4. Women’s American Revolution
Women of all classes and races were not only supporters and opponents of the American Revolution; they actively promoted, engaged, wrote about, fought, and were deeply impacted by the outcome of the American Revolution. Their experiences and perspectives were about as diverse as the women themselves.
Trigger Warning: for discussion of rape and sexual assault.
How to cite this source?
Remedial Herstory Project Editors. "4. WOMEN'S AMERICAN REVOLUTION" The Remedial Herstory Project. November 1, 2025. www.remedialherstory.com.
Mention of the American Revolution evokes images of George Washington, Samuel Adams and the Sons of Liberty, Benjamin Franklin, John Adams, and even Benedict Arnold long before it conjures up images of Deborah Sampson, Abigail Adams, or Mercy Otis Warren. While the leading figures of the Revolution became known as the Founding Fathers, history tends to ignore the Founding Mothers who fought right alongside them.
The American Revolution began in the wake of the Seven Years War, which ended in 1763. After 150 years of colonial growth, distance started to drive a wedge between the colonies and their mother country. Despite ample raw materials, increasing wealth, and a growing healthy population, the English continued to treat Americans as second-class citizens. Though the colonists had been treated as equals during the Seven Years War (and had even felt more connected to their English roots because of the war), once the war ended, the English reverted to regarding the American colonists as subordinate and secondary. This was soon exacerbated by British efforts to control American trade, implement restrictions on settling Native lands, and enforce taxation without representation in Parliament. As the various male-centric dissenters around the colonies slowly congregated into groups like the Sons of Liberty and organized resistance, history seems to suggest that women retreated into the shadows.
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French and Indian War
The American Revolution has its origins in the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War in Europe. This war began over efforts to control the Ohio River Valley, the “frontier” at the time. West of the English colonies was a multicultural continent of French, Dutch, and English settlers and the Indigenous people whose ancestors had long inhabited these lands. The region was home to various Indigenous groups such as the Haudenosaunee, Wendat, Myaamia, Ho Chunk, Odawa, Potawatomi, Illinois, Meskwaki, Sauk, and others, each with distinct cultures and lifestyles. The mix of people from such diverse backgrounds, all claiming parts of the land in the Ohio River Valley for themselves, was bound to lead to tension. Some people, many times women, were caught bridging the gap between the French and Native communities, sometimes by force.
Women played a crucial role in the development and survival of frontier communities, often taking on multiple responsibilities. Women on the frontier were expected to contribute to the physical labor necessary for survival. They helped clear land, build houses and shelters, tend livestock, plant and harvest crops, fetch water, and gather firewood. These tasks required significant physical strength and endurance.
Frontier communities were closely-knit and women played a crucial role in providing support to one another. They formed networks and cooperated with other women to share resources, knowledge, and childcare responsibilities. These relationships provided a sense of community and mutual assistance in the face of hardships
In 1703, Esther Wheelwright lived with her family on the border of New France in a small Puritan, fur trading village. Esther was captured by Wabanaki and French forces retaliating for English encroachment on their land. In captivity, she was adopted by a Wabanaki family before being introduced to Catholicism by some French priests and eventually became a nun.
Marguerite Faffart was a métis, or mixed race, woman who lived in modern day Detroit. She was the daughter of a French trader and a French-Algonquin mother. Faffart was married to an abusive man who beat her and their young child. She fled to Pennsylvania where she was able to reconnect with her Algonquin family. Known as "French Margaret" among her British neighbors, she utilized her kinship and trade networks to sustain herself and her son through fur trading. At some point before 1735, she married Katarioniecha, a Mohawk man from Caughnawaga, thereby becoming part of another Native community and expanding her networks into the New York colony. Marguerite and Katarioniecha had four children.
In 1737, Marguerite Faffart’s first husband died, leaving her a huge inheritance. She never returned to claim it, but her sister and brother-in-law fought for her in the Detroit courts. They won based on numerous witnesses to her husband's abuse– a rare court victory for women.
Tensions between powers on the frontier came to a head in the French and Indian war which officially began in 1756. The British wanted to secure control of the frontier. Indigenous people wanted their lands back, and the French wanted more control of the fur trade without British intervention.
