Revolutionary War heroine Mary Hays was born on Oct. 13, 1754 (or 1744). She may have been a servant before she married William Hays. When William Hays joined the Continental Army, she went along as a camp follower. Camp followers were women who accompanied armies on the march to provide services like cooking and laundering. And some provided “professional comforts”. “Sergeant Molly” was at Valley Forge and she made some money to supplement her husband’s salary by washing and cooking. She was like one of the guys. She smoked a pipe, chewed tobacco, and swore a lot. The next summer, she was with her husband at the Battle of Monmouth. He was a cannoneer with the 1st Pennsylvania Artillery. Molly had an important role that very hot day. She carried water from a nearby spring to the parched soldiers. They would yell “Molly, the pitcher!”, hence her famous nickname. When her husband was felled by heat stroke (some say he was wounded), she took his place swabbing his cannon. According to a soldier’s diary, a cannonball passed between her legs taking away part of her petticoat. In 1822, the Pennsylvania legislature granted her a $40 yearly pension.
I have to mention that there is another claimant to the title “Molly Pitcher”. Margaret Corbin was a camp follower who accompanied her husband to war as a camp follower. Unlike most of these women, Margaret wore a uniform and behaved like a soldier. They were stationed at Fort Washington when the British attacked on November 16, 1776. “Captain Molly” took her husband’s place at his cannon when he was killed. She was badly wounded in the battle and almost lost her left arm. She went on to be a guard at West Point. After the war, she became the first woman in American History to receive a military pension.
– Whitcomb 160
https://www.history.com/news/who-was-molly-pitcher
https://www.biography.com/military-figure/molly-pitcher
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