The American Revolutionary War evokes images of farmers and tradesmen putting down their tools for muskets, ordinary citizens stepping into roles otherwise foreign to them, and a willingness to fight and die for freedom. While the images in our minds of those doing so may flash from iconic officers like General George Washington, to simple privates plowing their way from New England to the mid-Atlantic and back again, history has shown us that not all those who took up arms for the fledgling republic were men. America’s first recognized female soldier, Deborah Sampson, would be a blazing example of America’s women being active in this founding conflict.
Jacqueline Nelson explains.
Portrait of Deborah Sampson. Front of The Female Review: Life of Deborah Sampson, the Female Soldier in the War of Revolution.
Origins
Deborah Sampson was born in 1760 and raised near Massachusetts’ original colony, Plymouth. She was, in fact, believed to be a descendent of both Myles Standish and Governor William Bradford. However, these deep roots would not be enough to save the Sampson children from poverty. Her father, Jonathan, was either lost at sea or abandoned the family when she was only five, and her mother was forced to ship her and her siblings off, individually, to family members willing to take them in. Then, when she was ten, Sampson was bound as an indentured servant and completed her term by eighteen. After, she would work as a teacher and weaver for several years.
At age twenty-one, Sampson went headlong into a war that had been raging for seven years. In 1782, she joined the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment as a volunteer under the alias of Robert Shurtleff/Shurtliff. Recently, a diary belonging to her neighbor was discovered which indicates that she actually tried this scheme earlier that year but was turned away because her disguise must not have been quite up to it. Dressing as a man was not only scandalous, but also illegal for the women of Massachusetts. As a result, she would be demonized by the local church. However, she would not be around to actually face their vitriol, as she tried again in May 1782, forty miles away from home, and was successfully enlisted.
Historians have long questioned why she would venture so willingly into a conflict that had already taken many American lives and had seen devasting conditions for soldiers like those infamous winters in Valley Forge and Morristown. In truth, women can be just as politically, patriotically, or emotionally driven to service as the men of their time. Similarly, as a woman who had lived in poverty her whole life, the promise of regular pay, enlistment bonuses/bounties, and other incentives for soldiers were also just as appealing to women as they were to the men.
Service
Once enlisted, she would be assigned to West Point, where she served in the Light Infantry Troops. This demanding posting required soldiers to almost constantly be on the move, scouting the enemy, and when necessary, skirmishing with both English soldiers and Loyalist militia. Sampson’s tenure in the service is one that is debated, not in terms of her actual participation, which is undeniable, but her experiences while serving in the light infantry.
Sampson would not escape the war unscathed, and the injuries she sustained are a great example of that debate around her experience in the war. In one skirmish she is said to have received a nasty gash across her forehead from an opponent’s sword, which was treated at a field hospital, but in that same engagement she took two iron balls in her left thigh. Knowing that she would be discovered if this wound was treated, she slipped out of the hospital and back to her own tent, where she is said to have dug one piece of shrapnel out of her leg using a pen knife. Being unable to reach the other, she stitched up her wound with a simple sewing needle and lived the rest of her life with the shrapnel in her leg. Other sources indicate that she was shot in her shoulder and dug the iron ball from there.
Through it all, Sampson had been remarkably adept at keeping her identity secret, but she could not evade discovery forever. After serving for more than a year, she came down with a severe fever while serving outside Philadelphia in the summer of 1783. Her fever became untenable, and she fell unconscious. Not unlike a modern field medic or even your average EMT, medical providers often have to remove clothing to examine the body during treatment. When Dr. Barnabas Binney discovered that Robert was really Deborah, he could, as many would, report this to the closest officer and have her booted out immediately. Instead, he helped her continue to conceal her identity, temporarily, bringing her to his home, where his wife and daughters help to provide her care until she was well enough to return.
Shortly after her return, Dr. Binney would reveal her identity to her commanding officer, General John Paterson. Paterson would give her an honorable discharge on October 23, 1783, one month after the Treaty of Paris was signed, and seventeen months after she joined the army ranks. Some sources even indicate she received the discharge from General Henry Knox, one of Washington’s closest advisors.
Legacy
Sampson would return to civilian life, marrying and having children, but she continued to struggle with poverty. Like many soldiers, her service did not come with all the rewards it was meant to. Thus, in her later years, she went on a year-long tour, at times in uniform, to lecture about her times in the service. She would also be among many soldiers who pushed for a military pension in rightful compensation for their service, though, sadly, she would not see it before she passed away at age 66. Still, Sampson would be the only woman to be awarded that pension, after much lobbying of Congress from her husband, those who saw her speak, and even founding fathers like Paul Revere and John Hancock. The committee reviewing her case came to the ultimate conclusion that the entirety of the Revolution, “furnished no other similar example of female heroism, fidelity and courage” than that found in Sampson. Sadly, they would come to this conclusion in 1837, ten years after she had passed away.
Sampson is the first recognized woman to join the ranks in the service of America, and in doing so she is the bedrock upon which American servicewomen would build. Hundreds of women are cataloged as having similarly disguised themselves as men to serve in the Civil War. Thousands would serve in the World Wars without the need for concealment through the demand for designated female branches in the armed services. Eventually, progress would lead to the integration of the armed forces, and the continued barriers being broken for women in the service today. Sampson’s headstone reads, “The Female Soldier”, and thankfully, her legacy was just the first of many.
What do you think of Deborah Sampson? Let us know below.
References
Cowan, Alison Leigh. “The Woman Who Sneaked into George Washington’s Army.” New York Times, July 2, 2019. https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/02/arts/design/the-woman-who-sneaked-into-george-washingtons-army.html
Michals, Debra. “Deborah Sampson.” National Women’s History Museum, 2015. Accessed 10/30/2021. https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/deborah-sampson
“Revolutionary War Diary Reveals New Details about Deborah Sampson, Who Disguised Herself as a Man to Join the Continental Army.” Museum of the American Revolution, July 3, 2019. Accessed 10/30/2021. https://www.amrevmuseum.org/press-releases/revolutionary-war-diary-reveals-new-details-about-deborah-sampson-who-disguised-herself-as-a-man-to-join-the-continental-army
