Founder's Friday:Women in the American Revolution

On this evening's Glenn Beck program on Fox News, Glenn Beck hosted "Women in the American Revolution" on this evening's Founder's Friday special. He had David Barton and Jane Hampton Cook as guests on the program. Barton and Cook were mentioning how many colonial women played a vital role in the American Revolutionary War. It was very fascinating. Here are some women that played a major role in the War for American Independence.

1. Deborah Sampson - It was Sampson's desire to avoid hard labor on the family farm that she decided to impersonate a man and join the American army. She first enlisted under the name "Timothy Thayer" early in 1782. When she failed to report for duty after a night spent imbibing at a local tavern, her true identity was discovered. In May of 1782 she re-enlisted, this time in Captain George Webb's Co., 4th Massachusetts Regiment, under the name of Robert Shurtleft. She participated in several battles and in 1783 was named aide-de-camp to General John Paterson at West Point. Her identity was again discovered during the summer of 1783 by a physician who treated her when she became seriously ill. Shortly thereafter she was honorably discharged from the army. She subsequently returned to Massachusetts and married there shortly thereafter.

2. Mary Ludwig Hayes (Molly Pitcher) - Molly Pitcher accompanied her husband John, of the First Pennsylvania artillery into the Monmouth, New Jersey Campaign of 1778. During the battle she supplied water to the troops, hence the name "Molly Pitcher". She assumed her husband's matross assisting the other artillerymen in the Company. Shortly after the war ended John, her husband died and Mary remarried. It didn't last long. She supported herself until 1832 with grants. She didn't have a military pension.

3. Mercy Otis Warren - She wrote the first history of the Revolutionary War. She was there in person to recall the events. She got her start before the War officially began because she wanted to do something to reach the common people with revolutionary ideas. The first Committee of Correspondence was formed in the Warren home. John Adams was impressed with Mercy's writing. She wrote plays poking fun at the British. One was entitled, "The Blockhead." She couldn't place her name on the plays because poking fun at the British could result in punishment and jail time. Mercy wrote six plays in all. When her husband went off to fight, Mercy rewrote the history of the American Revolution, using her notes from meetings and conversations. Her efforts were published in 1805, "History of the Rise, Progress, and Termination of the American Revolution."

4. Rebecca Motte - Although she didn't start the fire to her own house, she provided the needed ingredient: fire arrows. Why? Her home was situated high about Charleston, S.C. It was ideally suited for a fort. The British moved her out. They moved in for a short period of time. The patriots needed the British out. They planned to burn the house. So Motte supplied the arrows to burn the British out. That's exactly what happened. However, in the process they saved the house. She lived there until she died.

5. Penelope Barker - Months before any active independence movement, Penelope Barker led the Edonton Tea Party. Unlike the the better known Boston Tea Party, Penelope and more than 50 women didn't dress up in costumes to show how they felt. Penelope wrote a declaration against the use of tea and clothes made from British cloth. All the women at the meeting signed. The British naturally laughed at women's protesting. The British took notice as more women joined the boycott of British goods. These women let the British know power lies in the hands of those who rock the cradle. Women joined their men in showing the British they wouldn't stand for taxation without representation.

6. Abigail Adams - When she married John Adams in 1764, she probably wasn't thinking about life in the White House. She displayed a great mind and love for learning, teaching herself French. She loved to write letters to friends about liberty. Staying on John's farm, she considered herself a farmeress. She wrote to her husband while he was serving in the Continental Congress. Much of what she had to say made its way into our founding documents. When John and others were considering a declaration of independence, Abigail reminded him to take care of the women, who wouldn't hold themselves bound by laws in which they had no voice.