Roles of women in the Revolutionary war
...orah Samson, Patrick Leonard provides excerpts of Samson’s first biography written by Herman Mann. This excerpt from the biography placed Samson in defense on the Continental Congress in Philadelphia. During which time, “she allegedly became ill and was taken to a hospital, where Dr. Barnabas Binney found that the unconscious soldier boy was in reality an almost-dead soldier girl, wearing a cloth bandage around her chest to conceal her breasts” (“As Private Robert Shurtliff, Deborah Samson Served 18 Months in the Continental Army”). There are cases of women fighting in war with disguise. Margaret Corbin was a recognized female soldier of the American Revolution. Her husband John Corbin has joined the Continental Army at the beginning of the American Revolution. Several years later, Margaret joined her husband and fought alongside him in battle. While stationed at Fort Washington, the troop befell an attack. Author Joe Lieberman paints a vivid description of this battle in his article about Margaret Corbin: John Corbin manned his cannon while Margaret assisted him. After the John was shot dead, Margaret took charge of the cannon and continued fighting until she was wounded. In 1779, Margaret Corbin became the first woman to receive pension from the United States government as a disabled soldier (“Margaret Corbin”). Mary Hays was another woman who had followed her husband John Casper Hays into the battlefield. During the Battle of Monmouth, Mary would bring pitchers of water to the thirsty soldiers. When John Hays collapsed in battle, Mary took over operating his cannon (“Molly Pitcher”). She became the second known woman to fight in battle; later “in 1832, Pennsylvania recognized her status as a veteran and awarded her a pension” (Gundersen 166). The nickname “Molly Pitcher” was given to Mary Hays, however it is not certain if this nickname was intended for Corbin or Hays. Women not only played the role of soldier in the Revolutionary Wary, but they were also spies. Ann Morgan, also known as Nancy Hart or Nancy Morgan, was a strong supporter of the Whig party. One of the well-known stories of her acts as a spy was one where armed Tories intruded into her home demanding a cooked meal. She enticed them with whisky and plotted to get their rifles. Nancy managed to get two of the rifles before she was noticed. She quickly grabbed the third rifle and shot one soldier dead, wounding another. Help arrived and the Tories were taken into the woods and hanged. (“Press, Published History, and Regional Lore Shaping the Public Memory of Revolutionary War Heroine”). Another woman spy in the American Revolution was Elizabeth Van Lew. Born to a Richmond family, Elizabeth Van Lew was a steadfast abolitionist determined to fight slavery in the South. When Virginia withdrew from the Union, Van Lew targeted the Confederate Libby Prison to rescue imprisoned Union captives (Massey 101). She pretended to be a humanitarian bringing baskets of food, medicine, and books. She not only helped prisoners escape, but also obtained valuable information from sources inside the prison. The rescued Union prisoners were able to recount the strength and disposition of the Confederate troops they saw on the way back to Richmond. Elizabeth Van Lew even managed to penetrate the home of President Jefferson Davis and convinced one of her former servants to plant a position on Davis household staff. Her methods of retrieving information became more complex as she used words and letters unlined in books she lent to the prisoners. After the war, Elizabeth Van Lew was awarded a job as postmistress of Richmond, granted by President Grant (Massey 343). Many black Americans played important roles in history. Harriet Tubman is one the most well known of African Americans during the American Revolution. Born as a slave, Harriet married a free black named John Tubman. In 1849, fearing that she along with other slaves on the plantation would be sold, Tubman ran away by foot making her way to the north. After saving money from working in the north, Tubman made treacherous journeys back to the south to rescue other slaves seeking freedom. During a ten-year span, Harriet made nineteen trips back to the south and guided over 300 slaves to freedom (“Harriet Tubman”). Another key person in for black American in the Revolutionary Period was Phillis Wheatley. Wheatley was the first American black poet and one of the most well known poets during her day. Born in Africa in 1753, Phillis was sold at the age of seven as a slave to John and Susannah Wheatley (Gundersen 24). Phillis was quickly accepted into the family and treated like the other children of the Wheatley’s. Phillis was very talented and that was clear when she quickly learned the English language. She learned to read and write and began reading in Greek and Latin, and scriptures from the Bible. Phillis published her first poem Mercury in 1767 at the age of thirteen. She then went on to publish more of her poems as Poems on Various Subjects, Religious and Moral, the first book published by a black American (Gundersen 91,92). Another remarkable women of that time was a women by the name of Florence Nightingale. Born in Florence Italy on May 12, 1820, she was the first women to establish the practice of nursing that we have today. “In her day, nursing was done mostly by disabled army veterans or by women with no other means of support. It was common for nurses of either sex to be drunk on the job most of the time, and they had no training at all” (“Florence Nightingale, Nurse, Renewer of Society”). Florence often had spells and in her diary wrote entries of how God spoke to her during the...