Deborah Sampson
Deborah Sampson, born on December 17, 1760, in Plympton, Massachusetts, is notable for her remarkable and unique role in American history as a female soldier during the Revolutionary War. Coming from a family with Pilgrim roots and facing poverty after her father's departure, Sampson became an indentured servant at a young age, which influenced her strong patriotic beliefs. In 1781, motivated by her desire to contribute to the war effort, she disguised herself as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army under the name Robert Shurtliff. Throughout her service, Sampson demonstrated exceptional courage, fighting in battles and enduring injuries, one of which she treated herself to maintain her disguise.
Her true identity was discovered while she was hospitalized in 1783, leading to an honorable discharge ordered by General George Washington. Following her military service, Sampson married Benjamin Gannett and became a mother, while also advocating for recognition and a pension for her contributions as a soldier. In 1805, she became the first woman to receive an army pension, a significant milestone. Sampson's story gained wider recognition through the biography published by Herman Mann, which propelled her to public speaking engagements in her military uniform. She passed away on April 29, 1827, and has since been honored with various memorials and commemorative days, reflecting her lasting impact on American history.
Deborah Sampson
Hero of American Revolution
- Born: December 17, 1760
- Birthplace: Plympton, Massachusetts
- Died: April 29, 1827
- Place of death: Sharon, Massachusetts
Also known as: Deborah Sampson Gannett
Significance: Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man and fought as a soldier in the Continental army during the American Revolution. Sampson became the first woman to receive a full military pension for her participation in the war.
Background
Deborah Sampson was born on December 17, 1760, in Plympton, Massachusetts. Her parents, Jonathan Sampson Jr. and Deborah Bradford Sampson, were descendants of the Pilgrims. Sampson was one of seven children, and her family lived in poverty before her father’s departure. According to some sources, Sampson’s father was shipwrecked and lost at sea. However, Herman Mann’s biography of Sampson, The Female Review: or, Memoirs of an American Young Lady, for which he interviewed her, explains that her father abandoned the family and settled in Maine, where he had two more children with a common-law wife.
After Sampson’s father left, her mother could not support her children and placed them in the homes of various friends and family members. When she was ten years old, Sampson went to live with Jeremiah and Susannah Thomas. Sampson became an indentured servant, meaning she agreed to work for the couple for a number of years in exchange for food and shelter. Jeremiah Thomas was a Patriot, a colonist who rejected British rule. He is believed to have influenced Sampson’s political views.
Sampson was released from indentured servitude when she was eighteen. After this, she worked as a schoolteacher in Middleboro for about two years.
Life’s Work
By 1781, the Continental army and the British were in the midst of the American Revolution. Sampson, a Patriot, wanted to help but did not want to serve as a nurse as other women of her time did. She decided to enlist as a soldier instead. Sampson sewed her own uniform—a man’s coat, waistcoat, and breeches—and bought a pair of men’s shoes. She used the name Robert Shurtliff and enlisted with the 4th Massachusetts Regiment in New York, where the war was being fought at the time. Sampson was five feet eight—an exceptional height for a woman of her time—heavy boned, and physically strong. No one suspected that she was actually a woman, although the other soldiers assumed she was young because she did not grow facial hair.
Sampson was sent to fight as a light infantryman in the Hudson Valley. She was shot in the leg during battle and removed the bullet herself with a pen knife to avoid having her identity revealed by a doctor. Four months later during another battle, she was shot in the shoulder. Sampson survived her wounds, but her thigh did not heal properly and caused her pain throughout the remainder of her life.
In 1783, Sampson was dispatched to fight in Pennsylvania but was hospitalized with a fever. The physician caring for her, Barnabas Binney, discovered that she was a woman when she removed some of her clothing. Sampson worried that he would report her, but instead he let her recover at his home with his wife and children. She continued to impersonate a soldier while staying there.
Binney eventually revealed her secret, however. According to some accounts, he did this because his niece fell in love with Shurtliff while he was recuperating at the doctor’s home. Binney wanted Sampson to admit her gender before his niece was publically humiliated.
Binney asked Sampson to deliver a personal letter to General John Patterson, brigade commander. Patterson read the letter and notified General Henry Knox, who then notified General George Washington. Washington ordered Sampson to be honorably discharged. After this, she returned to her home in Massachusetts.
Sampson married Benjamin Gannett in 1785 and gave birth to three children: Earl, Mary, and Patience. The couple adopted a fourth child, an orphan named Susanna Baker Shepard. Sampson and her husband ran a small farm but earned only a very modest income.
Impact
Sampson began trying to receive a pension from the army—a process she and other soldiers of the American Revolution found to be extremely difficult. Sampson finally received the pension in 1805 after Patriot Paul Revere wrote a letter on her behalf. She was the first woman to receive a pension for participation in a war. Massachusetts paid her four dollars a month but doubled this amount in 1818.
In 1797, she met a writer named Herman Mann, who wanted to interview her and write her biography. Sampson revealed her life story to Mann, who published The Female Review: or, Memoirs of an American Young Lady in 1883. To capitalize on the success of the biography, Sampson began traveling to give speeches while dressed in the uniform she wore during the war.
Sampson died on April 29, 1827, from yellow mountain fever. After her death, many statues and monuments were erected in her honor, and a local chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution was named after her.
In 1982, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts declared May 23 “Deborah Sampson Day.” People dress in costumes on this day in honor of her.
Bibliography
Brooks, Rebecca. “Deborah Sampson: Woman Warrior of the American Revolution.” History of Massachusetts Blog, 29 Dec. 2011, historyofmassachusetts.org/deborah-sampson-woman-warrior-of-the-american-revoultion/. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.
“Deborah Sampson.” National Woman’s History Museum,” 2015, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/deborah-sampson. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.
“Deborah Sampson aka ‘Robert Shurtliff.’” American Battlefield Trust, www.battlefields.org/learn/biographies/deborah-sampson. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.
“Deborah Sampson, Soldier in Disguise.” Massachusetts Historical Society, Mar. 2005, www.masshist.org/object-of-the-month/objects/deborah-sampson-soldier-in-disguise-2005-03-01. Accessed 12 Sept. 2018.
Komechak, Marilyn Gilbert. Deborah Sampson: The Girl Who Went to War. CreateSpace Independent Publishing, 2012.
Mann, Herman. The Female Review: or, Memoirs of an American Young Lady. 1883.
Young, Albert F. Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier. Vintage, 2005.