During the French and Indian War, women played a crucial role in supporting the war effort and maintaining daily life on the homefront. They were responsible for managing households, ensuring the well-being of their families, and providing sustenance for both civilians and soldiers. Women worked tirelessly to maintain farms, produce essential goods, and care for the wounded. Their contributions to the logistical aspects of the war often went unrecognized, yet they played a vital role in sustaining the colonial forces.
Many women accompanied their husbands or male relatives to the front lines, providing nursing care, cooking, and even participating in combat when necessary. Some women took up arms themselves, disguising their gender to join the fight These brave individuals defied societal norms and risked their lives for their cause, showing that gender did not restrict their dedication and bravery.
Women had access to critical information through their social networks and were able to gather intelligence and relay it to military leaders. Their abilities to navigate social circles and gather valuable data often proved instrumental in shaping military strategies and securing victories. Mary Jemison was a woman who profoundly influenced the course of the French and Indian War. Born in 1743 in Pennsylvania, Jemison was captured by a Shawnee war party during the conflict. Renamed Dehgewanus by the Seneca tribe, Jemison chose to assimilate into their society, learning their language, adopting their customs, and eventually marrying a Seneca man. Her intimate knowledge of both Native American and European cultures made her an invaluable resource for the Seneca tribe and the British forces.
Jemison's unique position allowed her to act as a mediator between the Seneca and the British, facilitating communication and negotiation. Her insights into the tactics, strategies, and intentions of the Native American tribes, as well as her familiarity with European military practices, proved invaluable to British military leaders. Jemison's efforts helped to establish trust, foster alliances, and ultimately shape the outcome of the war in favor of the British.
So why did a British victory lead the British colonists to rebel? There are a few reasons. The conclusion of the war coincided with the Proclamation of 1763 that barred the settlers from further expansion west in an attempt to pacify indigenous people who faced encroachment. Since the English were able to oust the French from the disputed territory in the Ohio River Valley, the proclamation line alienated the English colonists who wanted to continue moving west. The French and Indian War was also incredibly expensive. The war cost the English lots of money, and King George felt the colonists should pay for it. Colonists were taxed first through the Sugar Act of 1764. Its primary purpose was to raise revenue by imposing duties on sugar and other goods imported into the American colonies. The Act replaced the earlier Molasses Act of 1733, which had been largely ineffective in curbing smuggling.
Under the Sugar Act, the duties on molasses were lowered, but stricter enforcement measures were implemented to crack down on smuggling. In other words, even though, on paper, the tax was lowered, enhanced anti-smuggling provisions meant that colonists were essentially paying this (lower) tax for the first time. Additionally, new duties were imposed on other goods like wine, coffee, textiles, and indigo. Collectively, these new taxes directly impacted the homes of women trying to provide for their families.
Additionally, the Stamp Act was passed by the British Parliament in March 1765. It was an internal tax that required the purchase of stamps for a wide range of paper goods, including legal documents, newspapers, pamphlets, playing cards, and even dice. The stamps had to be affixed to the designated items as proof of payment.
The Stamp Act was particularly controversial as it directly affected many colonists, including lawyers, printers, merchants, and the general public, particularly in areas where literacy rates were high. The act was met with widespread resistance in the American colonies, as it was seen as a direct infringement on their rights, without proper representation in the British government. The opposition eventually led to organized protests, boycotts, and the formation of the Stamp Act Congress, which called for the repeal of the Act.
Women were involved in resistance from the very beginning. Women ran taverns which provided a safe place for rebels to meet, discuss ideas, and plan their protests. Women were also immediately recruited by the Sons of Liberty and others to serve as spies as tensions mounted closer to war. Seamstresses, servants, laundresses, and caregivers in the homes of loyalists and British officials were called on to provide information that proved critical to protecting rebels from the earliest protests through the greatest battles of the war.
We also cannot deny that many Americans opposed the rebellion, and many loyalist women sought to support the war effort on the British side as well. Women were at the forefront of defining what America was and what it meant to be included among her people.
