DEBORAH SAMSON
Name: Deborah Sampson
Born: 17 December 1760 Plympton, Massachusetts, USA
Died: 29 April 1827 Sharon, Massachusetts, USA
Deborah Sampson Gannett (December 17, 1760 - April 29, 1827) was the first known
American woman to impersonate a man in order to join the Army and take part in
combat.
Deborah Sampson was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, the fifth of eight children
born to Jonathan and Deborah Bradford Sampson. Her family was poor, and her
father abandoned the family, moved to Maine and started a new family in 1765,
when Deborah was just five years old. He was never heard from again, and it was
rumored that he died. Because her mother lacked the means to support the family,
her children were sent to live at different households. Deborah lived in two
different households before she became an indentured servant at the age of ten
in the household of Jeremiah and Susannah Thomas. During her time with the
Thomas family, she got a good education and sometimes taught herself. She became
strong and mastered work in plowing fields, spreading manure fertilizer, milking
cows and stacking hay. With the books that were around the household, she
learned the things that other children learned in school. She did both women's
and men's work and mastered carpentry, spinning, sewing and weaving cloth. Most
importantly, she was permitted to tag along with the Thomas' sons to the town
schoolroom, where she devoured every bit of information possible. With this
education, she began to develop a great interest in politics and in the events
of the war that had begun between the American colonies and the British.
On December 17, 1778,she turned 18 and no longer had to serve the Thomas family.
She got a job as a local school teacher, where she taught both boys and girls.
Eventually, She got tired of the slow pace of life.
In the Colonial Period, Deborah was at the age where most young women got
married. Her mother wanted her to settle down, although she had no interest in
it. After all those years, She wanted an adventure.
Deborah Sampson wanted to be able to fight, but she was not allowed to do so
because she was a woman. She then acted and played the role of a man in order to
get into the war, and she achieved it. Everything was going well until one day
when she was injured and went to the doctor; it was then that they found out
that she was a woman. She had been fighting for 3 years, until she got caught by
the doctor. A few years later, she was a teacher and her husband a farmer. As a
teacher, she spoke and told the class about her experiences in the war and how
it impacted her.
In April 1782 she felt the need to do her part for the war and wanted to enlist
in the Army. Women were not allowed to enlist, so she disguised herself as a man.
She had little trouble doing this, since she was tall, intelligent, and just as
strong as most of the men. Her own mother failed to recognize her while she was
disguised. In disguise, the local recruiting office enlisted her under the name
of Timothy Thayer. Because of the notable manner in which she held a quill pen,
she may have been recognized and did not report the next day for service.
On May 20, 1782, she tried again, enlisting in the Continental Army, this time
under the name of Robert Shurtleff from Uxbridge. (This was the name of her
brother who had died before she was born.) When she entered the Army on May 20,
she was chosen for the Light Infantry Company of the 4th Massachusetts Regiment.
Deborah Sampson enlisted as a soldier and by pretending to be a man, she joined
one of the classes required for the war from the Town of Uxbridge. Captain
George Webb was the leader of the company, which contained 50 to 60 men. She
joined in Bellingham, Massachusetts, and the unit then mustered at Worcester
under the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Colonel Shepard. A
minister from Bellingham, kept her secret.
During Deborah's time in the Army, she fought in several skirmishes. During her
first on July 3, 1782, outside Tarrytown, New York, she received a musket ball
in her thigh and a huge cut on her forehead. The doctors treated her head wound,
but she left the hospital before they could attend to the musket ball. Had she
stayed, they might have discovered the secret that she was trying so hard to
hide, so she removed the ball herself with a penknife and sewing needle, but her
leg never fully healed. In 1783 she was promoted and spent seven months serving
as a waiter to General John Patterson. This job entitled her to a better quality
of life, better food, and less danger.
After the peace treaty was signed, everyone thought the war was over. However,
on June 24 the President of Congress ordered General Washington to send a fleet
of soldiers to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to aid in squelching a rebellion of
several American officers. During the summer of 1783, Deborah came down with
malignant fever and was cared for by a doctor, Barnabas Binney. He removed her
clothes to treat her and discovered the band she used to bind her breasts and,
thus, discovered her secret, but kept it safe and took her to his house, where
his wife and daughters further treated her.
