PART ONE: RESISTERS, SUPPORTERS, AND RESCUERS
Penelope Barker: Steeping the Brew
“charming in its refinement and culture”: Dillard, The North Carolina Booklet, 2.
“one of the most fashionable modes of entertaining”: Ibid., 8.
“the ladies would gossip and spin, and reel”: Ibid., 10.
“discuss the political issues of the day”: Ibid., 10.
“one of those lofty, intrepid, high-born women”: Ibid., 12.
“a brilliant conversationalist”: Ibid.
“Edenton, North Carolina, Oct. 25, 1774. As we cannot”: Halsey, The Boston Port Bill As Pictured By a Contemporary London Cartoonist, 314.
“a society leader of her day”: The North Carolina Booklet, 12.
The Provincial Deputies: Morning Chronicle and London Advertiser, January 15, 1775.
London Queen Square: Dillard, The North Carolina Booklet, 8.
“Is there a female congress”: Ibid., 204.
The 51 signers: Haines, The Boston Port Bill As Pictured By a Contemporary London Cartoonist, 314–315.
Phillis Wheatley: The Slave Who Proclaimed a Revolution
“several robust, healthy females”: Odell, Memoir and Poems of Phillis Wheatley, a Native African and a Slave, 9.
“humble and modest demeanor”: Ibid.
“’TWAS mercy brought me from my Pagan land”: Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley Complete Writings, 60.
“Rule thou in peace, our father”: Carretta, Phillis Wheatley, 69.
“With unexpected infamy disgraced”: Ibid., 77.
“Boston, May 10, 1773 Saturday”: Ibid., 135.
I mourn for Health deny’d: Ibid., 62.
“Let us imagine the loss of a parent”: Ibid., 153.
Proceed, great chief, with virtue: Carretta, Phillis Wheatley, 155–156.
“I recollect nothing else worth”: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776–31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 286–291.
“Cambridge, Mass. February 28, 1776”: George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741–1799: Series 3h, Varick Transcripts.
“Let virtue reign”: Wheatley, Phillis Wheatley Complete Writings, 30.
“no birth, baptismal, or”: Carretta, Phillis Wheatley, 177.
Mary Katherine Goddard: A Patriotic Publisher
“Baltimore: April 26. We have”: Hudak, Early American Women Printers and Publishers, 341.
“Able-bodied freemen from the ages of 17”: Ibid., 350.
“Mrs. Smith, in the 109th year”: Ibid., 333.
“SIXTY DOLLARS Reward … Ran away”: July 6, 1779, Maryland Journal, Library of Congress.
“George Washington of Mt. Vernon”: Wroth, A History of Printing in Colonial Maryland 1686–1771, 129.
“Thirty Dollars Reward”: July 6, 1779, Maryland Journal, Library of Congress.
“Wants A Place”: July 6, 1779, Maryland Journal, Library of Congress.
“This was by no means the first”: Hudak, Early American Women Printers and Publishers, 348.
Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson: Mother to the End
“snapping blue eyes”: James, The Life of Andrew Jackson, 4.
“In Congress, July 4, 1776”: Ibid., 16.
“I was well fitted, being a good rider”: Ibid., 20.
“Make friends by being honest”: Booraem, Young Hickory, 108.
“I felt utterly alone”: James, The Life of Andrew Jackson, 29.
“The memory of my mother”: Brands, Andrew Jackson, 32.
Esther Reed and Sarah Franklin Bache: Supporters of the Troops
“My dear Mr. Reed was”: Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, 259.
“If I live happy in the midst of my family”: Reed, Sentiments of An American Woman.
“render the condition”: Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, 265.
“They normally would not”: E-mail from Vivian Bruce Conger.
“People were obliged to”: Evans, Weathering the Storm, 289.
“The gentlemen were also honored”: Ibid., 288–289.
“All ranks of society seem to have joined”: Green, The Pioneer Mothers of America, 150.
“The ladies are anxious for”: Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, 262.
“If I am in having the concurrence”: Marsh, “The Purist Patriotism.”
“an idea prevails among the ladies”: Reed, Life and Correspondence of Joseph Reed, 264.
“a taste of hard money may be productive”: Ibid., 265.
“had not the most distant wish”: Ibid., 266.
“I shall now endeavor”: Ibid., 267.
“Our dear little children are pretty well”: Ibid., 268.
