"The Lord shall sell Sisera into the
hands of a woman." - JUDG.iv.9
The days of Colonial dependence in America
were numbered, and came to an end. The British governmental
officials were weighed in the balances of justice and humanity, and found
wanting. "Taxation without representation" then as now was
regarded as iniquitous, and to be frowned upon and disallowed.
Finally there came an appeal to arms in defence of a righteous freedom.
The bell of liberty rang out upon the air of the New World, and the first
century of American freedom began. It should never be forgotten by
the children of Revolutionary sires, that there were foremothers, as well
as forefathers, who should be honored. There were noble women as
well as brave men of the Revolution, who should receive due recognition
from posterity, and a generous meed of praise.
It should be well remembered, that when the
absolute authority of an unjust parliament and a tyrannical king was
asserted and re-asserted, to the annoyance and oppression of the people in
America, in response to the proclamation for suppressing rebellion and
sedition, as the remonstrances of our forefathers were termed, a woman-ABIGAIL
ADAMS in Massachusetts, wrote thus in a letter to her husband, John
Adams, at Philadelphia - "This intelligence will make a plain
path for you, though a dangerous one. I could not join to-day in the
petitions of our worthy pastor for a reconciliation between our no longer
parent state, but tyrant and these Colonies. Let us separate: they are
unworthy to be our brethren. Let us renounce them and instead of
supplications, as formerly, for prosperity and happiness, let us beseech
the almighty to blast their counsels, and to bring to nought all their
devices."
Said "The New York Tribune" in
July, 1875, menting on the above, "Here was a declaration
independence, preceding by seven months that has become so famous; and it
was signed by a woman."
There is ample evidence of the sympathy
which the women of those early days of our nation's history felt with the
efforts of their countrymen to rid themselves of a foreign yoke. One
woman, addressing a British officer in Boston, wrote from Philadelphia as
follows:
"I have retrenched every superfluous
expense in my table and family. Tea I have not drunk since last Christmas,
nor bought a new cap or gown since your defeat at Lexington; and, what I
never did before, have learned to knit, and am now making stockings of
wool for my servants; and this way do I throw in my mite to the public
good. I know this, that as free I can die but once; but as a slave I shall
not be worthy of life. I have the pleasure to assure you that these are
the sentiments of all my sister Americans. They have sacrificed
assemblies, parties of pleasure, tea-drinking, and finery, to that great
spirit of patriotism that actuates all degrees of people throughout this
extensive continent."
An address, expressive of the sentiments of
the women of the new nation towards their brave defenders, was widely
circulated in the land, and read in the churches of Virginia. "We
know," it said, "that at a distance from the theatre of war, if
we enjoy any tranquillity, it is the fruit of your watchings, your labors,
your dangers. And shall we hesitate to evince to you our
gratitude? Shall we hesitate to wear clothing more simple, and dress
less elegant, while, at the price of this small privation, we shall
deserve your benedictions?"
Mrs E F Ellet, in her three volumes
of great value, detailing the high sentiments and heroic deeds of the
women of the Revolution, declares that "the noble deeds in which this
irrepressible spirit breathed itself were not unrewarded by
persecution. The case of the Quakeress DEBORAH FRANKLIN who
was banished from New York by the British commandant for her liberality in
relieving the sufferings of the American prisoners, was one among
many. In our days of tranquillity and luxury, imagination can
scarcely compass the extent or severity of the trials endured; and it is
proportionately difficult to estimate the magnanimity that bore all, not
only with uncomplaining patience, but with a cheerful forgetfulness of
suffering in view of the desired object. The alarms of war, the roar
of the strife itself, could not silence the voice of woman lifted in
encouragement or prayer. The horrors of battle or massacre could not
drive her from the post of duty. The effect of this devotion cannot
be questioned, though it may not now be traced in particular
instances. These were, for the most part, known to those who were
themselves actors in the who lived in the midst of them. The heroism
of Revolutionary women has passed from with the generation who witnessed
it, or is seen by faint and occasional glimpses through the obscurity of
tradition."