Phillis Wheatley became the first African American author of published poetry in 1773, which eventually led to her emancipation from slavery. She would write controversial poems challenging the system of slavery, poems commending George Washington and, during the rebellion, described the dissolving relationship between mother country and her colonies:
“A certain lady had an only son
He grew up daily virtuous as he grew
Fearing his Strength which she undoubted knew
She laid some taxes on her darling son
And would have laid another act there on
Amend your manners I’ll the task remove
Was said with seeming Sympathy and Love
By many Scourges she his goodness try’d”
In other words, Britain was saying, “I’m doing this for you,” but deep down, she was continuing to test American’s good nature.
Likewise, Mercy Otis Warren was an outspoken patriot. Having been surrounded by politics her whole life, she regularly debated political leaders and wrote several plays calling out the wrongdoings of Britain and their royal officials years before the war broke out. She was willing to say “independence” far before
the male representatives of her time and was brazen in her literary assault on the King.
She was also unafraid to criticize military officers and the Continental Congress during the war. She seemed unafraid to take on anyone, as she wrote, “Great advantages are often attended with great inconveniences, and great minds called to severe trials.” She would also go on to write and publish the first history of the Revolution, the first nonfiction book published by a woman in America.
The intellectual pursuits of these women and the ideas they presented were not only important leading up to the war and throughout the conflict, but they also raised questions about women’s rights.
Some women bonded together to match their written words with action. Society at the time did not expect, or often allow, women to play a prominent role in these more direct forms of protest. Instead, they were called on to take more dignified paths. Penelope Barker and over 50 women from the city of Edenton, North Carolina, would do exactly that. They would mail a letter signed by each of their parties indicating that they would boycott British tea and cloth until a resolution was reached between Parliament and the newly formed Continental Congress.
The British press had a good laugh at these patriotic ladies, but the Virginia Gazette heaped on the praise. While this event would not receive the historic attention of the Boston Tea Party, these women gathered to voice their concerns to Parliament.
When Americans were called upon to start boycotting British goods, women stepped in to produce these goods at home. Daughters of Liberty groups gathered to spin wool to make their own textiles (where we get the term “home-spun”). They learned to make tea with American herbs, which they called Liberty Tea. While also doing the majority of the shopping for their home, they held up the mantle of boycotting British manufactured goods as well. Even popular culture at the time understood women’s vital role in economic boycotts. A popular song before the American Revolution was improvised to explain the importance of homespun – not imported – textiles and goods. Several versions of the song exist, but most of them highlight how it was patriotic for women to wear homespun goods. It’s a bit ironic that the song would say, “No more ribbands wear, nor in rich dress appear / Love your country much better than fine things. On one hand, the song is appealing to women’s sense of patriotism in America, a place where they are not considered citizens. At the same time, the song later reassures women that they will still be found attractive which also suggests perhaps that the songwriter believes American women are apolitical and only interested in fashion and beauty. Either way, what is clear is that women’s participation in these boycotts constituted political action.
We also can’t forget that women were used as pawns in war. Namely, they became propaganda. This happens regularly throughout periods of war where societies paint a message of men needing to protect women from their enemy.
We can see this early in the Revolution. In the days after the Boston Massacre in 1770, Paul Revere and Henry Pelham’s engraving of the event spread far and wide through colonial newspapers. There are many, many inaccuracies of the image; each was hand-picked to spread a message about America’s innocence in the event.
The British soldiers appear to be firing into a completely unassuming crowd. The figure of the woman standing clearly in the midst of the crowd was not meant to show that women were involved in the scuffle that made the Revolution inevitable, but rather to make America seem to be the undeniable victims. Presumably, the presence of a woman in the protest would have ensured that it was peaceful and respectful, while her presence also suggested that the British’s actions were especially depraved.
Fighting eventually broke out at Lexington and Concord and around the English colonies. Sybil Ludington, a 16 year old girl, took a ride just as daring as Paul Revere’s and at more than double the distance, to warn the militias of New York and Connecticut that British invaders were on their way. After the war, General George Washington personally thanked her for her service.
As men joined militias and headed off to war, gender norms were disrupted and women assumed responsibilities managing businesses and farms. This also left some women vulnerable. A South Carolina woman, Eliza Pinckney, described her situation, “My property pulled into pieces, burnt and destroyed; my money of no value, my Children sick and prisoners.” Women were also attacked and raped at home by Loyalist and British soldiers as they came through.
But many women did not despair. Abigail Adams wrote, “We possess a spirit that will not be conquered. If our Men are drawn off and we should be attacked, you will find a Race of Amazons in America.” She turned her home into a hospital during the war and did whatever she could to keep up morale at home.