“In memory of Esther”: Ibid., 269.
“I have been busily employed in cutting out shirts”: Ibid., 270.
“We packed up the shirts in three boxes”: Ibid., 270.
“The army ought not to regret their sacrifices”: Sparks, The Writings of George Washington, 408.
“TO MRS. FRANCIS, MRS. HILLEGAS, MRS. CLARKSON”: Ibid., 408.
Elizabeth Burgin: The Rescuer Who Became a Fugitive
“Friday, 13th of December, 1776”: Commager, The Spirit of Seventy-Six, 856.
“On July 17th I was”: Burgin, Letter to Reverend James Colville, National Archives.
“carried out Major van”: Ibid.
“Letter to Major Benjamin Tallmadge”: “Spy Letters of the American Revolution” in the Clinton Collection from the Clements Library
“George Higby was taken”: Burgin, Letter to Reverend James Calville, National Archives.
“Through the behalf of friends, I got on Long Island”: Ibid.
“I am now Sir, very desolate, without money”: Ibid.
“Head Quarters Morristown”: George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741–1799: Series 3a, Varick Transcripts.
“praying to be employed”: Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774–1789, Volume 20, 718.
“I received a kind letter from your aid”: George Washington Papers at the Library of Congress, 1741–1799: Series 4. General Correspondence, 1697–1799.
PART TWO: SPIES
Lydia Darragh: The Listener Who Alerted the General
“A number of troops have gone out of town”: Menkevich, “Agent Lydia Darragh-Intelligence Operative,” 4.
“There is talk to day”: Ibid., 3.
“The Subscriber, living in Second street”: Ibid., 12.
“to have all her family in bed”: Darrach, “Lydia Darragh, One of the Heroines of the Revolution,” City History Society of Philadelphia, 389.
“into a closet, separated”: Ibid., 389.
“Washington’s army, and with their”: Ibid., 390.
“did not tell her husband”: Ibid., 391.
“was greatly surprised to see”: Ibid., 391.
“In Autumn of 1777 the American”: Boudinot, The Life, Public Services, Addresses and Letters of Elias Boudinot, 68.
“On comparing this with other information”: Ibid., 68–69.
“called her to the council room”: Ibid., 391.
“She replied: ‘No, they were all asleep’”: Ibid., 391–393.
“‘I never told a lie about it”: Ibid., 393.
“In the course of last week”: Ibid., 400.
“The story has been discredited”: Ibid., 393.
Anna Smith Strong: Petticoats and Handkerchiefs
“[I] think by the assistance of”: Rose, Washington’s Spies, 247.
“In the case of 355” Kilmeade, George Washington’s Secret Six, 93.
“Folklore is an”: E-mail from Beverly C. Tyler.
“Private dispatches are frequently”: Rose, Washington’s Spies, 247.
“the problem [for the British]”: Ibid., 247.
“correctly perceived that”: Ibid., 234.
Dicey Langston: A Whig in a Land of Tories
“She declared that her own body”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 288.
“Shoot me if you dare. I will not tell you”: Ibid., 289.
“threw up his hand, and”: Ibid., 289.
“Do you think so?”: Ibid., 291.
“pronounced her worthy of being the sister of James Langston”: Ibid., 291.
“Mrs. Laodicea Springfield, aged 71 years”: Greenville (SC) Mountaineer, June 10, 1837.
PART THREE: SABOTEURS
Prudence Wright: Leader of the Pitchfork Brigade
“without stopping to unyoke his oxen”: Fischer, Paul Revere’s Ride, 157.
“meet a force of English and lead them”: Shattuck, Prudence Wright and the Women Who Guarded the Bridge, 35.
“Soon there appeared one on horseback”: Butler, History of the Town of Groton, 336–337.
“immediately arrested, unhorsed, searched”: Ibid., 336.
“resolutely determined, that no foe to freedom”: Ibid., 336.
“a force of English”: Shattuck, Prudence Wright and the Women Who Guarded the Bridge, 35.
“seized the reins of their horses”: Ibid., 33.
“I recognize Prude’s voice and she would”: Ibid., 36.
“The men were dismounted and searched”: Ibid., 36.
“to Groton to the Committee of Safety”: Ibid., 35–36.
“Not one further step I ride!”: Ibid., 33.
“her brother Thomas [who] was never seen”: Ibid., 34–35.
