The Paducah Daily Sun

FIRST WOMAN SOLDIER.

Paper on Deborah Sampson Read by Descendant.

Deborah Sampson, known to fame as the only woman who served in the revolutionary army, always has been an attractive figure in the history of that period. It is interesting to read of that brave character, but much more so to hear an account of her life from the lips of one of her direct descendants, which was the pleasure given to a company in Memorial hall, Charlestown, on a recent afternoon--it was the regular meeting of the Bunker Hill Chapter, Daughters of the American Revolution, at which the regent, Miss M. H. Brazier, presided.

Mrs. Susie A. Jackson, of Boston, was the speaker, and she related facts compiled from Deborah Sampson's own statements to one of her kin and the records of the United States pension office, all of which are unmistakably authentic. Deborah was the twelfth of a family of 13 children and was directly descended from Gov. William Bradford. She was born on December 17, 1760. She had no early advantages, but by study was able to teach school in Middleboro. She went to the house of Mr. Leonard there and possessed herself of clothing and prepared to enlist with a privateer, but abandoned her design on learning of the captain's cruelty. At Bellingham she enlisted as a continental soldier from the town of Uxbridge, under the name of Robert Shirtliffe. Near the end of April, 1781, she was mustered into service in Worcester, and marched with the other recruits to West Point. She was placed in Capt. Webb's company of light infantry, Col. Shepard's regiment and Gen. Patterson's brigade. During the engagements that followed she suffered less from fear than from fatigue. She shared in all the hardships as well as the glories of Yorktown, labored in the trenches, and, in fact, her military career was full of adventures, but she bore herself with firmness, resolution and patient endurance, which are often thought to belong exclusively to the stronger sex. Mrs. Jackson described the several wounds the brave woman received, and spoke of the testimonials given her for faithful duty and exemplary conduct from her leaders. On returning home, her sex having been discovered, she resumed the customary apparel of her sex. She died in Sharon on April 27, 1827, aged 67 years. "It may truly be said that no parallel to Deborah Sampson is to be found in the annals of any nation," said Mrs. Jackson in closing.