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.

Other Women Who Took Up Arms

There are hundreds of other accounts of women performing heroic deeds during the war. For example, Angelica Vrooman sat calmly in a tent with a bullet mold, some lead, and an iron spoon, molding bullets for the rangers during the heat of a battle.⁵ Our modern ideals lead us to admire such women; however, in the 18th century they were sometimes criticized for straying from social norms. For this reason, many of their stories existed only as oral history until years later, when they were finally written down.

These brave women who defied their traditional roles exist mainly as legends. However, women also had a very important role prior to open combat. Before the war, in response to the passage of the Townshend Acts, the Daughters of Liberty worked with other women to find substitutes for the British goods being boycotted. Well-known wives and families of revolutionaries were often targets for British and Hessian troops — attacked, with their crops, homes, and businesses destroyed. Although war was considered a male domain, women were sometimes thrust into its midst by proximity. By supporting their husbands' cause, these women boosted the war effort and gave their husbands a decisive advantage. The Daughters of Liberty and other groups that sprang up around the country made the boycotts work.

Women in Supporting Roles and Battle Support

Another role of women during the American Revolution was battle support. They fought fires, restocked ammunition, helped with the wounded, and brought the men water and food. They sometimes took up arms and fought when necessity arose, though this was rare — and it is those women who stand out in history as exceptional cases. More often, women served as support personnel, freeing the men to fight and effectively increasing the army's operational capacity. Women played a vital role in the outcome of many battles, though most of the time their deeds went unrecorded.

According to Captain Stephen Small, "the war's exigencies also caused a breach in the gender line. By war's end in 1783, more than 20,000 women had provided support, sustenance, or active service for the military. Although not officially part of the military, women were vital contributors to its success."²³

Women were, in many respects, the glue of the army. Even though the soldiers were loyal to their cause, the lack of food and harsh conditions sometimes took precedence, and desertions were high among the troops. Women helped to curb desertions significantly. As Captain Small recorded: "During the bleak winter at Valley Forge, desertions reached crisis proportions. During a particularly dismal period, several large wagons filled with foodstuffs arrived. Ten women had braved the elements and poor roads to deliver tons of precious supplies to the beleaguered Army. Women helped stem the tide of desertions by cooking, chopping firewood, building shelters, and nursing wounded or ill men back to health. Washington once remarked that without the Army's women, many more men would have deserted."²⁵

For the women who accompanied the Army, life was difficult and dangerous. Little or no provision was made for them. They typically relied on their husband-soldiers for support, and sometimes were allowed to ride in the baggage wagons, but few other concessions were granted.²⁶

The war also presented special challenges for women who remained at home. Local governments typically failed to provide for the relief of soldiers' wives and children, placing the burden of maintaining the household exclusively on the women. In 1778, one soldier's wife wrote: "[We are] without bread, and cannot get any, the Committee will not supply me, my children will starve, or if they will not, they will freeze, we have no wood, neither can we get any — Pray Come Home."²⁸

As necessity required them to take on their absent husbands' responsibilities, women successfully managed farms, became politically involved, assembled munitions, and on occasion helped defend their families against raids.²⁹

One incident illustrates how women's support services could determine the outcome of a battle. In Burke County, North Carolina, women helped defend against Indian attacks. Indians, supplied by the British, were menacing families whose fathers, sons, and brothers were away fighting. Some small detachments of soldiers were sent to help transfer families to a nearby fort. During the move, an Indian raiding party attacked a column of soldiers, women, and children. The soldiers formed a hollow square with the refugees at the center. Soon the soldiers' gunpowder was nearly exhausted. The group was saved by one of the women, who had retained a good supply of powder and proceeded to distribute it among the soldiers, carrying it in her apron and pouring a small quantity into each man's upturned hat. The soldiers were able to sustain fire long enough to dissuade the attackers from pressing the assault. The woman's coolness under fire saved the lives of the soldiers and her fellow refugees.³⁰

Women were also employed to manufacture munitions. As the Revolution continued, the Army consumed large quantities of gunpowder and small-arms cartridges. From 1779 to 1780, the commissary general hired men and women to make musket cartridges. Women combined domestic and munitions work by working at home, while men worked in the laboratories. The quality of the women's output was excellent, as their manual dexterity enabled them to produce superior cartridges.³¹

Conclusion: The Legacy of Revolutionary Women

It is quite clear from the evidence presented that women performed many more roles than to cook and clean. They had the ability to adapt and take on many roles, learned any task that needed to be done, and did it with enthusiasm and skill. Men reflected their admiration for women in their letters and ideals. When away from home, men missed not only the women themselves but the ideals they represented — comfort and harmony — the very things they were fighting to preserve, and the things that gave them hope when times grew desperate.

Without the support of women on the battlefield, it is certain that the outcome of the war would have been quite different. Without women, men would have had to abandon their posts when fires broke out, run back for ammunition, or drag the wounded from the field themselves. The role of water carrier — the "Molly Pitcher" function — is one that is easily underestimated. In battle, men face the added risk of dehydration, and cannon barrels tend to overheat and malfunction without cooling. In camp, women performed tasks that the weary soldiers lacked the time or domestic skills to manage, providing a few comforts of home — meals and laundry — that freed more time for training, weapon maintenance, and other military duties.

The changes in women's roles brought about by the Revolution began the winds of change that would eventually lead to women's suffrage and, later, the women's liberation movement. It was women like Abigail Adams who were unafraid to voice their opinions that started to bring these changes about. It was the women who disguised themselves as men to fight in the heat of battle who led the way. The evidence clearly demonstrates that women played a more important role in the American Revolution than was once acknowledged. These women stand as icons of patriotism that all Americans can hold close to their hearts. It is the lives of these women that have allowed subsequent generations to enjoy the freedoms we have today.