Category: Women in the American Revolution

Loyalist Woman of Westover Plantation in Virginia Mary Willing Byrd Portrait John Wollaston, 1758 This portrait was painted in Philadelphia three years before she met and married the older William Byrd III (1728–1777). Mary Willing was born on September 10, 1740, the daughter of Charles and Anne (Shippen) Willing. Her father was the mayor of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, from 1748 to 1754, and her great-grandfather, Edward Shippen, was the second mayor of Philadelphia from 1701 to 1703. Benjamin Franklin was one of Mary’s godfathers, and when she was a child, he sent her books from Europe. William Byrd III was born September 6, 1729, the son of Colonel William Byrd II and his second wife, Maria Taylor. He was raised at…

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…

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…

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…

Heroine of the Battle of Fort Washington Margaret Corbin In a sketch by Herbert Knotel West Point Museum Art Collection United States Military Academy West Point, New York Margaret Cochran was born on November 12, 1751, near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. In 1756, five year old Margaret and her older brother were visiting their uncle when an Indian raiding party attacked her parent’s homestead, killing their father and capturing their mother. The children were then raised by their uncle. In 1772, Margaret Cochran married John Corbin, a Virginia farmer. When the Revolutionary War began, John joined the Continental Army, and Margaret went with him. Wives of the soldiers often cooked for the men, washed their laundry and nursed wounded soldiers. They also…

Revolutionary War Heroine <Betty Zane Monument Walnut Grove Cemetery Martins Ferry, Ohio The school children of the area collected money to have a large statue of Betty Zane placed at the entrance to the cemetery. Elizabeth Zane, better known as Betty, was born on July 19, 1759, in Moorefield, Virginia. She was the daughter of William and Nancy Nolan Zane. Betty moved with her family at an early age to the area that now is Wheeling, West Virginia. Betty’s older brother, Ebenezer Zane, pioneered this area in the turbulent Ohio Valley, which was the home of Native Americans who became increasingly hostile because of encroachment on their lands. These colonists were defying a royal order that reserved land west of…

Deborah Sampson in Uniform Female Soldier in the Revolutionary War Deborah Sampson was born in Plympton, Massachusetts, on December 17, 1760. Although her family name was originally spelled without the p, it is under this spelling that she is most commonly remembered. She was the oldest of seven children of Jonathan and Deborah Bradford Sampson, both of old Colonial stock. Mrs. Sampson was a descendant of William Bradford, once Governor of Plymouth Colony. Jonathan Sampson abandoned his family and moved to Maine, where he continued to live in poverty. Her mother was of poor health and could not support the children, so she sent them off to live with various friends and relatives. Deborah, aged five, was taken by a…

Maker of the First American Flag Birth of Our Nation’s Flag Charles Weisgerber, Artist 9′ x 12′ painting depicts Betsy Ross presenting the first American Flag to George Washington, Robert Morris and George Ross Betsy Ross was born Elizabeth Griscom to parents Samuel Griscom and Rebecca James in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on January 1, 1752, the eighth of 17 children. She grew up in a household where the plain dress and strict discipline of the Society of Friends (Quakers) dominated her life. One year before William Penn founded Philadelphia in 1681, Betsy Ross’s great-grandfather, Andrew Griscom, a Quaker carpenter, had already emigrated from England to New Jersey. Andrew was of firm Quaker belief, and he was inspired to move to Philadelphia…