But some knowledge of these noble women of
century is given us by Mrs. Ellet, and also in a smaller work
called "Noble Deeds of American Women," by Jesse Clement.
Three women bearing the name of Martin
deserve to be remembered. The elder, ELIZABETH MARTIN, bore the
same relation to the two younger, Grace and Rachel, that Naomi did to Ruth
and Orpah. Her sons were in the Revolutionary ranks, seven of them,
whom she said as they went, with the spirit of Sparta: "Go, boys, and
fight for your country. Fight til death, if you must; but never let
your country be dishonored. Were I a man I would go with you."
When a British officer, learning that she
had seven sons in the army, sneeringly said she had enough, she replied
that she wished she had fifty there.
When another British officer heartlessly
told her he saw her son's brains blown out on the field of battle, she
calmly replied, "He could not have died in a nobler cause."
"When Charleston was besieged, she had
three sons in the place. She heard the report of cannon on the occasion,
though nearly a hundred miles west of the besieged city. The wives of the
sons were with her, and manifested great uneasiness while listening to the
reports; nor could the mother control her feelings any better. While they
were indulging in silent and, as we may suppose, painful reflections, the
mother suddenly broke the silence by exclaiming, as she raised her hands,
'Thank God! they are the children of the Republic!'"
That there was courage in RACHEL and
GRACE MARTIN, was evinced in their capture of important despatches,
when, disguised as two rebels, they assailed the British courier and his
guard, took the papers, which they speedily forwarded to Gen. Greene,
and released the messenger and the two officers who were his guard on
parole, while they had not the least suspicion that their captors were
women. Boadicea, rushing in her rude chariot over the battle-field, while
her long and yellow hair was streaming in the wind, had not more warlike
heroism than those two sisters who risked so much to aid their country's
defenders.
DEBORAH SAMSON of Plymouth, Mass.,
disguised herself, and, as a man named Robert Shirtilife, served
during the whole of the Revolutionary war, with the same zeal and
efficiency, and with the exposure to hardship and fatigue, endured by the
other soldiers. She was wounded twice; but her secret remained
undiscovered, till, during brain-fever, her sex was discovered by the
physician, who then chivalrously took her to his own home.
"When her health was restored, her commanding officer, to whom the
physician had revealed his discovery, ordered her to carry a letter to Gen.
Washington. Certain now of a fact of which she had before been
doubtful, that her sex was known, she went with much reluctance to fulfil
the order. Washington, after reading the message with great consideration,
without speaking a word, gave her her discharge, together with a note
containing a few of advice, and some money. She afterwards Benjamin
Gannett of Sharon, Mass. She received pension, with a grant of
land, for her services as Revolutionary soldier."' Honorable mention
of woman-soldier is made in Niles' "Principles and of the
Revolution."
ANNA WARNER the wife of Capt.
Elijah Bailey the Revolutionary army, earned the title of "The
Heroine of Groton," by her devotion to the cause of freedom, and her
fearless efforts to aid the wounded on the occasion of the terrible
massacre at Fort Griswold in Connecticut. When the blockading fleet
in 1813 appeared off the harbor of New London, Conn., she was among the
patriotic women who sacrificed articles clothing to supply flannel for
cartridges. The editor of "The Democratic Review" visited
her in 1846 when she was eighty-eight years old, and as agile as a girl of
eighteen. He said of her, 'Such is Mother Bailey. Had
she lived in the palmy days of ancient Roman glory, no matron of the
mighty empire would have been more highly honored." But she was
only a type of many. Patriotic women abounded in the days of the
Revolution, and their patriotism lives in their descendants. The
historian of Sohoharie has embalmed upon his pages the records of their
heroic deeds. Anticipating the needs of the rangers, MRS.
ANGELICA VROOMAN caught a bullet-mould, some lead, and an iron spoon,
ran to her father's tent, and there moulded a quantity of bullets amid the
noise of the battle. "While the firing was kept up at the
middle fort, great anxiety prevailed at the upper; and, during this time, Capt.
