Deborah Sampson
Sometimes if you want a job done right, you’ve gotta do it yourself. Perhaps that’s what Deborah Sampson thought when she bound her chest and enlisted as a soldier in the Revolutionary War under the name “Robert Shurtleff.”
Deborah was born in 1760 in Plympton, Massachusetts, one of seven siblings. Despite descending from prominent pilgrims, her family struggled. Her father went off on a sea voyage and never returned, forcing her mother to place the kids in different homes. By ten years old, Deborah was working as an indentured servant for a farmer in Middleborough.
During her indenture, Deborah self-educated. When she finally finished, she started working as a teacher and a weaver. She was extremely patriotic, and as the American Revolution started to unfold, she found it increasingly difficult to sit idly by.
This is when she made an incredible decision. In 1782, Deborah disguised herself as a man and joined the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment under the alias Robert Shurtleff. She didn’t just blend in as a soldier—she thrived. In Manhattan, she was given the dangerous job of scouting for neutral territory. In June 1782, Deb and two sergeants led around 30 infantrymen on an expedition that ended in confrontation with Tories (colonists who sided with the British). In fact, she led a raid that resulted in the capture of 15 men! She wasn’t just fitting in as a soldier, she was considered one of the best and bravest.
For two years, nobody suspected the hero Robert Shurtleff was a woman. Even when she got shot in the thigh by a pistol, she didn’t allow herself to get caught. Instead, she took a penknife, dug out the pistol ball, and sewed herself back up. And she kept fighting for another two years after that!
It wasn’t until a fever raged through their camp that she was finally found out. She fell ill and fainted, and Dr. Barnabas Binney (awesome name) discovered the truth while treating her. Usually, Deborah’s actions would result in punishment, possibly jail time. But General John Paterson chose to honorably discharge her and provided her with assistance moving back home. Paul Revere even wrote in defense of her receiving a military pension for her incredible heroics—and it worked.
Deborah Sampson went on to marry Benjamin Sharon and mostly lived the life of a farmer’s wife. Though in 1802 she went on a year-long lecture tour about her experience as a soldier—oftentimes dressed in full regalia.
She died at age 66, and four years later her husband petitioned Congress for pay as the spouse of a soldier. In 1837, the committee awarded it to him, remarking that the Revolutionary War had “furnished no similar example of female heroism, fidelity, and courage.” ꩜