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Women of the American Revolution

In 1840, Charles Francis Adams, a grandson of President John Adams and Abigail Adams, lamented, “The heroism of the females of the Revolution has gone from memory with the generation that witnessed it, and nothing, absolutely nothing remains upon the ear of the young of the present day. ”

While much ink has been spilled on the men who signed the Declaration of Independence, emerged victorious at Yorktown, and debated the framework of the Constitution, the experiences, influences, and contributions of women during this momentous period have been little noticed by history.

Not all women picked up muskets! Abigail Adams Emily Geiger Besty Ross Hannah Arnett Nancy Hart Deborah Sampson Penelope Barker Sybil Ludington Nancy Ward Catherine Moore Barry Grace and Rachel Martin Martha Bratton Molly Hays Mc. Cauley Phillis Wheatley Elizabeth Burgin Rebecca Motte Patience Wright Margaret Corbin Mary Lindley Murray Prudence Wright Lydia Darragh Esther Reed Elizabeth Zane Mercy Otis Warren Martha Washington

Abigail Adams “Service to the country comes in all forms. . . We are all, in our way, serving our country in what we do, in how we raise our children, in the way we conduct ourselves as citizens. ”

Hannah Arnett butted into a meeting to which she was not invited. The men cited poor battlefield reports of the ill-equipped Patriots. They were thinking about giving up and returning to the British side by signing a Proclamation of Loyalty to Britain. Hannah called them cowards. She insisted that they not give up. The meeting ended with the men deciding to continue the fight. Thanks to Hannah, the move towards independence would continue. Hannah White Arnett is a DAR Patriot.

On October 25, 1774, ten months after the famous Boston Tea Party, Penelope Barker organized a Tea Party of her own. Penelope wrote a statement proposing a boycott on British goods and 51 local women signed and published the letter opposing British taxation, sending it to a London newspaper. The gathering which, took place in the home of Elizabeth King, became known as the Edenton Tea Party. It was published in London but received misogynist ridicule there.

Catherine Barry Moore is a true heroine of the American Revolutionary War. She is best known for her role in successfully warning the American militia when the British were about to invade, before the decisive Continental Army victory at the Battle of Cowpens. She was a woman who was instrumental in helping General Daniel Morgan, commander of the American forces, not only fend off British forces, but ultimately set the stage for the turning point in the war.

Martha Bratton and her husband were entrusted with a precious commodity back then - gun powder. With her husband away, Martha was left in charge. Hearing that the British were planning to steal the gun powder, Martha set a trap, blowing up the building as the British soldiers arrived. She even admitted doing the dastardly deed when captured. She was let go, later questioned about her husband's whereabouts, and spared by a British officer from severe punishment. She repaid the debt, when the same officer was captured by Patriots and scheduled for hanging. Realizing the cruelty of war, Martha set up a hospital and nursed both British and American soldiers.

Elizabeth Burgin is famous for saving many American soldiers from a prison ship in the New York Harbor. Because the British only allowed women on the prison ships, the Patriot soldiers wanted Elizabeth to alert the prisoners to be ready for the escape they had planned and to help with the plan of smuggling them off the ship. Elizabeth complied and helped more than 200 prisoners escape over the next several weeks.

Many women were followers during the Revolutionary War. They would follow the men around, taking care of cooking and other needs. Margaret Corbin stayed by her husband when the British attacked Fort Washington in New York. She took over husband's job as matross, the person who loaded the cannon, when the gunner was killed. In the heat of battle her husband was also killed. She was hit and left for dead. A passing doctor saved her life. Her wounds left her permanently disabled. For her bravery, "Captain Molly" became part of the Invalid Regiment. She was the first woman to receive a lifetime pension for the wounds she suffered in battle.

Legend has it that on the night of December 2, 1777, Philadelphia housewife and nurse Lydia Darragh single-handedly saves the lives of General George Washington and his Continental Army when she overhears the British planning a surprise attack on Washington’s army for the following day. During the occupation of Philadelphia, British General William Howe stationed his headquarters across the street from the Darragh home, and when Howe’s headquarters proved too small to hold meetings, he commandeered a large upstairs room in the Darraghs’ house. Although uncorroborated, family legend holds that Mrs. Darragh would eavesdrop and take notes on the British meetings from an adjoining room and would conceal the notes by sewing them into her coat before passing them onto American troops stationed outside the city.