After Sampson recovered she returned to the army, but not for long. In September
1783 peace was assured through the signing of the Treaty of Paris. When Dr.
Binney asked her to deliver a note to General George Washington, she knew that
her secret was out. However, General Washington never uttered a word; instead,
she received an honorable discharge from the service, a note with some words of
advice, and a sum of money sufficient to bear her expenses home. So on October
25, 1783, General Washington honorably discharged Deborah Sampson from the Army
at West Point.
Deborah married at Stoughton, Massachusetts to Benjamin Gannett, a farmer from
Sharon, Massachusetts, in April of 1784. They had three children: Mary, Earl,
and Patience.
Statue of Sampson outside the Sharon, Massachusetts public library
Eight years later, in January 1792, she petitioned the Massachusetts State
Legislature for back pay which the army had withheld from her, since she was a
woman. Her petition passed through the Senate and was approved, then signed by
Governor John Hancock. The General Court of Massachusetts verified her service
and wrote that she "exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by
discharging the duties of a faithful gallant soldier, and at the same time
preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex, unsuspected and unblemished". The
court awarded her a total of 34 pounds.
Ten years later, in 1802, Sampson began giving lectures about her experiences in
the army. She was not only the first American female to cross-dress at the time
war, but she was also the first woman to give a lecture. Deborah enjoyed
speaking about serving her country. These speeches were initiated because of her
financial needs and a desire to justify her enlistment. But even with these
speaking engagements, she was not making enough money to pay her expenses. She
had to borrow money from her family and from her friend Paul Revere on many
occasions. The soldiers in the Continental Army had received pensions for their
services, but Sampson did not because she was female.
In 1804, Paul Revere wrote to Massachusetts' representative William Eustis, on
Sampson's behalf. Revere requested that Congress grant her a military pension.
This had never before been requested by or for a woman, but with her health
failing and family being destitute, the money was greatly needed. Revere wrote,
"I have been induced to enquire her situation, and character, since she quit the
male habit, and soldiers uniform; for the most decent apparel of her own sex;
and obliges me to say, that every person with whom I have conversed about her,
and it is not a few, speak of her as a woman with handsome talents, good morals,
a dutiful wife, and an affectionate parent." On March 11, 1805 Congress in
Washington obliged the letter, and placed her on the Massachusetts Invalid
Pension Roll. This pension plan paid her four dollars a month.
In February 22, 1806, she found herself in even more financial trouble, so wrote
once more to her friend Paul Revere asking for a loan of ten dollars. Part of
her letter read, "My own indisposition and that of my sons causes me again to
solicit your goodness in our favor though I, with Gratitude, confess it rouses
every tender feeling and I blush at the thought of receiving ninety and nine
good turns as it were, my circumstances require that I should ask the hundredth."
He replied as kindly as he did the many other times she had asked the same favor,
and sent Deborah the ten dollars.
In 1809, she sent another petition to Congress, asking that her pension as an
invalid soldier, given to her in 1804, commence with the time of her discharge,
in 1783. Had her petition been approved, she would have been awarded $960, to be
divided into $48 a year for twenty years. However, it was denied until 1816,
when her petition came before Congress again. This time, out of kindness,
generosity, and maybe a little guilt, they approved her petition, awarding her $76.80
a year. She found this amount much more satisfactory, and was able to repay all
her loans and take better care of the family farm. She died in 1827 at the age
of 67 of an unknown illness and was buried in Rockridge Cemetery in the town of
Sharon, Massachusetts.
Her long and ultimately successful public campaign for the American
Revolutionary War pension bridged gender differences in asserting the sense of
entitlement felt by all of the veterans who had fought for their country.
The town of Sharon, Massachusetts now memorializes Sampson with Deborah Sampson
Street, a Deborah Sampson Statue in front of the public library, Deborah Sampson
Field, and the Deborah Sampson House.
