Today, women are members of every branch of the military in several different countries throughout the world. However, during the American Revolution, women did not play an integral part in military operations. There are three women in particular, who make headlines even today.
Margaret Cochran Corbin
Born November 12, 1751 in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania, Margaret married her husband, John Corbin when she was twenty-one in the year 1772. It was four years later that John enlisted in Continental Army and Margaret followed him to battle. It is important to note that it was customary for wives and even children of soldiers to follow forces during wartime, so Margaret’s accompaniment was not viewed as outstanding. What is outstanding is what happened when she found herself in the midst of a battle.
On November 16, 1776, Fort Washington, New York was attacked by British and Hessian troops. When the principle cannon gunner, whom John had been assisting, was killed, John took over the position and Margaret stepped in to assist him. Unfortunately, John was later killed in the battle. Margaret immediately took his position and operated the gun until she was wounded herself in the shoulder and taken to the rear for medical attention.
The fort eventually fell to the British and the colonial revolutionaries were released. Margaret returned home, but never regained the use of her left arm and in 1779, she was granted a pension by the Continental Congress for her duty.
Molly Pitcher
Mary Hays McCauly became famous at the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. The day was so hot and the cannons fired so continually that they required water to cool them. Likewise, the soldiers were suffering from the heat and would have suffered dehydration if it had not been for “ Molly Pitcher.”
Ferrying water back and forth across the battlefield, Mary also tended to the wounded and even dragged one revolutionary back across the lines and away from the British forces. She returned to the side of her husband, who like John Corbin, was an assistant gunner. He was shortly thereafter wounded and Mary took her husband’s place, operating the plunger and helping to load the cannon, making her the second woman to man (excuse the expression) a gun on the battlefield.
At the order of General George Washington, she became a noncommissioned officer and to this day remains an example of female greatness in the American Revolution.
Deborah Sampson
On May 20, 1782, Deborah Sampson, a.k.a. Robert Shurtleff aged 21, joined the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army. She was involved in active battle, even receiving a bullet in the leg near Tarrytown. She was able to hide her true identity until she was hospitalized for a fever in Philadelphia. The attending doctor discovered her secret, but kept the situation as private as possible and she was discretely discharged from the Army.
At the request to Congress on her behalf by Paul Revere in 1804, Deborah began receiving a pension for her service in the Continental Army. She spent many years on the lecture circuit to share her story with the nation.
These three women were certainly not the only women to have participated in the battles of the American Revolution they are simply among the most famous. As a nation, we are indebted to these women who stepped in along the men to fight for democracy and freedom and the United States of America.
Sources:
Distinguished Women of Past and Present: Deborah Sampson. http://www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/sampson.html
Margaret Cochran Corbin – Notable Women Ancestors. http://www.rootsweb.ancestry.com/~nwa/corbin.html
The Story of Molly Pitcher. http://sill-www.army.mil/pao/pamolly.htm
Megan Winkler - Megan Winkler is a writer who refuses to be restricted by the bounds of one subject group and revels in the diversity of the writing ...