Nathanael Greene settled his troops in South Carolina and needed a messenger to take a letter requesting reinforcements for his troops to General Sumter, who was camped some 100 miles away by the Wateree River. 16 year-old Emily Geiger offered her services. Greene wrote out a message to Sumter and Emily memorized it. Then she took off. The first day and night of ride was uneventful. On the second day, when Emily was riding through an open dry swamp, she was confronted by a Tory scout with a bayonet. She was taken prisoner and led to a farm house nearby. The British sent for a neighbor woman and her teenage daughter. They searched Emily for any hidden message. They had her undress and every inch of her clothing was turned inside out, but no message was found! It took Emily a day longer than planned to reach General Sumter’s camp. Emily then told him the message that she had memorized, she also told him about her encounter with the Tory scouts. General Sumter: “I have only one question, when you were alone in the room, what did you do with the letter? ” Emily: “I ate it”

Nancy Morgan Hart made history by shooting a gun at some Loyalist soldiers who broke into her house. First she and her daughter Sukey tricked them by making a turkey for them. Then when the soldiers started drinking, Nancy grabbed one of their guns and fired. She shot one of the soldiers dead. Her daughter then handed her another musket and she fired and killed another British soldier. They then agreed to surrender but Mrs. Morgan Hart kept them until her husband returned. He was about to shoot them all but his wife told them that they had surrendered and she said that shooting was too good for them. So the dead men were dragged outside and the others were taken outside and hung from a tree. This story turned out to be true many years later when a railroad company was planning to build where the Hart cabin was. When the railroad tore down the cabin they found six skeletons!

On April 26, 1777 Sybil Ludington rode forty miles through the night to warn militiamen under the control of her father that British troops were planning to invade Danbury, Connecticut. On her way to gather Father’s troops she warned the people of Danbury. Sybil’s father, Colonel Henry Ludington, fought in the French and Indian War and following that he volunteered to head the local militia during the American Revolution. Due to her father’s position, Sybil had to move from town to town following him, and unknowingly playing an important role in the success of the colonies. The afternoon after Sybil’s ride through Danbury the British troops burned down three buildings and destroyed multiple houses, but thankfully did not kill that many people. Ludington's ride started at 9 p. m. and ended around dawn. She rode 40 miles into the damp hours of darkness. She used a stick to prod her horse and knock on doors. She managed to defend herself against a highwayman with a long stick. When, soaked with rain and exhausted, she returned home, most of the 400 soldiers were ready to march.

Disguised as men, Grace and Rachel Martin, ambushed British officers carrying important documents one night. The women's bravery began when the Martin sisters were tired of how the British treated women and children. They sought this opportunity to help out. Knowing that a courier was bringing British documents to South Carolina, they set out to stop the courier and get the documents for the Patriots. Borrowing their husbands' clothes and pistols, they waited in the dark along the road the courier would be travelling. Upon hearing horses, they stopped the British officers, obtaining what they needed without firing a shot. They were in for a real surprise when they arrived home later that night. Returning home, they found the officers enjoying a meal their mother had prepared. Luckily for them, men in the dark look different from women in the light.

Her birth name was Mary Ludwig Hays Mc. Cauley but she was given the nickname Molly Pitcher because she carried pitchers of water to soldiers during the Battle of Monmouth during the American Revolutionary War. It is also believed that when her husband William Hays collapsed during the battle, Mary took his place on the battlefield operating the canon. During the battle a cannonball shot by the enemy flew right between her legs and tore apart the bottom of the skirt she was wearing. She was unharmed. When the war ended, Mary gave birth to a son. William Hays died in 1786 and Mary later married John Mc. Cauley. This is why Mary's name is sometimes quoted as Mary Ludwig.

Although Rebecca Motte didn't start the fire, she provided the needed ingredient. She helped set fire to her own home. Her home situated high above Charleston, South Carolina, was ideally suited for a fort. The British moved her out. They moved in. The Patriots needed the British out. They planned to burn the house. Rebecca wanted her home back so badly that it did not matter if it burned. So, she provided the fire arrows for the task. The British moved out quickly. The Patriots moved in even more quickly, saving most of the house from destruction. For their efforts, Rebecca served them a meal in her reclaimed house.

The Murrays are remembered during the Revolutionary War because of what happened at their home on September 15 th, 1776. Legend has it that Mary Lindley Murray and her two lovely daughters, Beulah and Susannah, fed Howe and his officers Madeira and cake, delaying them with their womanly charms, buying the Americans time to escape New York City without being pursued.

The war for independence was in its fifth year, longer than anyone had expected. Esther Reed knew that something had to be done. Together with other women in Philadelphia, she formed the Philadelphia Association, the largest women's organization of the Revolutionary War. The Association, living in warmth while soldiers froze in their tents, decided to take action. They raised money to give to the soldiers. General Washington was opposed to this plan. Between them, they agreed to have the Association make warm shirts for the troops. This was done with each woman stitching in her name on each shirt's collar. This personal touch helped raised the spirits of the those receiving the gift.