Hager, who commanded the latter, gave orders that the women and
children should retire to a long cellar, which he specified, should the
enemy attack him. A young lady named MARY HAGIDORN, on hearing
these orders, went to Capt. Hager, and said, "Captain, I shall
not go into that cellar, should the enemy come. I will take a spear which
I can use as well as any man, and help defend the fort." The captain,
seeing her determination, answered, 'Then take a spear, Mary, and be ready
at the pickets to repel an attack.' She cheerfully obeyed, and held the
spear at the picket, till hurrahs for the American flag burst on her ear,
and told that all was safe."
Patriotism was not limited to any one
section of our country. The North and the South were alike unwilling
to submit to British aggression. The wife of Col. Fitzhugh of
Maryland collected her slaves, and, in the absence of her husband,
prepared to defend their home, when they were visited by British
soldiers. The invaders fled in dismay. ANNE FITZHUGH was one
who could respond to the exclamation in Proverbs, "Who shall find a
valiant woman? The price of her is as things brought from
afar." Accompanying her blind husband, whom the saucy
Britishers determined to take as prisoner to New York, she left her home
half-clad, but firm in her purpose not to leave her helpless charge.
She had previously placed pistols in the hands of her sons, and sent them
forth from the other side of the house to a place of safety.
"It was a cold and rainy night; and with the mere protection of a
cloak, which the officer took down and threw over her shoulders before
leaving the house, she sallied forth with party. While on the way to
the boat, the report of a gun was heard, which the soldiers supposed was
the signal of a rebel gathering. They hastened to the boat, where a
parole was written out with trembling hands, and placed in the old
gentleman's possession. Without even a benediction, he was left on
shore with his faithful and fearless companion, who thought but little of
her wet feet as she stood and saw the cowardly detachment of British
soldiers push off and row away with all their might for safety."
The women of Revolutionary days afforded
the poet ample opportunity to praise their devotion and heroism and say,
as one did,
"Proud were they by such to stand,
In hammock fort, or glen;
To load the sure old rifle,
To run the leaden ball,
To watch a battling husband's place,
And fill it, should he fall."
This was illustrated in the noble act of a
woman whose husband, a gunner named Pitcher, was killed daring the
battle of Monmouth; and she then stepped forward, and took his place.
"The gun was so well managed as to draw the attention of Gen.
Washington to the circumstance, and to call forth an expression of his
admiration of her bravery and her fidelity to her country. To show
his appreciation of her virtues and her highly valuable services, he
conferred on her a lieutenant's commission." She was afterwards
known as Captain or Major Molly.
An incident is related, which occurred
while Washington was at Valley Forge with his army, and the enemy
was in Philadelphia, which proved that a country girl had fidelity and
courage. Major Talmage, hearing that such a girl had gone to
Philadelphia, ostensibly to sell eggs, but really to obtain information
concerning the enemy, moved his detachment to Germantown, and waited with
a small party at a tavern in sight of the British outposts. He soon
saw the country girl, and was about to be told by her of British plans,
when he was informed that their light horse was advancing.
"Stepping to the door, he saw them in full pursuit of his
patrols. He hastily mounted; but, before he had started his charger,
the girl was at his side begging for protection. Quick as thought he
ordered her to mount behind him. She obeyed, and in that way rode to
Germantown, a distance of three miles. During the whole ride, writes
the major in his journal, where we find these details, 'Although there was
considerable firing of pistols, and not a little wheeling and charging,
she remained unmoved, and never once complained of fear.'
During the war a woman's society was
formed, whose object was the relief of the soldiers who were in need of
clothing. In 1780 the ladies of Philadelphia city and county sold
their jewelry, and converted other trinkets into something more
serviceable, collected large sums of money, purchased the raw material,
plied the needle with all diligence, and, in a short time, the aggregate
amount of their contributions was seventy-five hundred dollars. This sum
was raised in and immediately around Philadelphia. The efforts of
the ladies were not, however, limited to their own neighborhood. They
addressed circulars to the adjoining counties and States, and the response
of New Jersey and Maryland was truly generous. The number of shirts made
by the ladies of Philadelphia during that patriotic movement was
twenty-two hundred. These were cut out at the house of Mrs. Sarah Bache,
daughter of Dr Franklin. This lady, writing to a Mrs.