Name: Deborah Sampson
Born: 17 December 1760 Plympton, Massachusetts, USA
Died: 29 April 1827 Sharon, Massachusetts, USA
Deborah Sampson Gannett (December 17, 1760 - April 29, 1827) was the first known
American woman to impersonate a man in order to join the Army and take part in
combat.
Deborah Sampson was born at Plymouth, Massachusetts, the fifth of eight children
born to Jonathan and Deborah Bradford Sampson. Her family was poor, and her
father abandoned the family, moved to Maine and started a new family in 1765,
when Deborah was just five years old. He was never heard from again, and it was
rumored that he died. Because her mother lacked the means to support the family,
her children were sent to live at different households. Deborah lived in two
different households before she became an indentured servant at the age of ten
in the household of Jeremiah and Susannah Thomas. During her time with the
Thomas family, she got a good education and sometimes taught herself. She became
strong and mastered work in plowing fields, spreading manure fertilizer, milking
cows and stacking hay. With the books that were around the household, she
learned the things that other children learned in school. She did both women's
and men's work and mastered carpentry, spinning, sewing and weaving cloth. Most
importantly, she was permitted to tag along with the Thomas' sons to the town
schoolroom, where she devoured every bit of information possible. With this
education, she began to develop a great interest in politics and in the events
of the war that had begun between the American colonies and the British.
On December 17, 1778,she turned 18 and no longer had to serve the Thomas family.
She got a job as a local school teacher, where she taught both boys and girls.
Eventually, She got tired of the slow pace of life.
In the Colonial Period, Deborah was at the age where most young women got
married. Her mother wanted her to settle down, although she had no interest in
it. After all those years, She wanted an adventure.
Deborah Sampson wanted to be able to fight, but she was not allowed to do so
because she was a woman. She then acted and played the role of a man in order to
get into the war, and she achieved it. Everything was going well until one day
when she was injured and went to the doctor; it was then that they found out
that she was a woman. She had been fighting for 3 years, until she got caught by
the doctor. A few years later, she was a teacher and her husband a farmer. As a
teacher, she spoke and told the class about her experiences in the war and how
it impacted her.
In April 1782 she felt the need to do her part for the war and wanted to enlist
in the Army. Women were not allowed to enlist, so she disguised herself as a man.
She had little trouble doing this, since she was tall, intelligent, and just as
strong as most of the men. Her own mother failed to recognize her while she was
disguised. In disguise, the local recruiting office enlisted her under the name
of Timothy Thayer. Because of the notable manner in which she held a quill pen,
she may have been recognized and did not report the next day for service.
On May 20, 1782, she tried again, enlisting in the Continental Army, this time
under the name of Robert Shurtleff from Uxbridge. (This was the name of her
brother who had died before she was born.) When she entered the Army on May 20,
she was chosen for the Light Infantry Company of the 4th Massachusetts Regiment.
Deborah Sampson enlisted as a soldier and by pretending to be a man, she joined
one of the classes required for the war from the Town of Uxbridge. Captain
George Webb was the leader of the company, which contained 50 to 60 men. She
joined in Bellingham, Massachusetts, and the unit then mustered at Worcester
under the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment, commanded by Colonel Shepard. A
minister from Bellingham, kept her secret.
During Deborah's time in the Army, she fought in several skirmishes. During her
first on July 3, 1782, outside Tarrytown, New York, she received a musket ball
in her thigh and a huge cut on her forehead. The doctors treated her head wound,
but she left the hospital before they could attend to the musket ball. Had she
stayed, they might have discovered the secret that she was trying so hard to
hide, so she removed the ball herself with a penknife and sewing needle, but her
leg never fully healed. In 1783 she was promoted and spent seven months serving
as a waiter to General John Patterson. This job entitled her to a better quality
of life, better food, and less danger.
After the peace treaty was signed, everyone thought the war was over. However,
on June 24 the President of Congress ordered General Washington to send a fleet
of soldiers to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to aid in squelching a rebellion of
several American officers. During the summer of 1783, Deborah came down with
malignant fever and was cared for by a doctor, Barnabas Binney. He removed her
clothes to treat her and discovered the band she used to bind her breasts and,
thus, discovered her secret, but kept it safe and took her to his house, where
his wife and daughters further treated her.
