Editor’s Note: With the recent dust-up around Nike’s retraction of its new Betsy Ross flag shoe, it has been surprising (or maybe not) to see the ignorance of so many about basic American history. As Dr. William J. “Bill” Federer has written, Betsy Ross was a Quaker, and Quakers were the first to go on record as opposing slavery (Germantown Petition of 1688). Perhaps this fascinating overview of some of America’s other heroic women during the time of Betsy Ross will encourage the reader to continue his or her study so that the national conversation might one day return to facts and truths about our nation’s founding. Pat Daugherty, Ed.D.
Courageous, faithful women have always played a vital role in American history. Addressing the Daughters of the American Revolution April 19, 1926, President Calvin Coolidge spoke about “the importance of women in working out the destiny of mankind…As there were fathers in our Republic, so there were mothers….By their abiding faith they inspired and encouraged the men; by their sacrifice they performed their part in the struggle out of which came our country…”
Referred to as “camp followers,” women were organized by Martha Washington, Lucy Knox, wife of Colonel Henry Knox, and Caty Greene, wife of General Nathanael Greene, to help the Continental Army. They scavenged for supplies, cooked food, washed clothes, formed sewing circles to knit and to mend ragged uniforms and blankets, and cared for sick and dying soldiers.
The stories of the heroic women are too numerous to recount, but several deserve particular notice:
Molly Pitcher, believed to be Mary Ludwig Hays, was one of the camp followers who heroically helped the army at the Battle of Monmouth. Women carried a continuous supply of water to the parched soldiers and to those loading the cannons. Water was needed to cool and clean the hot barrels of the cannons between shots, using a soaked end of a long ramrod. If this was not done, the cannons would soon overheat and become useless.
On June 28, 1778, Molly Pitcher was bringing water while her husband manned one of the cannons. When he collapsed from heat stroke, Molly took his place swabbing and loading the cannon for the rest of the battle. When a British cannonball flew between her legs, tearing off part of her skirt, she straightened up and uttered, “Well, that could have been worse,” and resumed loading the cannon. Hearing of her courage, General Washington commended Mary Ludwig Hays, issuing her a warrant as a non-commissioned officer. She was known as “Sergeant Molly.”
A similar story is that of Margaret Cochran Corbin, wife of artilleryman John Corbin. When he was killed on November 16, 1776, defending Manhattan’s Fort Washington, Margaret immediately took his place at the cannon and returned fire. Seriously wounded in her arm, Margaret Corbin, or “Captain Molly,” was the first woman in U.S. history to be awarded a military pension.
Women throughout the colonies managed homesteads, worked the farms, organized resistance protests, and boycotted British-made products, which meant going back to using their old spinning wheels. They also engaged in riskier roles as messengers, scouts, saboteurs, and spies, the punishment for which, if caught, was hanging. In addition to well-known names such as Abigail Adams, Mercy Otis Warren, Dolley Madison, and Deborah Read Franklin, there were:
- Catherine “Kate” Moore Berry, the “Heroine of the Battle of Cowpens,” who road through the back trails of South Carolina to warn of approaching British troops and round up militia to join General Daniel Morgan for the battle on January 17, 1781.
- 16-year-old Sybil Ludington, who on the night of April 26, 1777, rode 40 miles waking up patriots to join the militia led by her father, Colonel Henry Ludington, near Danbury, Connecticut.
- Lydia Darragh, whose home was commandeered by British officers for weeks. During their meetings, Lydia would hide in the closet under the stairs and listen through the walls. Hearing their plans, she made notes on small pieces of paper and sewed them into button covers on her son’s coat, instructing him to go to General Washington’s camp at Whitemarsh. Her intelligence saved the Americans from a surprise attack.
- Anna Smith Strong, who was an integral part of the Culper Spy Ring, gathering information for General Washington from 1778 to 1781. She hung her laundry in pre-arranged configurations on a clothesline outside to signal to other spies who were waiting to take information across Long Island Sound to Major Ben Tallmadge and General Washington.
- Hot tempered Nancy Hart, whose cabin was searched by six British soldiers who then shot her prized turkey and ordered her to cook it. While serving the soldiers wine, Nancy discreetly passed their stacked muskets through a crack in the wall to her daughter outside. When the soldiers noticed what she was doing, she pointed one of the guns at them saying she would shoot the first one who moved, which she promptly did. She held the rest at gun point till her husband arrived and then demanded they be hanged. In 1912, railroad construction workers grading land near the old Hart cabin found a neat row of six skeletons.
On January 2, 1952, the U.S. Postal Service issued a 3-cent stamp in Philadelphia to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Betsy Ross. Born on January 1, 1752, to a Quaker family in Philadelphia, Betsy was the 8th of 17 children. She apprenticed as a seamstress and fell in love with upholsterer John Ross, son of an Episcopal rector at Christ’s Church and nephew of Declaration signer George Ross.
John and Betsy eloped, as Quakers forbade interdenominational marriage. They were married by the last colonial Governor of New Jersey, William Franklin, who was the son of Ben Franklin. They attended Christ’s Church with George Washington, George Morris, Francis Hopkins, Alexander Hamilton, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. In June of 1776, General Washington reportedly asked Betsy Ross to design and sew an American flag, which has been honored by Americans ever since.
To continue the heroic legacy of the brave women who served the colonies during the Revolution, the Daughters of the American Revolution was founded in 1890 and incorporated by an Act of Congress in 1896. Its motto is “God, Home, and Country.”
William J. “Bill” Federer is a nationally known speaker, best-selling author, and president of Amerisearch, Inc., a publishing company dedicated to researching America’s noble history. His “American Minute” radio feature is broadcast daily on stations across America and by the Internet, and his “Faith in History” television show airs on the TCT Network and via DirectTV. Bill has written 20 books, including George Washington Carver: His Life and Faith in His Own Words, America’s God and Country Encyclopedia of Quotations (has sold over a half-million copies), The Faith of FDR, The Ten Commandments and Their Influence on American Law, Three Secular Reasons Why America Should Be Under God, and What Every American Needs to Know About the Quran: A History of Islam and the United States. He has spoken at events across America, from Mount Rushmore and the Lincoln Memorial to the U.S. Capitol and Military Chaplains’ Conventions. His works have been quoted by authors, politicians, leaders, journalists, teachers, students, and in court cases.