In 1780, in the middle of the war, the Ladies’ Association of Philadelphia was established and made their mark on women’s commitment to the revolutionary ideals with a bold publication titled “Sentiments of an American Woman” which claimed women as well as men were created equal. The broadside read, “Our ambition is kindled by the same of those heroines of antiquity, who have rendered their sex illustrious, and have proved to the universe, that, if the weakness of our Constitution, if opinion and manners did not forbid us to march to glory by the same paths as the Men, we should at least equal, and sometimes surpass them in our love for the public good." The Constitution in this case is not in reference to the legal document, but rather one’s resolve, character, or integrity. The claim from the anonymous broadside was simply that women equal men in their patriotism and dedication to the cause. It encouraged women to give up luxuries, save money, and donate to the Continental Army. It was signed, “An American Woman,” as it was ladylike and proper to anonymize oneself in publication to align with gender norms of the era. The author, of course, was the leader of the Ladies Association, Esther de Berdt Reed, the wife of a lawyer and soldier at the front during the war. Her group raised over $7,000 for the war, which was a lot of money back then, all while she took care of their six children. General Washington encouraged the women to make clothes with the raised funds instead of giving it to the soldiers directly because he feared they would spend it on liquor. In the end, the Ladies’ Associated sewed over 2,000 shirts for soldiers.
Martha Washington was a wealthy woman, inheriting a great deal of money from her first husband. During the war, she maintained her elaborate estates and bankrolled the war effort. Every winter, when the war was stalemated, she would travel, like a lot of wives would, to be with Washington in the camps. Washington and other prominent women began a campaign to America's women to collect direct aid for soldiers in the Continental Army. Mount Vernon records show that Martha herself donated $20,000.
As the British stomped their way through upstate New York, young Jane McCrea met her untimely end. Engaged to a loyalist officer who had rushed off to serve, McCrea was making her way toward him when she was abducted and killed. While there is much debate about her killers, the blame was placed on General John Burgoyne’s Native scouts. McCrea became a tool for the Patriots.
The message was spread among the communities that Jane had been one of their own. If Burgoyne would allow that to happen and let her killers go unpunished – a loyalist woman, moreover one of his own officer’s fiancés – what would he do to your wife, fiancé, daughter, or sister, when he came through?
This takes a political war into the realm of a moral or ethical one. The women needed protection from the British brute!
1892 Depiction of Mary Jemison, Public Domain
Phyllis Wheatley, “America”, Public Domain
Mercy Otis Warren, Public Domain
A Society of Patriotic Ladies, (notice the dog), Public Domain
Paul Revere’s Propaganda Using Women to Gain Sympathy, Public Domain
Abigail Smith Adams, Public Domain
Portrait of Martha Washington, Public Domain
Molly Pitcher
Let’s also remember that women were certainly not absent from the war itself. We’ve already discussed their roles as spies. But very often, the wives of officers and some women looking for work traveled with the army, known as “camp followers”. They cooked, cleaned, and cared for the men. They were often kept far to the rear to protect them from the battlefield, but this doesn’t mean they always stayed there.
Molly Pitcher was one such camp follower who is famed for having operated a cannon in the place of her husband, who was killed in the line of duty.
Some mystery surrounds the story of Molly Pitcher. Many claim it was actually Mary Hays, who was a camp follower of her husband William, who operated the cannon. She stayed with him at Valley Forge, and in the summer after, was with him at the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. When he died, she had been delivering pitchers of water to the men, and immediately jumped in his place. She took on the role of swabbing and reloading the cannon, supposedly even earning Washington’s attention.
Others claim this was really Molly Corbin at Fort Washington, where she, like Hays, stepped into her husband’s place fighting against the attacking Hessians until she was wounded in the arm. She was awarded a monthly pension from the state of Pennsylvania for her heroism; the first American woman to be awarded such a military honor.
As to who the real “Molly Pitcher” is, we can only guess. These two women are the best recognized, but likely dozens of women took on similar positions at some point in the war. The legend really became a composite of all of them. Thus, Molly Pitcher is just a singular figure that is meant to represent multiple women who took on the British in the heat of battle.
