Molly Pitcher Research Paper

Molly Pitcher was known to be a woman patriot who carried pitchers of water to soldiers and helped with cannon duty during the American Revolution’s Battle of Monmouth. Some historians believe her story is composited of several women who carried water to troops in the war or that her story is pure folklore. Although there are many legends surrounding Molly Pitcher and who she was I will only be writing about one of them, the theory that Molly Pitcher was actually a woman by the name of Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley.
Born October 13, 1754, near Trenton, New Jersey, Mary was the daughter of a dairy farmer. She moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania and married a barber named William Hays at 13 years old. When the war began her husband enlisted and became a gunner in the Pennsylvania Artillery. As for Mary, she was seen on the war record two years later as a camp-follower during the Pennsylvania Campaign (1777-1778). Legend states that during the Battle of Monmouth, Mary …show more content…
Mary then abandoned her pitchers and rushed over to the cannon to take over for her husband. She was said to have acted very heroically and skillfully. One of the soldiers, Joseph Plumb Martin, was at the same battle. His memoirs were discovered in the 1950s, and stated “A woman whose husband belonged to the artillery and who was then attached to a piece in the engagement, attended with her husband at the piece the whole time. While in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that it was lucky it did not passed little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her