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Women were forbidden to serve in George Washington’s Continental Army.
But evidence shows that at least four women became part of the fighting force. Since boys as young as 14 joined the army, a woman wearing loose-fitting clothing could pass as a beardless boy. One woman from Maine enlisted with her brother in 1775 and served until the war ended in 1781. In 1776, an unidentified Cherokee woman was found dead on a battlefield. She wore face paint like male Cherokee warriors and carried a bow and arrows.
Sally St. Clair was of French and African-American heritage. Some people say she joined the army in disguise so she could be near her boyfriend. Her identity was not discovered until she died at the British siege of Savannah, Georgia, in 1779. ▶
◀ In the summer of 1781, the commander of the Continental Army in South Carolina was camped near the home of 16-year-old Emily Geiger. He needed more troops, but the nearest ones were far away, and the countryside was full of Loyalists. Emily volunteered to carry a message, knowing that a female wouldn’t arouse as much suspicion as a male. But, just to be safe, she memorized the message before hiding it in her clothing. Sure enough, British soldiers stopped her. When they went to get a woman to search Emily, she ripped up the message and swallowed the pieces. The British soon let her go, and she delivered the message aloud.
Deborah Sampson was an illiterate Massachusetts farm worker who loved adventure. In 1782, after the last battle of the war but while there was still some fighting, she enlisted in the Continental Army as Robert Shurtliff. She served for one and a half years. According to one account, after Sampson was hit by a musket ball, she cut the ball out of her leg to avoid being examined by a doctor. Later, a doctor treating Sampson for a fever discovered her secret. She was given an honorable discharge in October 1783. ▶
◀ Local fighting units, called militias, operated in backwoods areas away from large settlements. Women who lived in these remote areas were accustomed to using weapons to fend off Indian attacks. Some of them put their fighting skills to use against the enemy. Nancy Morgan Hart of Wilkes County, Georgia, took on five Loyalists who attacked her home while her husband was away. She captured all of them, shooting two in the process.
Another daring Patriot messenger was also a teenage girl. Sybil Ludington was the 16-year-old daughter of a New York militia commander. In 1777, he asked her to ride to call out his militiamen to fend off a British attack near Danbury, Connecticut. One rainy night, Sybil rode her horse about 40 miles to remote farmhouses to alert her father’s men. ▶
▲ Ann Bailey’s military career did not fare as well as Deborah Sampson’s. In 1777, Bailey enlisted in the army, using the name Samuel Gay. Within three weeks, she was promoted to corporal, but not long after that, her disguise was discovered and she ran away. A few months later, Bailey was captured and tried in court. She was fined, sentenced to two months in jail, and discharged from the army.