Meredith of Trenton, N J, at the time, says, 'I am happy to have it in
my power to tell you that the sums given by the good women of
Philadelphia, for the benefit of the army, have been much greater than
could be expected, and given with so much cheerfulness, and so many
blessings, that it was rather a pleasing than a painful task to call for
them. I write to claim you as a Philadelphian, and shall think
myself honored in your donation."
In the early part of February, 1770, the
women of Boston publicly pledged themselves to abstain from the use of
tea. On Feb 9 there were three hundred matrons who had become
members of the league. Three days after, the young women followed
the good example of their mothers, signing the following document:
"We, the daughters of those patriots
who have and do now appear for the public interest, and in that
principally regard their prosperity, as such do with pleasure engage with
them in denying ourselves the drinking of foreign tea, in hopes to
frustrate a plan which tends to deprive the whole community of all that is
valuable in life." No wonder that after years saw such
prodigies of valor in those who showed themselves able to practise such
patriotic self-denial. S ide by side the men and women of the Revolution
objected to and protested against "taxation without
representation." The spirit of the ancestry still lives in the
true children of such noble progenitors.
Among the active women of the Revolution
was ESTHER REED, the wife of Pres. Reed, who stood at the
head of the Relief Association in Philadelphia, and who wrote a letter to
Washington, informing him that the subscription of the women amounted to
$200,580, and £625, 6s. 8d., in specie. Mrs. Reed died in
1780, at the early age of thirty-four; and it. was thought that her
arduous labors hastened her departure. S he was thus a martyr to liberty,
and did not alone deserve that distinction. As in the civil war,
many other women were overworked, and fell a sacrifice to their patriotic
responsibilities and toils.
LYDIA DARRAH is mentioned in the
first number of "The American Quarterly Review," as an amiable
and heroic Quakeress of Philadelphia, who overheard the order read for the
British troops to march out and attack Washington's army, then at White
Marsh. She obtained a pass from Gen. Howe, for a visit to a
mill for flour; and going safely through the British lines, leaving her
bag at the mill, she hastened to the American lines, saw Col. Craig,
and told him what she had overheard. By means of that information,
the American army was saved; for the British found them prepared, and
forbore to make the contemplated attack.
Butler's "History of Groton," in
Massachusetts, states that, "After the departure of Col.
Prescott's regiment of 'minute-men,' Mrs. David Wright of
Pepperell, Mrs. Job Shattuck of Groton, and the neighboring
women, collected at what is now Jewett's Bridge, over the Nashua, between
Pepperell and Groton, clothed in their absent husbands' apparel, and armed
with muskets, pitchforks, and such other weapons as they could find; and,
having elected Mrs. Wright their commander, resolutely determined
that no foe to freedom, foreign or domestic, should pass that
bridge. For rumors were rife, that the regulars were approaching;
and frightful stories of slaughter flew rapidly from place to place, and
from house to house. Soon there appeared one on horseback, supposed
to be treasonably engaged in conveying intelligence to the enemy. By
the implicit command of Sergeant Wright, he was immediately arrested,
unhorsed, searched, and the treasonable correspondence found concealed in
his boots. He was detained prisoner, and sent to Oliver Prescott,
Esq., of Groton, and his despatches were sent to the Committee of
Safety."
Historians tell us of the Kentucky women
braves, who were successful in warding off the attacks of Indians in the
early days of our country; and the wife of a Mr. John Merrill of
Nelson County is specially mentioned, as brave and successful in her
defence of her home during the summer of 1787. She was "a
perfect Amazon in strength and courage." Such women were needed in
those "dark and bloody days." That American women have
never been wanting in bravery, either in Revolutionary days or since, Mrs.
