Women in the American Revolution

Sybil Ludington

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New York Heroine of the Revolutionary War Sybil Ludington Equestrian Statue This bronze statue of Sibyl on her horse Star, sculpted by Anna Hyatt Huntington, was dedicated in 1961 on the shore of Lake Gleneida in Carmel, New York with smaller replicas in Danbury and at the Washington, DC headquarters of the Daughters of the American Revolution. Sybil Ludington was the daughter of Abigail and Henry Ludington, born April 5, 1761, in what was then known as Fredericksburg, and is now known as the Ludingtonville section of the town of Kent, New York. Sybil’s parents met when he was on his way to Quebec with Connecticut troops during the French and Indian War. On May 1, 1760, Henry and Abigail…

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Civil War Women, Diaries and Letters

Mary Boykin Chesnut

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Author of the Most Famous Civil War Diary Early Years Mary Boykin Miller was born on March 31, 1823, on her grandparents’ plantation near Stateburg, South Carolina, in the High Hills of Santee. Her grandfather, Burwell Boykin, served as an officer in the Revolutionary War under Francis Marion and established one of the largest upcountry plantations in the state. Her father, Stephen Decatur Miller, served in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, and as governor of South Carolina. Image: Mary Boykin Chesnut by Samuel Osgood, 1856 Mary grew up in the family’s modest country house in Stateburg called Plane Hill and attended school in Camden, South Carolina. When she was twelve years old, the family moved to…

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Women in the American Revolution

Mary Lindley Murray

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Heroine of the Revolutionary War Pewter Medallion of Mary Lindley Murray Reverse has this inscription: “After the British had captured Manhattan Island, she delayed the enemy officers at her home. Her clever diversion permitted American troops to escape.” Mary Lindley, born in 1726, was the daughter of Thomas Lindley, a Quaker and blacksmith who had arrived in Philadelphia from Ireland in 1719. In 1727, with a group of other Quakers, including some of the most prominent merchants of the colony, Thomas Lindley became a founding owner of the Durham Furnace on the Delaware River in Bucks County, a 6000-acre iron ore site and one of the leading forges in the colonies. Robert Murray (1721-1786) was born to a Presbyterian family…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Frances Thomas

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Wife of Union General George Thomas Frances Lucretia Kellogg was born at Troy, New York, on January 25, 1821. Frances’ mother, Abigail Paine Kellogg, had been a widow for many years. Her father Warren Kellogg was a prosperous hardware and grocery merchant. Image: General George Thomas George Henry Thomas was born July 31, 1816, on a farm called Thomaston in Southampton County, Virginia, five miles from the North Carolina line. He was one of nine children born to John and Elizabeth Rochelle Thomas. There were six girls and three boys; George was the youngest son. The family led an upper-class plantation lifestyle. By 1829, they owned 685 acres and 24 slaves. John Thomas died in a farm accident April 20,…

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Famous Wives

Elizabeth Nicholas Randolph

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Wife of Edmund Randolph: First U.S. Attorney General Edmund Jenings Randolph was born August 10, 1753, to the influential Randolph family at Tazewell Hall in Williamsburg, Virginia. His parents were Ariana Jenings and John Randolph. They owned tobacco plantations worked by slaves. Edmund and Elizabeth were born less than 24 hours apart. Edmund was educated at the College of William and Mary. After graduation he began studying law with his father and his uncle, Peyton Randolph. When the American Revolution began, father and son followed very different paths. John Randolph, a Loyalist, who continued to support the British, followed royal governor Lord Dunmore to England in 1775, taking his wife and daughters, but leaving his son. Edmund was very much…

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Civil War Women, Famous Wives

Adele Douglas

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Wife of Illinois Senator Stephen A. Douglas Adele Cutts was a famous Washington beauty who became the loyal and valuable second wife of senator Stephen A. Douglas. She was at his side during the debates with Abraham Lincoln in Illinois and through the presidential campaign that followed in 1860. Rose Adele Cutts was born in Washington, DC, in December 1835. Her father, James Madison Cutts, was a nephew of First Lady Dolley Madison. Her mother, Eleanora Elizabeth O’Neale, came from a prominent Catholic family in Maryland, and was the sister of Rose O’Neal Greenhow, who was later convicted of spying for the Confederacy. Dolley Madison was very fond of James and Eleanora and was often seen in Washington, DC, proudly…

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Women in the American Revolution

Lydia Mulliken

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Sweetheart of Patriot Dr. Samuel Prescott Lydia Mulliken was born sometime in 1753. Samuel Prescott was born in Concord, Massachusetts, on August 19, 1751. He had an older brother, Abel, Jr., and a sister, Lucy. In those days, there was no medical school, so young Samuel apprenticed with his father, Dr. Abel Prescott, for seven years. He opened his medical practice in Concord shortly before the Revolution. Sometime during his apprenticeship, Prescott became an active member in the patriot movement and joined the Sons of Liberty. As a physician, he was exempt from serving in the militia, but he volunteered as a courier and delivered messages for the Committee of Correspondence. On April 18, 1775, British General Thomas Gage sent…

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Civil War Women, Famous Firsts, Famous Wives

Varina Davis

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First Lady of the Confederate States of America Varina Davis was the wife of Confederate President Jefferson Davis during the Civil War, and she lived at the Confederate White House in Richmond, Virginia during his term. After the war she became a writer, completing her husband’s memoir, and writing articles and eventually a regular column for Joseph Pulitzer’s newspaper, the New York World. Image: Varina Davis in 1849 By John Wood Dodge Varina Howell was born on May 7, 1826, at The Briars near Natchez, Mississippi, where her parents, William Burr Howell and Margaret L. Kempe, were visiting relatives. Her father, who fought in the War of 1812, settled in Natchez and married Kempe, a Virginia native whose father was…

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Famous Wives

Elizabeth Paine

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Wife of Thomas Paine, Author of Common Sense Thomas Paine was born on January 29, 1737, in Thetford, England. His father, Joseph, was a poor Quaker corset maker who tried to provide his son with an education at the local grammar school, but eventually was forced to apprentice him to his trade. Paine was unable to accept this occupation. For the next 24 years, he failed or was unhappy in every job he tried. He went to sea at 19, lived in a variety of places, and was for a time a corset maker like his father, then a tobacconist, grocer, and teacher. On September 27, 1759, Thomas Paine married Mary Lambert. His business collapsed soon after. Mary became pregnant,…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Cornelia Armistead

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Wife of Confederate General Lewis Armistead Image: General Lewis Armistead Lewis Addison Armistead was born on February 18, 1817, at the home of his great-grandfather, John Wright Stanly, in New Bern, North Carolina, son of Walker Keith Armistead and Elizabeth Stanly Armistead. Lewis’ grandfather, John Stanly, was a U.S. Congressman and his uncle Edward Stanly served as military governor of eastern North Carolina during the Civil War. Lewis grew up near the mountains of Virginia on the family farm, Ben Lomond, near the town of Upperville, Virginia. Early Military Career Lewis Armistead was accepted to West Point on March 21, 1833, but resigned on January 29, 1836, after an incident in which he broke a plate over the head of…

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