Mammy Kate was an enslaved woman who worked on the plantation of Stephen Heard, the future governor of Georgia. When he was captured and held prisoner during the American Revolution, Mammy Kate infiltrated and smuggled him out. She was the first Black woman to be honored as a patriot of the American Revolution in the state of Georgia.
Then, there is Deborah Sampson Gannett.
Sampson was born into poverty, and struggled through most of her early life, serving as an indentured servant, teacher, weaver, and more. The Revolutionary War raged through her late teens, and at 21, in the war’s waning years, she jumped at the opportunity for regular pay. She joined a Massachusetts regiment under the alias of Robert Shurtleff. This not only a scandalous move, but an illegal one, given Massachusetts laws against women dressing as men.
She was ushered off to West Point where she served in the light infantry, constantly on the move, scouting, and skirmishing. In one nasty engagement, she was slashed across the forehead with a saber and shot twice in the leg. She let her forehead wound be tended to at a field hospital, and then ran back to her tent to dig out the two iron balls and stitch up her wounds herself to avoid being caught. She served for over a year and half before she was finally caught at the very end of the war. She eventually successfully lobbied for a federal soldier’s pension in return for her service.
Molly Pitcher, Public Domain
Native Americans
For Native Americans, the war was incredibly complicated. They had to hedge their bets on which side they believed would have favorable policies towards them following the war. The British had an advantage as their policies limiting white encroachment on Native lands were one of the catalysts for war. But some nations did side with the Patriots.
The war split up the Iroquois, or Haudenosaunee, Confederacy. Haudenosaunee women played a deciding role in issues of war, peace, captivity, and death. One French man declared, “It is the women who really make up the Nation…All the real authority rests in the women.”
Most of the Confederacy sided with the British but had little interest in joining what they saw as a family affair between Europeans. Konwat-sits-ia-ienni, or Molly Brant, urged her nation to support the British cause, resulting in a series of raids in New York that hurt the Patriots. Haudenosaunee warriors attacked settlements – killing men, women and children – in retaliation for ill treatment. One Patriot captain wrote, “Such a shocking sight my eyes never held before of savage and brutal barbarity; to see the husband mourning over his dead wife and four dead children lying by her side, mangled, scalpt.
In retaliation, General Washington planned to raid Native villages, stealing away the women and luring the warriors out. They set crops, fruit trees, and longhouses afire.. Women, children, and the elderly were murdered.
But when they came upon one village, they found it abandoned; save for an old woman known as Madam Sacho. The woman reported to them that her people had debated whether to surrender, and decided not to. It’s possible her age garnered some of the soldiers’ sympathy. It’s also possible she was incredibly wise, but the soldiers left her alive. When they returned,, another Native woman was found dead, shot and likely raped by Patriot soldiers.
Why was Madam Sacho left alone in her village when the rest of the community departed? Where did the rest of her village go? Soldiers couldn’t track them. Did Madam Sacho give him bad information to give her people more time to get away? And why was the young woman who returned to care for Madam Sacho murdered?
A Mohawk Medicine Woman, Public Domain
Enslaved Women
For enslaved Americans, the Revolution presented a potential opportunity. They took advantage of this. They fought for both sides, whichever would ensure their freedom. The Virginia governor issued Dunmore’s Proclamation, guaranteeing freedom to any enslaved person who abandoned their Patriot owners and aided the British cause. Although the proclamation only applied to Virginia, it was printed throughout the colonies. In 1777, Vermont became the first colony to abolish slavery.
Enslaved women’s desire for freedom for themselves and their children “propelled them to flee from slavery during the Revolutionary War.” The war disrupted the normal routine on plantations and lack of oversight allowed enslaved people to discuss freedom more seriously. One-third of all fugitives were enslaved women.
Margaret, Sarah, and Jenny were all enslaved women who fled bondage during the war. They knew they were worth more than the dollar amount put to them, what some referred to as their “Soul Value.”
