Deborah Sampson Indomitable Woman &

Revolutionary Soldier

Deborah Sampson was born on December 17, 1760 to parents of distinguished pilgrim heritage. Her mother came from the lines of William Bradford, once Governor of Plymouth Colony; her father a descendant of Myles Standish, Military leader of the Pilgrims. In spite of this proud heritage the Sampson house was quite impoverished. After her father set sail and never returned, Deborah's mother, unable to provide for her 7 children, was forced to have them fostered. Deborah was sent to live with an Aunt that died abruptly thereafter. She spent a short while in the house of the widow of Reverend Peter Thatcher before she was bonded into the care of Deacon Benjamin Thomas.

Working the Thomas' Farm was great toil but it made Deborah strong and capable. In winter there was little enough to do that she could attend school, which she did dutifully. In the seasons of hard labor, when the day's work was done, she would always probe the Thomas boys to relay their days studies, whom found her an apt pupil. At 18 Deborah's term of indenture in the Thomas house ended. She supported herself teaching school during summer sessions and weaving in the winter. It was not an easy life. It was almost impossible for a woman to live independently at the time. Jobs given to women were few. Even the idea of an Independent Woman at the time was scandalous.

From the time she was a very small girl Deborah had something different about her. She was her Grandmother's favorite. Deborah was very bright and loved to hear her grandmother's French accent detailing the exploits of Joan of Arc. When she was in the Thomas house she worked all day and studied all night. She talked politics and hunted. She could shoot about as well as any of the 10 Thomas boys. When the news reached her that 2 of Deacon Thomas' sons had been killed in battle her heart swelled with zeal. The thought of finding a way to join the fight for Independence rooted itself deeply, “my mind became agitated with the enquiry-why a nation, separated from us by an ocean . . .[should] enforce on us plans of subjugatio n.” She resolved “to become one of the severest avengers of the wrong” But only a man could enlist…

She had grown up in boys clothes. As it was customary to dress when working the farm. She shot with the boys. So she knew she could handle a weapon. She was lean broad and well muscled. As would become of anyone laboring on a farm. She could sew. So she fashioned herself a suit well fitted to a 5'8", broad shouldered, lean muscled, pure hearted, pure bread, American Male. She trimmed and shellacked her hair back, fitted herself in a binding intended to hide telling curves, fashioned her well fitted suit… and went to visit her mother.

When her mother failed to recognize her she believed she had perfected the ruse and determined to enlist.

She went straight away and signed as 'Timothy Thayer of Carver' at a local muster but failed to report for duty after being brought under suspicion by a local Mrs. Wood, "Thayer holds the quill with his finger in that funny position, like Deborah Sampson!" What ensued was a fiasco of gossip, finger-pointing, and pious gasps culminating in Deborah's excommunication from her Baptist congregation.

Undeterred, if not with increasing resolve, Deborah climbed back into her britches and set off to enlist again, down the road a bit, out of the eyeshot of the local spinsters. On May 20, 1782, she successfully enlisted in the army as 'Robert Shurtliff' the name of her deceased brother, on the muster of Master

Noah Taft of Uxbridge. From there she was assigned to the Light Infantry Company of the 4th Massachusetts Regimen.

Robert Shurtliff was the most dutiful of soldiers, noted for strength and bravery. He showed great Valor when faced with the enemy who were often enough fellow country men. Robert was wounded on several occasions in skirmishes involving Tory irregulars. It was Guerrilla Warfare.

Guerrilla Warfare tactics, learned in large part from the Native American Aborigines, honed by some in the French-Indian wars, and coupled with their familiarity with the land had been the only advantage the colonist had in the war. Now the Tory insurgents were using these same tactics to target Revolutionary regulars. Robert was a courageous volunteer for every small detachment, every sortie, every raid, flinching off his small wounds gallantly. Then, in a particularly rough skirmish, Robert takes the slash of a Tory blade across his skull opening up a large sanguinary gouge.

In Robert's first and only Field battle, on July 3, 1782, outside Tarrytown, New York, he took two musket balls. History disagrees weather there was one in the thigh and one in the shoulder or two in the thigh. History then debates that Deborah in fear of having her secret revealed diverted the doctor to the older injury on her brow and away from more telling injuries. History is pretty sure that she then removed or at least attempted to remove one of the lodged musket balls herself. What history does agree on is her botched efforts never healed appropriately and she was hobbled for the rest of her life.

Some Histories say that after the Treaty of Paris had been signed a number of troops were sent marching to Philadelphia to quell an insurgence of rogue Tories. Robert was amongst the assigned. There was no fighting left to be done by the time his regiment had arrived. It seemed that Robert Shurtliff would survive the Revolution and his secret would never be revealed. But an ominous endemic would soon sweep through the Philadelphia encampment.

It was a "malignant fever" that finally vanquished Robert Shurtliff. He was somewhere between delirium and comatose when Dr. Binney, of Philadelphia, treating the near fatal fever, discovered Robert's binding wraps.

The good Doctor was admirably discrete and removed the dutiful soldier to his own home and left her under the care of his wife.

Having recovered the dutiful soldier was dispatched under order to carry a letter to General George Washington, a letter in the pen of Dr. Binney.

Even knowing the terrible consequences that faced her, the dutiful soldier Robert Shurtliff hand delivered the dispatch. She waited trembling and sick with anticipation, nervously sipping at the refreshments offered. When the General invited her in he handed her Discharge papers, a hand written note with some heartfelt advise and enough money in her pocket to see her home.

The War had been Won!

Robert Shurtliff was honorably discharged from service on October 23, 1783 by General Henry Knox.

The General Court of Massachusetts in validation the service of Deborah Sampson extolled her valor, recording that she "exhibited an extraordinary instance of female heroism by discharging the duties of a faithful gallant soldier, and at the same time preserving the virtue and chastity of her sex, unsuspected and unblemished"

On April 7, 1785 she married Benjamin Gannet, from Sharon. Together they had three children; Earl, Polly, and Patia. She would resume her life as a Teacher, Mother, Weaver, and 5'8", broad shouldered, lean muscled, pure hearted, pure bread, American Woman.

Through periods in her life she would do tours and lecture circuits, donning her military uniform, demonstrating meticulous drills with precision and regaling audiences with the true adventures of:

Deborah SampsonIndomitable

Woman&

Revolutionary Soldier