Mary Ludwig, who is believed to have been Molly Pitcher, was born near the city of Trenton, New Jersey. In 1768, she moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania where she met William (also known as John) Hays, who was a local barber. He was trained to be in the artillery and fought at the Battle of Monmouth. They got married on July 24, 1769. Hays was a Patriot involved in the 1774 boycott of British goods that arose as protest for the unfair tax being placed on colonies.
On the Sunday of June 28, 1778 it was a hot stifling day where the temperature raised up to nearly 100 degrees. Molly could see that the day was going to be a very hot one. She had spotted a green and mossy place where a spring rose up. She ran and filled her pitcher with cold water. Mary Hays was earning her nickname “Molly Pitcher” by bringing pitcher after pitcher of the cool spring water to the exhausted, thirsty men. Over and over she heard the urgent cry of “Molly- Pitcher!” She also tended to the wounded and once, heaved a crippled continental soldier on her strong young back, and carried him out of reach of the advancing British. On one of her trips to fetch water, she returned to see her husband fall wounded at his cannon. She examined her husband’s wound and saw that he wouldn’t die from it but he couldn’t continue to fire his cannon. Someone had to. Without hesitation, Molly stepped forward and took the rammer staff from her fallen husband’s hands. She took over Williams’s cannon. She loaded and fired it for the rest of the battle.
During the American Revolutionary War, her husband Hays enlisted as a gunner in the Continental Army. As it was common at the time for wives to be near their husbands in battle and help as needed, Pitcher followed Hays back to New Jersey during the war’s Philadelphia Campaign. Her husband fought in the Battle of Monmouth in Freehold, New Jersey, on June 28th, 1788. It was recorded to have been a brutally hot day. Mary followed and joined a group of camp followers led by Martha Washington. They took care of the troops, washed clothes, made food, and helped sick and injured soldiers. As legend was told, all the soldiers had nicknamed her Molly Pitcher for her tireless efforts. Molly made countless trips to a nearby spring to fill pitchers of cold water for soldiers to drink and to pour over their cannons to cool them down. The water that Molly and the other women carried was used for drinking water by the soldiers and to cool down the cannon barrels. There are two springs in the battlefield today that are marked ‘Molly Pitcher Spring’. It is believed that the springs were the water source for Molly and the other women during the battle.The water was also used to soak the ramrod sponge which was used to clean the barrel after each shot.But the legend only began with her name. According to many accounts, Mary witnessed her husband collapse at his cannon, and was unable to continue the fight. When her husband collapsed, due to either a heat stroke or injury, she immediately dropped her water pitcher that she was using to serve the soldiers, and took his place at the cannon. Once, a cannon ball came so close, that it actually went between her legs, ripping her petticoat. She is only known to have said something along the lines of, “Well, that could have been worse,” and went back to firing her cannon. She was manning the weapon throughout the remainder of the battle until the colonists achieved victory. With her actions on that day, Molly Pitcher became one of the most popular and enduring symbols of the woman who contributed to the American Revolution. We are lucky that a certain Private Joseph Martin thought to record this detail in his journal later on, so the bravery of this woman was not lost in history. Legend has it, that she was thanked personally by General Washington.
The American Revolution was a time when the British colonists in America rebelled against the rule of Great Britain. There were many battles fought and the colonies gained their freedom and became the independent country of the United States. The American Revolutionary War lasted from 1775 until 1783. War didn’t happen right away. First there were protests and arguments. Then some small skirmishes between the colonists and the local British army. Things just got worse and worse over the course of years until the colonies and Great Britain were at war.
Joseph Plumb, who was a soldier in the revolutionary war ranked as ‘private’ most of the war recollected about Molly Pitcher using the cannon at the battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778.
“One little incident happened during the heat of the cannonade, which I was eyewitness to, and which I think would be unpardonable not to mention. A woman whose husband belonged to the Artillery, and who was then attached to a [cannon] in the engagement, attended with her husband at the [cannon] 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 pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation.
Mary remained with the Continental Army until the war ended, and after she moved back to Carlisle with Hays in April 1783. Following her husband’s death, she remarried, to a war veteran named John McCauley. He spent nearly all of her money, and then disappeared. She then started to work in the State House in Carlisle. Mary was honored by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1822 for her wartime services and received an award of $40 and an annual commision of the same amount for the rest of her life. Molly Pitcher died on January 22, 1832, in Carlisle, where a monument commemorates her heroic acts in battle. She died at 78.
