Mad Anne Bailey

England-born, Virginia-raised, and frontier-hardened. That’s Anne Bailey, a woman who would become a rugged heroine of the American Revolution. A woman who had so much grit and daring, they called her “Mad Anne.”

She was born Anne Harris in Liverpool around 1742 and migrated to Virginia when she was a teenager, settling in Staunton. There, she met her husband Richard Trotter in 1765. She was content living the life of a colonial housewife until tragedy struck at the Battle of Point Pleasant in 1774. She was now a widow. Rather than accept defeat, Anne became something new. She donned men’s attire, armed herself with a rifle, and became a scout, courier, and thorn in the side of anyone who dared to cross her.

According to legend, she hid in a hollow log while being pursued by Shawnee warriors. After a while, they gave up and went back to camp, taking her beloved horse with them. In the middle of the night, she crept into their camp, stole back her horse, and let out such a wild howl, they thought she was a demon in human form. From then on, her adversaries trembled at the name “Mad” Anne.

In Fort Lee, which sits in present-day Charleston, West Virginia, Anne met her second husband, fellow frontiersman John Bailey. The fort became their home base, and she lived there happily with John and her adult son, William. But soon, this happy home came under threat. The fort went under attack from nearby Native Americans, and their gunpowder reserves were dangerously low. If they ran out, they were all dead. Anne snapped into action and did what she did best — she rode. She allegedly rode her horse 100 miles to Lewisburg in just a few days. Stocked with supplies and taking no time to rest, she rode all the way back in time to save her family and push back the Native American threat.

Mad Anne Bailey blazed past the gender boundaries of her time to become a figure of legend. She continued to work as a messenger and scout until the Treaty of Greenville ended the Northwest Indian War in 1795. After being widowed a second time, rather than lose her independence, Anne built herself a cabin and lived there the rest of her days ꩜