but she wrapped
  her arms around his neck and declared that her
  own body would be first to received a musket
  ball. She saved her fathers life.

• The Loyalists left the house filled with
  admiration at the affection and devotion they had
  witnessed.

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Dicey Langston

• One day, she was stopped by a company of
  Loyalists, who ordered her to give them some
  Patriot intelligence. With a pistol to her chest
  she replied, Shoot me if you dare! I will not
  tell you. The officer became enraged by her
  defiance and was about to fire, but another
  Loyalists stopped him and saved the girls life.

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Polly Cooper

• Polly, an Oneida Indian, helped George Washington
  and the soldiers during the winter at Valley
  Forge.
• She taught them how to prepare nutritional and
  medicinal food.
• She refused to take money for her efforts so
  George Washington gave her a shawl in token of
  his gratitude.

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Polly Cooper

• She cooked and carried water to the soldiers.
• She would even go into the battlefield to quench
  the dry throats of the soldiers on either side
  and walked both sides of the firing line with out
  fear of harm.
• The government of the United States acknowledged
  the contributions of the Oneidas in the
  Revolution as well as the severity of their
  sacrifices.

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American Women