ANN CHASE showed to the world, when, at the capture of Tampico in
1846, she displayed the American flag, opposed by the common council. No
menaces could awe this intrepid woman, the wife of the American consul,
who, in her daring and patriotism, had also previously given Commodore
Connor full information in regard to the defence of the place.
DICEY LANGSTON was a South Carolina
woman, who was equal to the times of emergency which often came in the
days of the Revolution. She was in the good custom of conveying
intelligence to the friends of freedom. The British would have
despised her as a spy, but we honor her as the friend of a holy
cause. She often hazarded her life in crossing marshes and creeks to
save the lives of others; and on one occasion, when she was returning from
a settlement of Whigs, she was set upon by a party of Tories, and
questioned. "The leader of the band then held a pistol to her
breast, and threatened to shoot her, if she did not make the wishedfor
disclosure. 'Shoot me, if you dare! I will not tell you!' was her
dauntless reply, as she opened a long handkerchief that covered her neck
and bosom, thus manifesting a willingness to receive the contents of the
pistol, if the officer insisted on disclosures or life. The dastard,
enraged at her defying movement, was in the act of firing, at which moment
one of the soldiers threw up the hand holding the weapon, and the
cowerless heart of the girl was permitted to beat on. REBECCA
MOTTE has her name also on the scroll of honor, as one who wiffingly
consented to the burning of her large mansion, which stood near the
trench, in order to effect the capture of Fort Motte, which was then in
the hands of the British. The Americans were successful, partly by the
firing of arrows so prepared as to set fire to the shingles of the roof;
and those arrows had been presented to Mrs. Motte by a favorite
African. She saved them when the British officer allowed her to pass
out of the fort to the Americans; and he was greatly displeased that they
should be used against him.
ELIZABETH STEELE is worthy of note
for her patriotic donation made to Gen. Greene in an hour of
need. She was the landlady of the hotel in Salisbury, N.C.; and the
wounded Americans were brought to her house. The general felt much
discouraged; for, added to the defeat at the battle of the Cowpens, he was
penniless. Mrs. Steele generously donated to the cause he
represented two bags of specie, saying, "Take these, for you will
want them, and I can do without them." Gen. Greene's
biographer says, "Never did relief come at a more propitious moment;
nor would it be straining conjecture, to suppose that he resumed journey
with his spirits cheered and brightened by this touching proof of woman's
devotion to the cause of her country."
MARY REDMOND was called in
Philadelphia "the little black-eyed rebel," because she was so
ready to assist women whose husbands were in the American army, in gaining
intelligence from the camp. Mrs. Ellet states, that "the
despatches were usually sent from their friends by a boy, who carried them
stitched in the back of his coat. He came into the city bringing
provisions to market. One morning, when there was some reason to
fear he was suspected, and his movements watched by the enemy, Mary
undertook to get the papers in safety from him. She went, as usual,
to the market, and, in a pretended game of romps threw her shawl over the
boy's head, and thus secured the prize. She hastened with the papers
to her anxious friends, who read them by stealth, after the windows had
been carefully closed. When the news came of Burgoyne's
surrender, and the Whig women were secretly rejoicing, the sprightly girl,
not daring to give vent openly to her exultation, put her head up the
chimney, and gave a shout for Gates."
HANNAH ISRAEL, whose maiden name was
Erwin, was the wife of a farmer so patriotic, that he declared he
would sooner drive his cattle as a present to George Washington,
than receive thousands of dollars in British gold for them. He was
taken prisoner, and was on board a British frigate anchored in the
Delaware in front of his house, when the commander, who had been told of
that saying by some telltale loyalists, ordered some soldiers to drive the
cattle down to the river's bank, and slaughter them before their rebel
owner's eyes. Mrs. Israel, who was brave as a Spartan,
divined the purpose of the soldiers, and, calling a boy eight years old,
started off in haste to defeat their project. "They threatened, and
she defied, till at last they fired at her. The cattle, more
terrified than she, scattered over the fields; and, as the balls flew
thicker, she called on the little boy 'Joe' the louder and more earnestly
to help, determined that the assailants should not have one of the
cattle. They did not. She drove them all into the barnyard,
when the soldiers, out of respect to her courage or for some other cause,
ceased their molestations, and returned to the frigate."
