Indian Captives, Women in the American Revolution

Rachel Silverthorn

• Maggie

Heroine of Fort Muncy During the Revolutionary War, settlements throughout the Susquehanna Valley in north central Pennsylvania were attacked by Loyalists (Americans loyal to England) and Native Americans allied with the British. In the early summer of 1778, news came of a group of Native American warriors, perhaps accompanied by Loyalist and British soldiers, heading for the West Branch of the Susquehanna River to destroy settlements there. Image: Rachel Silverthorn’s Ride This mural is in United States Post Office Building in Muncy, Pennsylvania. It depicts Rachel on Captain Brady’s white horse warning settlers to return to the fort. There were many smaller incidents of violence against settlers in the area, but on June 10,1778, a party of sixteen settlers were…

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Women in the American Revolution

Hannah Harrington Clark

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American Patriot & Heroine of Hornet’s Nest Image: Recreated Clark Cabin Elijah Clark State Park Lincolnton, Georgia Hannah Harrington, born around 1737, was one of the great women of the American Revolution. Elijah Clark (or Clarke) was born 1733 in Edgecomb County, North Carolina, and was the son of Elizabeth Darden, who was the niece of George Washington and the second wife of Governor Stephen Heard. Hannah Harrington married Elijah Clark around 1763. In 1774, Hannah and Elijah moved to Wilkes County in upper Georgia, because of the availability of new lands. They settled in an area that became known as the Hornet’s Nest, which was several miles northwest of Fort Heard, between the roads leading from the Broad River…

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Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Emily Hoffman

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Fiancee of General James B. McPherson Emily Hoffman met James B. McPherson while he was stationed in San Francisco, California in 1858, and they soon became engaged. McPherson returned east in 1861 to serve in the Union army. He was finally granted leave to marry Emily in spring 1864, but the wedding would never happen. Image: General James B. McPherson Emily Hoffman was born at Baltimore, Maryland, in 1839. Her father was a prominent businessman. Born in Clyde, Ohio, in 1828, James Birdseye McPherson left home at 13 to clerk in the Green Springs store of Robert Smith, who helped McPherson get an appointment to West Point. There he excelled academically, developing into a skilled engineer, horseman, and tactician, graduating…

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Women in the American Revolution

Anna Bailey

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Heroine of Groton and American Patriot Born Anna Warner on October 11, 1758, in Groton, Connecticut, she was orphaned at an early age, and went to live with her Grandmother Mills on a farm at Candlewood Hill, where she helped her uncle, Edward Mills, with the crops and animals. She was unusually tall and strong for a girl. When the American Revolution began, Anna longed to fight the despised Tories. During the Revolutionary War, New London harbor on the Thames River was home port for many privately owned armed ships that preyed upon British supply vessels and merchant ships. The privateers were licensed by the State of Connecticut according to the rules established by Congress. Each year they increased in…

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Women in the American Revolution

Anne Bailey

• Maggie

American Frontier Woman Anne Hennis Trotter Bailey is known as Mad Anne for her acts of bravery and heroism that were considered to be somewhat eccentric for a woman of her time. She worked as a frontier scout and messenger during the Revolutionary War. Anne Hennis was born in Liverpool England in 1742. She was formally educated and learned to read and write. Both of her parents had died by the time she turned 18; Ann was poor and had a hard time earning enough money to survive. When she was 19, she sailed to America, and lived with relatives in Virginia near Staunton in the Shenandoah Valley. Anne married Richard Trotter, a seasoned frontiersman and experienced soldier, in 1765,…

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First Women, Poets and Writers, Slavery in America

Phillis Wheatley

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America’s First Black Poet Phillis Wheatley was born circa 1753 in West Africa, and was very likely kidnapped into slavery. She was named for the slave ship, Phillis, that brought her to Boston on July 11, 1761. She was purchased as a personal slave to Susannah Wheatley, wife of tailor John Wheatley, a prominent Boston merchant with a wholesale business, real estate, warehouses, and the schooner London Packet. Phillis was evidently around 7 years old at the time, and took her new master’s surname. A frail child, Phillis was chosen to be a domestic servant and companion to Susannah Wheatley, an ardent Christian, in her later years. Although she spoke no English upon her arrival in this country, Phillis soon…

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American Revolution

Burning of the Gaspee

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Early Incident in the American Revolution Image: The Burning of the Gaspee Painting by Charles DeWolfe Brownell At the end of the Seven Years’ War, following Britain’s decisive victory, several successive ministries implemented reforms in an attempt to achieve more effective administrative control and raise more revenue in the colonies. The revenue was necessary, Parliament believed, to bolster military and naval defensive positions along the borders of their far-flung empire, and to pay the crushing debt incurred in winning the war on behalf of those colonies. The Newport, Rhode Island area has a long and interesting local history, and since 1741 the town’s tradition has included the Newport Artillery Company, the oldest continuous commissioned military unit in the United States….

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Publishers

Margaret Draper

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Loyalist in the American Revolution Not all printers, nor all women printers, were on the patriot side. As the war of words began to heat up, one who was pro-British had to flee Boston under the protection of the evacuating British troops. She was Margaret Draper, who had taken charge of the country’s oldest newspaper, the Massachusetts Gazette and Boston News Letter, in mid-1774. Margaret was the granddaughter of Bartholomew Green, an early printer and publisher of the Boston News Letter. She married her cousin, Richard Draper, whose father had apprenticed under Green and had been taken into the business.
Civil War Women, Generals Wives

Fanny Haralson Gordon

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Wife of Confederate General John Brown Gordon Rebecca (Fanny) Haralson, born on September 18, 1837, was the daughter of General Hugh Anderson Haralson of LaGrange, Georgia. Her father had represented Georgia in Congress for many years and was Chairman of the Committee on Military Affairs during the Mexican War. Image: General John Brown Gordon and Fanny Haralson Gordon John Brown Gordon was born in Upson County, Georgia, February 6, 1832, to Zachariah and Malinda Cox Gordon, the fourth of twelve children. His father was a prominent Baptist minister and plantation owner. Around 1840, Zachariah moved his family to Walker County near Lafayette, where he built a summer resort hotel to take advantage of the medicinal appeal of the springs on…

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Women in the American Revolution

Maria Martin Mazzei

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Wife of Italian American Patriot Maria Hautefeuille was born into an established family in Calais, France. Being very willful in her youth, she ran away from home and went to London, where she adopted the name Petronille and married Joseph Martin. Philip Mazzei (pronounced: maht-say) was born in 1730 near Florence, Italy, and practiced surgery briefly. In 1764, Mazzei rented a large house in London – planning to use the ground floor as a shop, to live on the second floor, to rent out the third floor furnished, and the fourth unfurnished. Before he could rent the upper floors of his four-story house, Mazzei had to have the rooms re-papered. A young man named Joseph Martin was sent by the…

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