Elizabeth Griscom "Betsy" Ross is widely credited with making the first American flag. According to family tradition, upon a visit from General George Washington, commander-in-chief of the Continental Army, in 1776, Ross changed the shape of the stars he had sketched for the flag from a six-pointed to a fivepointed by demonstrating on the spot that it was not difficult to cut the latter. There is no archival evidence or other recorded verbal tradition to substantiate this story of the first American flag, and it appears that the story first surfaced in the writings of her grandson in the 1870 s (a century after the fact), with no mention or documentation in earlier decades.

Deborah Sampson Gannett was a woman who disguised herself as a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She is one of a small number of women with a documented record of military combat experience in that war. She served 17 months in the army, as "Robert Shurtleff“of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, was wounded in 1782, and was honorably discharged at West Point, New York in 1783.

Nanye'hi saw her husband die in a battle with Creek Indians. She took up her husband's bow and arrow and led her Cherokee tribe to victory. Nancy Ward, as Americans called her, was named "Beloved Woman" by the tribe, and made the head of the Women's Council and a member of the Council of Chiefs. With the Revolutionary War in progress, the British paid Indians to attack settlers. Nancy's tribe joined in. But, Nancy had made friends with the settlers. She warned them of the attack. The victorious settlers spared her tribe when they retaliated. Later in the war, Nancy had to once again warn settlers of impending attack. She also served as a mediator, becoming a main voice in the Treaty of Hopewell in 1785 between the Cherokee and settlers.

Mercy Otis Warren wrote the first history of the Revolutionary War. Mercy got her start before the War officially began because she wanted to do something to reach the common people with revolutionary ideas. The first Committee of Correspondence was formed in the Warren home. John Adams was impressed with Mercy's writing. She wrote plays poking fun at the British. One was entitled The Blockheads. She could not put her name on the plays, as making fun of the British carried a high price - punishment and possibly jail time. In all, Mercy wrote six plays. With her husband gone off to fight, Mercy decided to write the history of the American Revolution using her notes from meetings and conversations. Her efforts were published in 1805, History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution.

Although Martha Dandridge Curtis Washington remained at Mount Vernon when George went to Philadelphia as a delegate to the Second Continental Congress, she often accompanied him to his headquarters during the war years. She spent the winter of 1775 in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and in the spring of 1776, she followed him to New York. In the spring of 1777, she arrived at his headquarters in Morristown, New Jersey, but she returned to Mount Vernon for the summer. The next winter she joined her husband at Valley Forge, and later she stayed with him during campaigns in New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, and Maryland.

“In every human Beast, God has implanted a Principle, which we call Love of Freedom; it is impatient of Oppression, and pants for Deliverance. ” Phillis Wheatley was America's first published black author. Along with being a great American poet, Phillis Wheatley was patriot and symbol for abolitionists. In 1761, at the age of 7, Phillis was bought as a slave by the Wheatley family of Boston. She wrote poems about patriotism, battles, and the greatness of America. One poem was about George Washington, then the leader of the Patriot Army. She even got to read the poem to him in person. Phillis was given her freedom in 1778, when the Wheatley’s all passed away or left the colonies.

According to some books, Patience Wright became a spy for the cause, sending information overheard from her subjects on how the British were preparing for the war to America inside her wax figures. When Wright was constructing sculptures of Patriot sympathizers, she didn't want anyone who may inform the King to know. So if she had visitors while constructing the sculptures she would hide the bust underneath her apron and try to distract her visitor by engaging in a conversation. Wright's sculpture of friend William Pitt still stands in Westminster Abbey Museum. Other notable subjects she modeled included Lord Lyttelton, Thomas Penn, Admiral Richard Howe, and Charles James Fox. Some of Wright's supporters include Benjamin Franklin, Deborah Sampson, the King and Queen of England, and William Pitt.

With their men out looking for British soldiers, Prudence Wright gathered the women of Groton, Massachusetts. They would defend the bridge leading into town. Putting on their husbands clothes, they looked a sight. The armed themselves with whatever they could get their hands on, some using pitchforks. They hid in the reeds until a British officer came by, given away by his horse's hooves on the bridge. The women removed the secret messages he was carrying, passing them on to the local Patriot Committee of Safety. Back home, the women laughed at the surprise of the British officer when he found out that he had been had by women. Prudence felt that liberty was just as important to women as it was to me.

Only women wore aprons. And, for good reason. They can come in handy. The men at Fort Henry, in what is now West Virginia, sure thought so. Under attack from Indians one fine day late during the Revolutionary War, there was a shortage of gunpowder. With no men or time to spare, Elizabeth Zane volunteered to run to her brother's house a short distance away to retrieve some needed gunpowder. The Indians did not try to shoot her on the way there. But, on the way back they noticed that she was carrying gunpowder in her apron. The Indians opened fire, barely missing her with arrow and musket shot. Reinforcements arrived the next day to save the fort from falling to the Indians. Had it not been for Elizabeth, that day might have been too late.