The noble deeds of the days of
Revolutionary heroism were not all confined to the women who were of the
dominant race. Red women, as well as white, who dwelt in our land in
those days, were inspired with generous ardor and benevolent zeal.
Says Mr. Clement, "During the Revolution, a young Shawanese Indian
was captured by the Cherokees, and sentenced to die at the stake. He was
tied, and the usual preparations were made for his execution, when a
Cherokee woman went to the warrior to whom the prisoner belonged, and,
throwing a parcel of goods at his feet, said she was a widow, and would
adopt the captive as her son, and earnestly plead for his deliverance. Her
prayer was granted, and the prisoner taken under her care." EMILY
GEIGER was a messenger from Gen. Greene to Gen. Sumter.
Her mission was a dangerous one, for spies often paid for their temerity
with their lives. She was mounted on horseback on a side-saddle, and
was intercepted by Lord Rawdon's scouts. She could not deny
that she came from the direction of Greene's army; and therefore she was
locked up, and an old Tory matron ordered to search her. She did not wish
to be proved as a spy, nor have the intelligence in the letter she was
bearing imparted to the British. She therefore, while alone, ate up
the letter piece by piece, and, when the searcher arrived, she was unable
to find any trace of her errand upon her, and she was allowed to
depart. She hastened to the camp of Gen Sumter, and delivered
her message verbally.
NANCY VAN ALSTINE is said to be
"one of the bravest and noblest mothers of the Revolution." Her
fifteen children could "rise up and call her blessed," for her
life was pure and noble, and, in the days of her country's peril from
hostile tribes of Indians, she was fearless and undaunted. The pioneer
families in many parts of our land, a century ago, had reason to keep a
vigilant watch over their children and goods, lest the startling
war-whoop, too often heard, might be followed by theft, destruction, and
awful massacre.
MARTHA BRATTON was a woman of the
Revolution, of whose deeds and character we may judge by the following
toast given at Brattonsville, S.C., on the 12th July, 1839, at a
celebration of Huck's defeat: "The memory of Mrs. Martha Bratton.
In the hands of an infuriated monster, with the instrument of death around
her neck, she nobly refused to betray her husband: in the hour of victory,
she remembered mercy, and as a guardian angel interposed in behalf of her
inhuman enemies. Throughout the Revolution, she encouraged the Whigs to
fight on to the last, to hope on to the end. Honor and gratitude to the
woman and heroine, who proved herself so faithful a wife, so firm a friend
to liberty!
ELIZABETH ZANE,--she was the young
heroine of Fort Henry. When the little band in the garrison at the
mouth of Wheeling Creek, in Ohio County, Va., were holding out against
thirty or forty times their number of savage assailants, and were about to
surrender for lack of powder, Elizabeth Zane insisted upon being the one
who should risk life in seeking to obtain a keg which was in a house ten
or twelve rods from the gate of the fort. The Indians did not molest
her till on her return they divined the nature of her errand, and then
they fired upon her; but "the whizzing balls only gave agility to her
feet, and herself and the prize were quickly safe within the gate.
The result was that the soldiers, inspired with enthusiasm by this heroic
adventure, fought with renewed courage; and, before the keg of powder was
exhausted, the enemy raised the siege." This occurred during the
Revolutionary war.
ESTHER GASTON showed her bravery by
mounting her horse, and, with her sister-in-law, hastening to the battle
of Rocky Mount. Meeting some cowardly runaways, they asked them for
their guns, and proposed to stand in their places, whereupon the men
returned to duty; and, while the fight was raging, Esther and her
companion cared for the wounded and the dying.
