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'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.

Contents

Early life

Freedom

Deborah the soldier

Marriage

Justice

External links

Sources

Early life

Deborah Sampson was born in the county of Plymouth, Massachusetts in the town of Middleboro, Massachusetts, the eldest of eight children born to Jonathan and Deborah Bradford Sampson. Her family was poor, and her father moved to Maine and started a new family in 1765, when Deborah was just 5 years old. Like most children who grew up in poverty, 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. With the books that were around the household, the things that other children learned in school, she learned at home. She did both women and men's work, which made her just as strong as the Thomas' sons. 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 also 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.

Freedom

On December 17, 1778, she turned eighteen and no longer had to serve the Thomas family. However, she lived with them for another two years while she supported herself by becoming a weaver and a teacher at the local school. By the age of 21 she craved a more adventurous life and set out to travel to distant towns.

Deborah the soldier

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. Purportedly, even her mother failed to recognize her while she was in disguise. 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 enlisting in the army again, this time under the name of 'Robert Shurtlieff', also 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 Fourth Massachusetts Regiment. Captain George Webb was the leader of the company which contained fifty to sixty men.
During Deborah's time in the army, she fought in several skirmishes. During her first skirmish, on July 3, 1782, outside of 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. If she had 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 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 24th 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 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 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 George Washington honorably discharged Deborah Sampson from the army at West Point.

Marriage

Deborah married at Stoughton, Massachusetts to Benjamin Gannett, a farmer from Sharon, Massachusetts, in 1784 at the age of 24. They had three children, Earl, Mary, and Patience.

Justice

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 thirty-four pounds.
Ten years after that, in 1802, she began giving lectures about her army experiences. She was not only the first woman to join the army, but she was also the first female lecturer. Deborah enjoyed speaking about serving her country. These speeches were initiated due to her own financial needs as well as a desire to justify her enlistment. But even with these speaking engagements, she was not making enough money to pay her bills. She had to borrow money from family and from her friend Paul Revere on many occasions. If she had been a man fighting for American Independence she would have received a pension for her services. Even though she was honorably discharged, since she was a woman, the government refused to pay.
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 forty-eight dollars 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 and was buried in Rockridge Cemetery in the town of Sharon, Massachusetts.
She took a stand because she believed that women should have the opportunity to fight for their country, and even with her death, she was not forgotten. She took a stand -- first as a soldier, and then, more prominently, as a speaker. She also claimed a public presence for women. Her long and ultimately successful public campaign for the 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.

External links

★ Deborah Sampson at Find A Grave

Sources

★ ''America's First Woman Warrior'' by Lucy Freeman and Alma Pond (1992)

★ ''Masquerade'' by historian Alfred Young (Knopf, 2004)

★ ''The Secret Soldier'' by Anne McGovern