“The women surrounded him”: Ibid., 34.
“marched their prisoner”: Citation TK
“fellow townsmen to be loyalists for Tories”: Ibid., 34.
Sybil Ludington: On Star Under the Stars
“fat from the burning”: Bailey, History of Danbury, Conn 1684–1896, 69.
“In this emergency”: Johnson, Colonel Henry Ludington, 89.
“The British are burning”: SOURCE TK
“the greater part of the force were”: Bailey, History of Danbury, Conn 1684–1896, 69.
“spend the Sabbath leisurely in Danbury”: Ibid., 72.
“that the rebels under Wooster and Arnold”: Ibid., 72.
“Flames seemed to burst out simultaneously”: Ibid., 73.
“The enemy’s loss is judged to be more”: Ibid., 80.
“There is no extravagance in comparing”: Johnson, Colonel Henry Ludington, 90.
Mary Lindley Murray: Wine, Cake, and a Getaway
“a grand public breakfast”: Murray, In the Olden Time, 5.
“nearly thirty people”: Ibid., 5.
“silk jacket”: Ibid., 5.
“mirth and pleasure echoed”: Ibid., 5.
“My mother was a woman”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 375.
“all of a sudden there came”: Martin, Private Yankee Doodle, 34.
“he plunged his horse among them”: McCullough, 1776, 212.
“I saw a Hessian sever a rebel’s head”: McCullough, 1776, 30.
“It so happened that a body”: Thacher, Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War, from 1775–1783, 70.
“magnificent avenue of elms”: Murray, In the Olden Time, 5.
“Mrs. Murray treated them with cake and wine”: Thacher, Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War, 60.
“[was] joking her about”: Ibid., 60.
“might have turned the laugh on him”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 340.
“Most fortunately, the British”: Thacher, Military Journal During the American Revolutionary War, 60.
Grace and Rachel Martin: Masquerading Hostesses
“Go boys, fight for your country!”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 277.
“‘Grace,’ said Mrs. Rachel”: Green, The Pioneer Mothers of America, 339.
“With rifles over their shoulders”: Ibid., 339.
“As they came close to the spot”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 275.
“returning so soon after”: Ibid., 276.
“departed the next morning”: Ibid., 276.
PART FOUR: SOLDIERS AND DEFENDERS OF THE HOME FRONT
Elizabeth “Betty” Zane: Fleet-Footed Girl to the Rescue
“a fair-haired, finely formed girl”: Green, Pioneer Mothers of America, 447.
“about the exploit of Betsy Zane”: Hintzen, “Betty Zane, Lydia Boggs, and Molly Scott,” www.wvculture.org.
Deborah Sampson Gannett: Undercover Soldier
“Poise—Firelock!”: Young, Masquerade, 205.
“Deborah was about five feet eight”: Furbee, Women of the American Revolution, 60.
Mrs. Gannett’s (Late Deborah Sampson): Young, Masquerade, 203.
“Thus I became an actor in that important drama”: Ibid., 221.
“the perils and inconvenience of a girl in her teens”: Ibid., 221.
“Mrs. Deborah Gannet of Sharon informs”: Massachusetts Historical Society, http://www.masshist.org/database/326.
Rebecca Motte: A Straight-Arrow Heroine
“[To think] of one so”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 150.
“bow was put into the hands of Nathan”: Simms, The Life of Francis Marion, 239.
“Now I have told you all the news”: Harrison, A Charleston Album, 43.
“a high crowned ruffled mobcap”: Ibid., 43.
Martha Bratton: “It was I who did it.”
“He is in Sumter’s army”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 144.
“I beg of you to consult Mrs. Bratton”: Scoggins, The Day it Rained Militia, 118.
“Madam, you were sent for”: Ibid., 119.
“My Mother, who was skilled in concocting”: Ibid.
“laughed at my Mother”: Ibid.
“It’s important to note”: Interview with Michael Scoggins.
“It was I who did it”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, 247.
“Let the consequences be what it will”: Ibid., 247.
PART FIVE: LEGENDARY LADIES
Molly Pitcher: “Possible Mollies” Mary Ludwig Hayes and Margaret Cochran Corbin
“One of the camp women”: Stryker, The Battle of Monmouth, 189.
“A woman whose husband belonged”: Martin, Ordinary Courage, 80.
