Women's History Month 2024 - Deborah Sampson

[Mrs. Smith]

Good evening, and welcome to the next installment in Project Appleseed's Women's History Month series!  This week we're honored to introduce you to Deborah Sampson.

Deborah Sampson became a hero of the American Revolution when she disguised herself as a man and joined the Patriot forces. She earned a full military pension for participation in the Revolutionary army.



Born on December 17, 1760, in Plympton, Massachusetts. Sampson was one of seven children to Jonathan Sampson Jr. and Deborah (Bradford) Sampson. Both were descendants of preeminent Pilgrims: Jonathan of Myles Standish and Priscilla Alden; his wife, the great granddaughter of Massachusetts Governor William Bradford. Still, the Sampsons struggled financially and, after Jonathan failed to return from a sea voyage, his impoverished wife was forced to place her children in different households. Five years later, at age 10, young Deborah was bound out as an indentured servant to Deacon Benjamin Thomas, a farmer in Middleborough with a large family. At age 18, with her indenture completed, Sampson, who was self-educated, worked as a teacher during summer sessions in 1779 and 1780 and as a weaver in winter.



In 1782, as the Revolutionary War raged on, the patriotic Sampson disguised herself as a man named Robert Shurtleff and joined the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment. At West Point, New York, she was assigned to Captain George Webb's Company of Light Infantry. She was given the dangerous task of scouting neutral territory to assess British buildup of men and materiel in Manhattan, which General George Washington contemplated attacking. In June of 1782, Sampson and two sergeants led about 30 infantrymen on an expedition that ended with a confrontation—often one-on-one—with Tories. She led a raid on a Tory home that resulted in the capture of 15 men. At the siege of Yorktown, she dug trenches, helped storm a British redoubt, and endured canon fire.
For over two years, Sampson's true gender had escaped detection despite close calls. When she received a gash in her forehead from a sword and was shot in her left thigh, she extracted the pistol ball herself. She was ultimately discovered a year and a half into her service—in Philadelphia, when she became ill during an epidemic, was taken to a hospital, and lost consciousness.

Receiving an honorable discharge on October 23, 1783, Sampson returned to Massachusetts. On April 7, 1785, she married Benjamin Gannet from Sharon, and they had three children, Earl, Mary, and Patience. The story of her life was written in 1797 by Herman Mann, entitled The Female Review: or Memoirs of an American Young Lady. She received a military pension from the state of Massachusetts. Although Sampson's life after the army was mostly typical of a farmer's wife, in 1802 she began a year-long lecture tour about her experiences—the first woman in America to do so—sometimes dressing in full military regalia.



Four years after Sampson's death at age 66, her husband petitioned Congress for pay as the spouse of a soldier. Although the couple was not married at the time of her service, in 1837 the committee concluded that the history of the Revolution "furnished no other similar example of female heroism, fidelity and courage." He was awarded the money, though he died before receiving it.

Source: https://www.mass.gov/info-details/deborah-sampson-american-revolutionary-war-hero


You can find the stories of other brave Revolutionary War women at  https://appleseedinfo.org/smf/index.php?topic=60070.0

[Aliquippa]

in doing some research it appears Deborah may not have been at Yorktown siege. The dates don't jive. Yorktown was 1781 and she joined in 1782. Not to say she might not have been there possibly as a civilian helping out in disguise? Who knows.

[Mrs. Smith]

The State of Massachusetts Office of Veterans Services dates her enlistment in 1782, and it's their job to know those things.  That same office cites her involvement in the Seige of Yorktown in October of 1781. How many Militia participated in battles prior to the creation of the Continental Army in June of 1775?  Thousands.  And thousands of them no doubt then JOINED that army.

It's not unreasonable to speculate, then, that Sampson participated, dressed as a man, in more than one encounter before taking the tremendous risk associated with actual enlistment in the army.  She would have wanted to be sure she could pass as a man before attempting such a bold move.  It's certainly what you or I would have done.  And it appears the state of Massachusetts thinks so, too.

[Aliquippa]

Thanks for the reply. I had thought as much but wanted to be assured before telling the story in case someone challenged the claim.

[Mrs. Smith]

I wouldn't expect a challenge. Most folks tune out the dates unless you hit them multiple times, or they're reading them. If nobody brings it up, neither should you. Because we don't actually know. If the historians knew for sure, they'd say so.

In the unlikely event they do, make sure you point out this is just speculation, as there's little record of her actions before enlistment other than that she was in Yorktown. It's reasonable speculation, but speculation nonetheless. We must take care not to present our best guesses as fact.

It's like Margaret Gage, yes?  There's some decent circumstantial evidence she may have been the one who tipped Warren about the Concord powder raid. But we don't KNOW for a fact.

And it's very important to say so.