MARY ANN GIBBES, when but a girl of
thirteen, earned the name of heroine, as she went back in the dark, and
amid firing of guns, to the mansion of her father on John's Island, near
Charleston, S.C., in order to rescue a boy cousin who had accidentally
been left in the hands of the British when the rest of the family
fled. Even the young girls had the spirit of heroism and patriotism
which marked the women of the Revolution.
Mrs. WILSON the wife of Robert
Wilson, whose own name we do not know, was one worthy to be remembered
as the mother of eleven sons, most of whom were soldiers, and some were
officers, in the war of the Revolution, and who, when asked by Lord
Cornwallis to her influence with her husband and sons, who were his
prisoners, to induce them to fight for the crown replied, -
"I have seven sons who are now or have
been bearing arms; indeed, my seventh son Zaccheus, who is only fifteen
years old, I yesterday assisted to get ready to go and join his brothers
in Sumter's army. Now, sooner than see one of my family turn back from
this glorious enterprise, I would take these boys," pointing to three
or four small sons, "and with them would myself enlist under Sumter's
standard, and show my husband and sons how to fight, and, if necessary, to
die for their country." That woman deserves to be known as heroine of
Steel Creek.
MRS. SHUBRICK, wife of Richard
Shubrick, an American soldier who had sought refuge with her, by
placing herself before the chamber in which he was secreted, and
resolutely telling the British officer, "To men of honor, the chamber
of a lady should be as sacred as the sanctuary. I will defend the passage
to it, though I perish. You may succeed and enter it, but it shall be over
my corpse." The officer ceased further search. On another occasion,
she reproved a British sergeant for striking a servant of their family,
inflicting a severe sabre-wound on his shoulders, because he could not
disclose the place where the plate was hidden, and told him to strike her,
if any one; for, till she died, no further injury should be done to the
aged overseer. The sergeant, discomfited retired.
MARY KNIGHT, the sister of Gen.
Warrell, had the following tribute to her patriotism and humanity paid
to her by a New Jersey newspaper in July, 1849: "The deceased was one
of those devoted women who aided to relieve the horrible sufferings of
Washington's army at Valley Forge, cooking and carrying provisions to them
alone, in the depth of winter, even passing through the outposts of the
British army in the disguise of a market woman. And, when Washington
was compelled to retreat before a superior force, she concealed her
brother Gen. Warrell - when the British set a price on his head-in
a cider-hogshead. in the cellar for three days, and fed him through the
bunghole; the house being ransacked four different times by the troops in
search of him, without success. She was over ninety years of age at the
time of her death."
MARGARET CORBIN was one to whom
might have been said,
"Where cannon boomed, where bayonets
clashed.
There was thy fiery way."
Mr. Clement's account of her is as follows;
"An act " similar to that recorded of Mrs. Pitcher at the
battle of Monmouth was performed by Mrs. Margaret Corbin at the
attack on Fort Washington. Her husband belonged to the artillery; and
standing by his side, and seeing him fall, she unhesitatingly took his
place, and heroically performed his duties. Her services were
appreciated by the officers of the army, and honorably noticed by
Congress. This body passed the following resolution in July, 1779:
"Resolved, that Margaret Corbin, wounded and disabled at the
battle of Fort Washington while she heroically filled the post of her
husband, who was killed by her side serving a piece of artillery, do
receive during her natural life, or continuance of said disability,
one-half the monthly pay drawn by a soldier in service of these States;
and that she now receive, out of public stores, one suit of clothes or
value thereof in money."
Other women there were, who won a fair
renown in Revolutionary days. The limit of this chapter forbids further
mention; but those who will read Mrs. Ellet's "Women of the
Revolution" will find her pages full of thrilling interest; and will
place the names of ELIZABETH CLAY, SUSANNAH, SABINA, and ANNA
ELLIOTT, SARAH HOPTON, JANE WASHINGTON, MARTHA WILSON, and a
host of others, whose sympathy encouraged the men who fought for freedom,
and whose bravery and valor entitled them to honorable remembrance for
many a century, side by side with the names of those who signed the
Declaration of Independence, pledged to the cause of liberty "their
lives, their fortunes, and their sacred honor."