Do you know why Molly Pitcher is famous?

Is it because her name was given to a rest stop on the NJ Turnpike?

No.

More than that.

Is it because the woman – about whom tales are told – seen helping Revolutionary War soldiers with fresh water on a hot battlefield. She brought countless pitchers of cold water to rehydrate them and to cool the cannons as they fired on the British.

Yes, but…

More than that.

Is it because, when her husband collapsed, she took his place behind the cannon and continuing to manage this weapon until the colonists won the battle of Freehold, NJ? Or, was it Fort Washington in Pennsylvania? Still again, perhaps it was the woman in New York serving in the infantry, pretending to be a man for the right. (Look out Mulan, you weren’t the only one.)

Turns out, we know only a little…

More than that.

Less sure are the historians on who Molly Pitcher actually was…because there were countless more than one woman on the battlefields to support the effort. So let your own judgement decide it to be Mary Ludwig Hays McCauly, Margaret Corbin, Deborah Sampson or, inspired by any one of the thousands of women who fought in the American Revolution but do not have a rest stop named in their honor.

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl