Women in the American Revolution: Roles, Sacrifice, and Legacy

Introduction: Women's Social Status in the Revolution

Women in the American Revolution played a deciding factor in the success of the colonists in winning their freedom from the tyranny of England. Traditional roles of men and women had been heavily influenced by the teachings of Christianity, in which men were placed above women and God above men. This hierarchy was interpreted rather literally during the period, and many men regarded women as lower beings. During the Revolutionary War, women were not considered fit for battle — that was strictly a man's realm. Women were responsible for cooking, mending, sewing, soap making, and other domestic tasks. The onset of the war forced some of these ideas to be loosened out of necessity. The war played a major role in redefining women's roles in the late 18th century, and those redefinitions began a long series of reforms that later led to the suffrage movement.

Women played an important role in the American Revolution. Many who had husbands in the military left their homes — some even with their children — and followed their husbands to the front. They did so because they no longer had the help their husbands provided at home, and if the territory in which they lived was British-occupied, remaining at home might not be safe. These women were commonly referred to as "camp followers." If a woman performed the duties of cooking, mending uniforms, or doing laundry, the Army paid her a salary for her services. Some women were not paid a salary but received food rations instead.

Molly Pitcher: Legend, Identity, and Debate

One such camp follower is the legendary Molly Pitcher. Many dispute her very existence, yet numerous variations of her story survive. One of the more prevalent versions goes as follows:

An artillery wife, Mary Hays McCauly — better known as Molly Pitcher — shared the rigors of Valley Forge with her husband, William Hays. Her actions during the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, became legendary. That day at Monmouth was as hot as Valley Forge was cold. Someone had to cool the hot guns and bathe parched throats with water. Across the bullet-swept ground, a striped skirt fluttered. Mary Hays McCauly was earning her nickname "Molly Pitcher" by bringing pitcher after pitcher of cool spring water to the exhausted and thirsty men. She tended to the wounded and once, heaving a crippled Continental soldier onto her strong young back, carried him out of reach of hard-charging British soldiers. On her next trip with water, she found her artilleryman husband back with the guns, replacing a casualty. While she watched, Hays fell wounded. The piece, its crew too depleted to serve it, was about to be withdrawn. Without hesitation, Molly stepped forward and took the rammer staff from her fallen husband's hands. For the second time on an American battlefield, a woman manned a gun — the first being Margaret Corbin during the defense of Fort Washington in 1776. Resolutely, she stayed at her post in the face of heavy enemy fire, ably acting as a matross (gunner). For her heroic role, General Washington himself issued her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer. Thereafter, she was widely hailed as "Sergeant Molly." A flagstaff and cannon stand at her gravesite at Carlisle, Pennsylvania, and a sculpture on the battle monument commemorates her courageous deed.¹

This version of the Molly Pitcher story contains most of the common elements present in the retelling. One version has the bottom of her skirt torn by a grapeshot ball, to which she nonchalantly responds with a remark about being "lucky." Other versions have her husband collapsing from heat exhaustion rather than a wound. In one version, George Washington handed her a bag of coins. The variations in detail are numerous, but the common theme remains constant: her taking up the post for her fallen husband. There are several reasons why no single account can be considered a definitive historical record, and the many conflicting versions are only one of them.

Molly Pitcher embodies the patriotic spirit of the American Revolution; however, there was never actually a person named "Molly Pitcher." Like most legends, the story is not an entire fabrication but is based on some historical fact. According to the renowned Revolutionary War historian Dr. Linda Grant DePauw of the Minerva Center, Molly Pitcher was actually a composite figure rooted in the life of Mary Ludwig Hays McCauly of Carlisle, Pennsylvania. No historical sources exist for "Molly Pitcher" specifically — no place of birth, place of death, or biographical details. The real woman, Mary Ludwig Hays McCauly, was awarded a pension by the State of Pennsylvania "for services rendered" during the war. The amount — $40 — was more than the typical wage for camp followers. Even this evidence linking Mary Hays McCauly to the Battle of Monmouth is questionable, according to Dr. DePauw. No mention of a cannon at Monmouth appears in her obituary, which would be unusual for such a heroic feat. There are two women in historical records who fought at the Battle of Monmouth — one at an artillery position and the other in the infantry line — but neither is named, and no indisputable evidence identifies one of them as Mary Hays McCauly.² In addition, several variant spellings of her last name exist in the records. It is unlikely, given so many discrepancies, that the real truth will ever be fully known.

Mary McCauly was the second woman known to take up her fallen husband's arms. Margaret (Molly) Cochran Corbin, later known as "Captain Molly," was the wife of John Corbin, an artilleryman in Captain Thomas Proctor's First Company of Pennsylvania Artillery. Margaret was a camp follower who, like many such women, learned the men's drills by observation. On November 16, 1776, she stood on the front lines with her husband. When he was mortally wounded, she took his position. She was injured in the battle herself, moved to Philadelphia, paroled, and pensioned by Congress. Corbin was later assigned to the Corps of Invalids, where she remained until her death in 1800. "Captain Molly" was eventually buried at the United States Military Academy.³

It is believed that the name "Molly Pitcher" may in fact be a generic term given to women who carried pitchers of water to the troops and cooled the cannon barrels. Men on the battlefield would often call out, "Molly, bring me a pitcher!" or simply, "Molly Pitcher!" This is considered the more likely source of the name.

In contrast to Dr. DePauw's conclusions, Gillian Courtney, a park ranger at the Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site, disputes the claim that Mary Hays ever received a military pension. According to Courtney, Mary McCauly remarried after the death of her first husband, that marriage did not last long, and she supported herself until her death in 1832 through grants — never through a military pension.⁴

Another account describes a woman named Mary, widow of William Hays, who came to live in Carlisle in 1783 — well after the Battle of Monmouth. Her second husband had a variously spelled surname beginning with the letter "M." In January 1822, Mary applied for a pension from the State of Pennsylvania as "Molly McKolly [sic], widow of a soldier of the Revolutionary War." The bill passed the Pennsylvania Senate without amendment and was amended in the Pennsylvania House to read "for services rendered" in place of "widow of a soldier" before passing. No surviving papers explain why the change was made.

Less than a month later, on March 7, 1822, the following editorial appeared in the New York National Advocate — probably the best evidence available as to what Mary's wartime activity was believed to be while she was still alive:

"Molly Macauly [sic], who received a pension from the State of Pennsylvania for service rendered during the Revolutionary War, was well-known to the general officers as a brave and patriotic woman. She was called Sgt. McCauly [sic] and was wounded at some battle, supposed to be the Brandywine, where her sex was discovered.... It was an unusual circumstance to find women in the ranks disguised as men, such was their ardor for independence."

The editorial continues: "Elizabeth Canning was at a gun at Fort Washington when her husband was killed and she took his place immediately, loaded, primed and fired the cannon with which he was entrusted. She was wounded in the breast by grapeshot...."⁴

This raises an important question: how can supposed authorities have such conflicting information about something that should be provable through Pennsylvania military records? The answer may lie in 18th-century culture. Although women were camp followers who performed menial tasks around camp, they did not serve any official military function during the war and were therefore not listed by individual name in the records of the day. It was not considered proper for women to place themselves in danger or otherwise stray from traditionally prescribed duties. The actions of Margaret Corbin and Mary McCauly were outside society's norms for the time and were therefore considered extraordinary.

With this context in mind, Molly Pitcher stands to represent the ideal of self-sacrifice for the common good, as well as courage, duty, and bravery. She is an icon representing the thousands of women who served bravely with the Continental Army — the spirits of patriotism embodied in a single name. Molly Pitcher is an ideal rather than a real person, yet the stories surrounding her are very real parts of history, regardless of which accounts or theories of identity one finds most credible.