Patriots Forces at the Battle of Bunker Hill *DAR

There were women who contributed to the war effort in traditional roles such as nurses or civilians who treated the wounded. Then there are those extraordinary women who felt so passionate that they felt the need to disguise themselves as men to take up arms and participate in actual battle.

There was one woman named Margaret Corbin who was with her husband on the battlefield. He was killed and she manned the cannon and started firing until she suffered wounds herself. She earned a pension for her service.’

Hannah Blair would take in and hide and protect Patriots. She supplied them with food and helped with medical care. She also received a pension for her service.

Mary Pricely was a nurse on a colonial warship. 

Many women who disguised themselves as men to fight were poor. They needed to earn money for their families, besides fighting for America’s independence.

Another woman who fought was Ann Nancy Bailey who disguised herself as a man named Sam Gay. She was promoted to Corporal. When she was discovered to be a woman, she was arrested and imprisoned. After being released from jail, she disguised herself again as a man, reenlisted and was jailed for the second time. Talk about determination!

There were some women who didn’t care, didn’t disguise themselves, took up arms and fought anyway. 

As we say in the title above, we salute all men and women! Especially those women that had what we call gumption!

In case people don’t know what that word means – it means  the strong will and determination to do something – the ability to decide what is the best thing to do in a particular situation and to do it with energy and determination. If you easily give up, and don’t have a lot of confidence or smarts, then you are lacking in gumption. It takes gumption to get things done – especially difficult things. Someone who takes risks without being afraid has gumption. Having gumption is like having “chutzpah.” We all could probably use more gumption. Like common sense, it isn’t that common.

I also want to salute those immigrants who took the oath who became citizens recently. They  proudly pledged allegiance to America.

The Oath of Allegiance is as follows: 

I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen; that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies foreign and domestic; that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same; that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law; that I will perform noncombatant service in the armed forces of the United States when required by the law; and that I take this obligation freely without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, so help me God. C.M.

Sources: The Roles of Women in the Revolutionary War by Rebecca Beatrice Brooks. 

www.vocabulary.com;

https://mnliteracy.org/sites/default/files/the_oath_of_allegiance_activity.pdf