The Battle of Monmouth was a military conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in Morth America during the American Revolutionary War which was from 1775-1783. The battle took place on Sunday, June 28th, 1788. The battlefield was located in Monmouth, New Jersey. It was inconclusive, but ended in a long-term victory for the American colonists. The British retreated from Philadelphia to New York. As Sir Henry Clinton led the British army across the Jerseys, George Washington decided to attack. The American offensive took place at Monmouth. Washington, with the help of Baron von Steuben, managed to re-form the American ranks and engage the enemy again, but failed to gain a victory. Sir Henry Clinton, the British commander, seized the first moment to continue his march to New York, having received word that a French fleet was on its way to America. George Washington wisely decided not to follow and marched his army northward to rejoin other American forces encamped along the Hudson River. Both the Americans and the British claimed victory at the Battle of Monmouth. Most historians regard this battle as a tactical draw, but it was a long-term victory for the Americans. The significance of the BAttle of Monmouth, was that the Aerican retreat ordered by General Charles Lee allowed Clonton’s army to continue to
New York City.
Women of the American Revolution
Molly Pitcher was not the only woman to give her time to help soldiers in need. There were many women who also volunteered their service during the American Revolution and whose lives may have contributed to the legend of Molly Pitcher.
A lady named Margaret Corbin, who was in the same regiment with her husband John as Hays and her husband. Called Captain Molly, Corbin wore a uniform and when her husband was wounded on the firing line, she stepped into the fight. Unlike Molly Pitcher, she was also wounded and captured by the British, but eventually released. Corbin was later reassigned to perform guard duty at West Point. Whether representative of one woman or a composite of many, Molly Pitcher is a hero character whose legend tells the story of womans heroism during the American Revolution. Others believe that “Molly Pitcher” is really Margaret Corbin, wife of John Corbinnwhowas also in the continental army. People think that, because of her very similar story to Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley. After the war, MArgaret became one of only two women to recieve a federal pension for military service. The records of the Continental Congress record the following for Margaret Corbin: Resolved, That Margaret Corbin, who was wounded and disabled in the attack on Fort Washington, whilst she heroically filled the post of her husband who was killed by her side serving a piece of artillery, do receive, during her natural life Or the continuance of the said disability, the one-half of the monthly pay drawn by a soldier in the service of these states; and that she now receive out of the public stores, one complete suit of cloaths, or the value thereof in money. Her arm that got wounded when she was fighting, never healed, and for the rest of her life she had problems with it. She never gained thhe same amount of strength in it and never got it back to how it use to be. That was the sacrafice all the women had when they decided to help out in the war, and she really did everything she could to help out.
Just like Mary Ludwig and her husband, John Corbin enlisted into the army and MAragret joined a group of camp followers so she coukd follow and take care of him. In 1776, John was killed in the Battle of Fort Washington, leaving his cannon unmanned. Margaret took over and fired his cannon until she was very badly injured. She went to Philadelphia, very disabled from her wound and unable to work. She was the first woman to recieve a government pension as a wounded veteran, though it was not the same amount the men soldiers recieved.
There were many different people who helped their husbands during the war, and another example is a lady named Deborah Samson. She showed amazing bravery on the battlefield . The legend of “Molly Pitcher” could easily apply to them, which is why it is still unclear as to who Molly Pitcher was.
When Molly would take water to all the soldiers, it proved how she has perserverance. She was a selfless person who didn’t mind helping others. Molly was not only brave, but very helpful. She really helped the soldiers survive the heat, as well as the war. She felt as if all of their lives mattered, especially since each of them were risking ehir lives every day to help their country by fighting in the war. When she saw soldiers laying on the ground in 98-degree weather, whe would pull and drag them into nice, cool shade, which in many cases was one of the reasons they survived. Also during that time, she helped a dying soldier out of the line of fire. If she didnt do that, or even sowed up a few minutes later, the soldier would have been killed. Thanks to Molly Pitcher, many injured and wounded soldiers survived.
When Mollys husband was injured and in need, she came to his rescue and took his place willingly. She didnt think for a second. Molly Pitcher is the kind of person who was all the way in for her country and as a woman, she did everything in her power to help the soldiers. Even as little as getting the soldiers water, she was doing her tiny part along with hundreds of other women. Molly Pitcher had to make a tough choice, because if she wasnt careful, she could have easily been killed or even taken hostage by the other side. But Molly decided to put her country first and do what she could do to protect it and her family. She was fearless, and she knew she could do it. Molly Pitcher fought for her country with dignity. At night, all of the soldiers would stop fighting to sleep and rest and continue to fight the next day. Molly woke up every few hours just to make sure that the enemy soldiers on the other side werent around, sneaking an attack. She did that every night. Also, another thing that she did for the soldiers when they were hurt, she would check in on them every night to see if they were okay. She encouraged each and every soldier not to worry, but to rest, and to trry to heal as soon as they could, so that the next day they could fight again.
As a woman, taking place of her busband in the war, was probably one of the scariest things she has had to do. The amount of bravery that she sowed that day, went down in history. Molly Pitcher inspired girls and women across the globe for years now.
When Molly Pitcher died, she went down in history as one of the ost brave women to help in the war. She didnt just help the soldiers, but she fought in the war and risked her life. Molly Pitcher will never be forgotten!