Sarah was pregnant and ran away with her six-year old son. Her husband had joined the British Army and she intended to try and “pass” as free in order to join him. Jenny fled at eight months pregnant. Her enslaver advertised widely for her return. But Jenny had heard of Dunmore’s Proclamation and had spent months planning her escape. Enslaved women also made similar claims about their husbands being in the Continental Army. In a Runaway Slave advertisement in The New Jersey Gazette, one enslaver in 1778 offered compensation for the return of his runaway “Sarah.” He claimed the “mulatto” woman now called herself Rachael and that she was “big with child” and had run off with her son, “a Mulatto boy named Bob, about six years old.” According to the advertisement, she had been last seen near “the first Maryland regiment, where she pretends to have a husband, with whom she has been the principal part of this campaign, and passed herself as a free woman.” These women knew that whatever the outcome of the war, their newborns would be enslaved and they couldn’t let that happen.
Elizabeth Freeman, or Mum Bett, was an enslaved woman in Massachusetts. Her husband died fighting the war. Throughout the war, she had listened to the wealthy white people she served discuss concepts of freedom and liberty and decided this enlightened philosophy should apply to her too. One day, she was beaten by her mistress, which proved to be a catalyst to make demands. She fled, finding refuge with a white lawyer who helped her sue for her freedom.
In Brom & Bett v. Ashley, the jury ruled in her favor and ordered her former owners to pay her. Her case ultimately led to the abolition of slavery in Massachusetts just before the close of the American Revolution. Soon every northern state would abolish slavery; however, the abolition of slavery in the North was slow and gradual in order to mitigate the effects of the loss of property for the enslavers. As a result, the Revolution left a complicated legacy for Black people, as slavery still existed and persisted for decades in the North as it did in the South. Black women’s freedom cannot be disentangled from the story of American independence. These women monitored the war and were heavily affected by the outcome.
Revolutionary debates among white men about freedom and liberty absolutely included discussions of abolition, but they tabled the discussion for another generation – preferring union over freedom. How different might that discussion have been if women, all women, were included?
At least when Mum Bett died in 1829, she was a free woman. Her inspirational story didn’t end with her, though. One of her great-grandchildren was W.E.B. DuBois, the first Black man to graduate from Harvard and a founder of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP)
Elizabeth Freeman Circa 1812, Public Domain
Nancy Hart, Public Domain
Revolutionary?
Was the American Revolution truly revolutionary? Even white women were let down by limits of the Revolution’s revolutionary rhetoric. Maybe the most famous of Revolutionary women, Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams, was not only his closest advisor, but also one of the few women who became known as a founder of the nation. The letters they exchanged during his time in Congress, serving as a diplomat overseas, and even during the Constitutional Convention, show his reliance on her advice and her contributions to major affairs. Most famously, during the Constitutional Convention, she would ask her husband and the other delegates to "remember the ladies, and be more generous and favorable to them than your ancestors. Do not put such unlimited power into the hands of the Husbands. Remember all Men would be tyrants if they could. If particular care and attention is not paid to the Ladies we are determined to foment a Rebellion, and will not hold ourselves bound by any Laws in which we have no voice, or Representation." In other words, she encouraged her husband to not create a government where women were ruled by their husbands as the patriots had been ruled by the King. Otherwise, the ladies will stand up for themselves, just the way Americans did against a government that didn’t represent them. John’s response was, “I cannot but laugh.” She would take her time in writing back and it would take over a century for her warned rebellion to happen, but the women of America held true to Abigail’s warning.
The Revolutionary War spread far beyond the battlefields, affecting the American people, their economy, and their lives in many unanticipated ways. The war came to an end in the fall of 1783. While the men would be lauded for their efforts to bring America its independence, history quickly forgot the diverse women who also made that possible. The Sampsons and Pitchers on the battlefield, the Otis Warrens, Adamses, and Wheatleys using their intellect, and the thousands of unnamed Native, Black, and rebel women serving as Daughters of Liberty, working behind the scenes as spies and soldiers. Also forgotten are the many uncelebrated women who kept their family farms, businesses, and trades alive while their husbands, fathers, and sons left for war.
The Birth of Old Glory, Public Domain
Conclusion
This period is such an important part of American History, but women’s roles are often underrepresented in lieu of the images of tradesmen and farmers dropping the tools of the trade to fix bayonets and fight England. There is so much room for growth. What ways did women contribute to the rebellion and war effort? How are women’s contributions rewarded or ignored after the war’s conclusion? How did women’s roles inspire future generations in their pursuit of greater rights and recognition from the government they helped form?
