Revolutionary warf + deborah samson + biography
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Deborah Sampson
Edited by Debra Michals, Ph.D., | Updated January
Deborah Sampson became a hero of the American Revolution when she disguised herself as a man and joined the Patriot forces. She was the only woman to earn a full military pension for participation in the Revolutionary army.
Born on December 17, in Plympton, Massachusetts near Plymouth, Sampson was one of seven children to Jonathan Sampson Jr. and Deborah (Bradford) Sampson. Both were descendants of preeminent Pilgrims: Jonathan of Myles Standish and Priscilla Alden; his wife, the great granddaughter of Massachusetts Governor William Bradford. Still, the Sampsons struggled financially and, after Jonathan failed to return from a sea voyage, his impoverished wife was forced to place her children in different households. Five years later, at age 10, young Deborah was bound out as an indentured servant to Deacon Benjamin Thomas, a farmer in Middleborough with a large family. At age 18, with her indenture completed, Sampson, who was self-educated, worked as a teacher during summer sessions in and and as a weaver in winter.
In , as the Revolutionary War raged on, the patriotic Sampson disguised herself as a man named Robert Shurtleff and joined the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment. At West Point, New York
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The Story of Deborah Sampson, Woman Soldier of the Revolution
By: Heather Michon
“An extraordinary instance of virtue in a female soldier, has occurred lately in the American Army, in the Massachusetts line, viz., lively comely young nymph, 19 years old, dressed in men’s apparel has been discovered,” went the story first published in the New York Gazette. “And what redounds to her honor, she has served in the character of a soldier for nearly three years undiscovered; during which time she displayed herself with activity, alertness, chastity and valour, having been in several skirmishes with the enemy and receiving two wounds,” fragments of which remained in her body.
Published in newspapers from New York City to Boston in January , the story actually got many of the details wrong: the woman had served 17 months, not three years; she was 23, not 19; and few would have described her as “comely” or nymph-like. Instead, Deborah Sampson was a tall, somewhat plain-looking weaver and schoolteacher from Middleborough, Massachusetts, who had disguised herself as “Robert Shurtliff” and served with an infantry company in the final months of the Revolutionary War. Twice wounded in combat, she served undiscovered until a serious illness sent her to a hospital ward in Philadelph
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Deborah Sampson
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