“While Captain Molly was”: Custis, Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, 225.
“Thirsty, weary soldiers calling out”: Somerville, Women and the American Revolution, 6.
“The wife of a gunner in the American Army”: Caption from Currier & Ives print, “The Heroine of Monmouth.”
“homely in appearance”: Somerville, Women and the American Revolution, 11.
“Judge of his surprise when”: Green, Pioneer Mothers of America, 224–225.
“Resolved—That Margaret Corbin”: Somerville, Women and the American Revolution, 12.
“the famous Irishwoman”: Ibid., 13.
“I have procured a place”: Ibid., 15.
“was also furnished with old bed-sacks”: Ibid., 15.
“was saluted as ‘Captain’”: Ibid., 15.
“MARGARET CORBIN—THE FIRST”: Ibid., 17.
“she should have the means”: Dann, The Revolution Remembered, 242–250.
“was not afraid of the cannonballs?”: Ibid.
Mammy Kate: Unlikely Rescuer
“The British captured Governor Heard”: Hampton, A Family History, a handwritten letter, Hargrett Rare Book & Manuscript Library, University of Georgia.
“The idea that Mammy Kate”: Interview with Peggy Galis, November 18, 2012.
“Augusta was not”: Interview with Lee Ann Caldwell, July 3, 2014.
“Perhaps Mammy Kate”: Ibid.
“One of his faithful slaves would”: Peel, Historical Collections of the Joseph Habersham Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, 279.
“One morning, carrying on her head”: McIntosh, The Official History of Elbert County 1790–1935, 23.
“She [Aunt Kate] managed to get”: Peel, Historical Collections of the Joseph Habersham Chapter, 280.
“The night previous to this”: Ibid., 280.
“While they were traveling homeward”: McIntosh, The Official History of Elbert County, 23.
“Paternalistic owners often showed kindnesses”: Caldwell interview.
“When I was growing up”: Galis interview.
“We used to talk about Mammy”: Ibid.
“The house my grandmother”: Ibid.
“She [Aunt Kate] used to act as a spy for her master”: Caldwell interview.
“the result of a cold caught”: Hampton, A Family History.
“The story we always heard”: Galis interview.
“When Aunt Kate died”: Hampton, A Family History.
“She and anyone in his household”: Caldwell interview.
“six feet high, very muscular”: White, Historical Collections of Georgia, 441.
“a lady far advanced in years”: Ibid., 446.
“never failed to be much excited”: Ibid., 441.
“discovered someone from the outside”: Ibid., 441.
“with the quickness of lightning”: Ibid., 442.
“bound him fast as her prisoner”: Ibid., 442.
“said that her father who”: Coulter,
“Nancy Hart, Georgia Heroine of the Revolution,” The Georgia Historical Quarterly, Vol. 39, No. 2, June 1955.
“savagely massacred a friend”: Ellet, Women of the American Revolution, Vol. II, 264.
“well known to the tories”: Ibid., 263–264.
“take to the swamp, and secure himself”: Ibid., 265.
“why they disturbed a sick, lone woman”: Ibid.
“someone on a sorrel horse”: Ibid.
“If they hadn’t er been so lofty”: Ibid., 266.
“She stormed and swore awhile”: Ibid.
“stacked their arms where they”: Ibid., 267.
“the whole party sprang to their feet”: Ibid., 268.
“would kill the first man who”: Ibid.
“Daddy and them will soon be here”: Ibid.
“d___Tory carcasses to a Whig woman”: Ibid., 269.
“shooting was too good for them”: Ibid.
“smoking venison, hoe-cakes”: Coulter, “Nancy Hart, Georgia Heroine of the Revolution,” 142.
“cocked it, and with a blazing oath”: Ibid.
“uncertain because of her cross-eyes”: Ibid.
“according to the rules of the times”: Ibid.
“she was positively not cross-eyed”: White, Historical Collections of Georgia, 441.
“When the Tories”: Coulter, “Nancy Hart, Georgia Heroine of the Revolution,” 144.
“the stories related”: Scott, “Nancy Hart: ‘Too Good Not to Tell Again,’” in Georgia Women: Their Lives and Times, 42.
“consoled herself, like most other good”: White, Historical Collections of Georgia, 442.
“A descendent of Nancy’s wrote in 1901”: Coulter, “Nancy Hart,” 125.