After Sampson recovered she returned to the army, but not for long. In September
1783 peace was assured through the signing of the Treaty of Paris. When Dr.
Binney asked her to deliver a note to General George Washington, she knew that
her secret was out. However, General Washington never uttered a word; instead,
she received an honorable discharge from the service, a note with some words of
advice, and a sum of money sufficient to bear her expenses home. So on October
25, 1783, General Washington honorably discharged Deborah Sampson from the Army
at West Point.
Deborah married at Stoughton, Massachusetts to Benjamin Gannett, a farmer from
Sharon, Massachusetts, in April of 1784. They had three children: Mary, Earl,
and Patience.
Statue of Sampson outside the Sharon, Massachusetts public library
Eight years later, in January 1792, she petitioned the Massachusetts State
Legislature for back pay which the army had withheld from her, since she was a
woman. Her petition passed through the Senate and was approved, then signed by
Governor John Hancock. The General Court of Massachusetts verified her service
and wrote that she "exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by
discharging the duties of a faithful gallant soldier, and at the same time
preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex, unsuspected and unblemished". The
court awarded her a total of 34 pounds.
Ten years later, in 1802, Sampson began giving lectures about her experiences in
the army. She was not only the first American female to cross-dress at the time
war, but she was also the first woman to give a lecture. Deborah enjoyed
speaking about serving her country. These speeches were initiated because of her
financial needs and a desire to justify her enlistment. But even with these
speaking engagements, she was not making enough money to pay her expenses. She
had to borrow money from her family and from her friend Paul Revere on many
occasions. The soldiers in the Continental Army had received pensions for their
services, but Sampson did not because she was female.
In 1804, Paul Revere wrote to Massachusetts' representative William Eustis, on
Sampson's behalf. Revere requested that Congress grant her a military pension.
This had never before been requested by or for a woman, but with her health
failing and family being destitute, the money was greatly needed. Revere wrote,
"I have been induced to enquire her situation, and character, since she quit the
male habit, and soldiers uniform; for the most decent apparel of her own sex;
and obliges me to say, that every person with whom I have conversed about her,
and it is not a few, speak of her as a woman with handsome talents, good morals,
a dutiful wife, and an affectionate parent." On March 11, 1805 Congress in
Washington obliged the letter, and placed her on the Massachusetts Invalid
Pension Roll. This pension plan paid her four dollars a month.
In February 22, 1806, she found herself in even more financial trouble, so wrote
once more to her friend Paul Revere asking for a loan of ten dollars. Part of
her letter read, "My own indisposition and that of my sons causes me again to
solicit your goodness in our favor though I, with Gratitude, confess it rouses
every tender feeling and I blush at the thought of receiving ninety and nine
good turns as it were, my circumstances require that I should ask the hundredth."
He replied as kindly as he did the many other times she had asked the same favor,
and sent Deborah the ten dollars.
In 1809, she sent another petition to Congress, asking that her pension as an
invalid soldier, given to her in 1804, commence with the time of her discharge,
in 1783. Had her petition been approved, she would have been awarded $960, to be
divided into $48 a year for twenty years. However, it was denied until 1816,
when her petition came before Congress again. This time, out of kindness,
generosity, and maybe a little guilt, they approved her petition, awarding her $76.80
a year. She found this amount much more satisfactory, and was able to repay all
her loans and take better care of the family farm. She died in 1827 at the age
of 67 of an unknown illness and was buried in Rockridge Cemetery in the town of
Sharon, Massachusetts.
Her long and ultimately successful public campaign for the American
Revolutionary War pension bridged gender differences in asserting the sense of
entitlement felt by all of the veterans who had fought for their country.
The town of Sharon, Massachusetts now memorializes Sampson with Deborah Sampson
Street, a Deborah Sampson Statue in front of the public library, Deborah Sampson
Field, and the Deborah Sampson House.