7b The War of American Independence Part I Popular Mobilization

0:00 welcome back so in this lecture we begin a chronological overview of the American War of Independence and we will stress the role of popular mobilization of minority groups like women and African Americans and we will continue to probe the question of how and why the American War of Independence was a kind of revolution so um to begin let's just start by thinking about some of the advantages and disadvantages of the Americans and the British on the eve of this war at the onset very few people could have expected the American colonies to win because England had

0:45 proven itself the mightiest military power during and after the Seven Years War the French and Indian War its army was well-trained well-equipped its Navy was the strongest in the world it controlled the seas and England had an excellent financial and backing system of financial and banking system to support its Army and Navy so we're gonna go through some of the advantages and disadvantages starting with this one loyalist England in addition to its strong Army and Navy enjoyed the advantage of significant loyalist support Tory support as they were sometimes called loyalist support was

1:31 about twenty to thirty percent of the American colonial population who were these loyalists and where were they located well they included Royal officeholders Royal bureaucrats Anglican clergyman priest in the Church of England who of course owed their loyalty to the Church of England and its bishops and the King merchants and traders who were connected to British firms British companies that sort of thing so it tends to be Anglicans loyalists were mostly wealthy wealthy upper-class people and as I said it was about twenty to thirty percent of the population a half a million people do you geographically loyalists tended to be concentrated in port cities in capital

2:18 cities and loyalist support was strongest in York South Carolina and Georgia and it was the lowest loyalist support was lowest in Virginia Maryland Delaware and Massachusetts the middle colonies Pennsylvania New Jersey or somewhere in between loyalists were eager to fight for the mother country Britain but loyalist American loyalists were often looked down upon by the British in the military they were sometimes ignored or used only for inferior positions like guides or spies and later some 50,000 Americans did join the British Army but some joined Special American loyalists units

3:06 of their own another thing to consider is the British enjoyed the advantage of many more Native American allies than the American colonists and often there was a tie-in here often loyalists coordinated attacks on the American colonists in candle with the England's with the English is Indian allies the English is the British Native American allies were primarily the Iroquois in the north and the Cherokee in the south other tribes but basically tribes like the Iroquois Confederacy had nothing to gain from an alliance with the Americans the Americans were just eager to further

3:51 encroach upon Iroquois land and the Iroquois thought that they could use an alliance with the English to their advantage to prevent further settlement so most Native American tribes chose the British and hoped to safeguard their land because as in the past British officials and law would protect them against white settlers in the South the Cherokees the creeks the Choctaws the Chickasaws back the British and in the north most of the Airport Confederacy supported the British the Mohawks and Seneca supported the British but a minority of tribes supported the Americans including the Anita and

4:37 Tuscarora in any case they built the the Native American tribes believe that the British would safeguard their land and their rights like through the proclamation line of 1763 for instance so despite its it's it's pretty obvious advantages the best Navy strongest army in the world and being a global superpower England advantages were more apparent than real real the English army depended heavily on mercenaries that is to say soldiers for hire many of whom were from Germany particularly the German state of HESA has said Darmstadt and these German mercenaries were

5:24 sometimes disloyal they often deserted and we're sort of apathetic to the cause the Navy had deteriorated somewhat since 1763 some ships were not maintained but that's not really a huge factor these factors here at the top were really really major a major disadvantage for the English was their lack of familiarity with the American terrain the sheer size of the American continent and the area and the distance from England 3,000 miles in mobilizing their troops and supplies this is an obvious disadvantage so the disadvantages of Britain became an advantage to the Americans right so the

6:11 fact that the the British were a 3,000 miles away was a great advantage to the callers and likewise the American disunity and lack of infrastructure was also an advantage to the colonists which did not help the British let me explain what I mean by this American just disunity and lack of infrastructure well first of all starting with the distance England's disadvantages were American assets the distance to England was a crucial American asset and in being able to mobilize supplies and troops and munitions quicker England had great difficulty in supplying its army 3,000 miles away now it was impossible to obtain supplies like during the

6:58 French and Indian War when the British could requisition supplies from the colonies obviously that was not going to happen now American disunity and lack of infrastructure how was this a disadvantage to the British advantage at the calm as well time and time again English strategists failed to take account of the sheer size of the American colonies and the lack of infrastructure when planning their campaigns like proper roads and bridges in other words the English plans look good on paper but just didn't really work to the geography of America American disunity and geographic size made it impossible for the English to win for instance during the war the

7:45 English captured New York and Philadelphia part of the significant part of the colonies but the south would fight on undeterred likewise when the British were able to capture the south the North fought on so this is what I mean by disunity the colonies were too big for the British to take them all the colonies could be taken only if all regions were captured and surrendered at the same time which never happened well a major disadvantage for the Americans was they had really no army and navy to speak of the American colonists had an army and navy in name only throughout the conflict the colonies relied on

8:32 attrition of the Minutemen or citizen militia so citizen militia were citizen soldiers who fought only part of the year as volunteers militias were locally based and usually called out for brief periods of service no more than a quarter year so throughout the conflict the Americans relied on militias as well as a professional army the American professional army was called the Continental Army and was founded in 1776 it relied on salaries a regular military structure and on bounties the bounty was a signing bonus

9:21 the Americans were forced to develop a navy almost overnight by adding guns to merchant ships and were largely successful as early as March 1776 a small fleet of American ships captured valuable cannon and ammunition from British islands in the Bahamas so the Americans built Navy overnight the most famous naval captain of the American Revolution was John Paul Jones who in the course of the war seized hundreds of British ships himself and in total the American Navy would seize about 2,000 English ships before the war was over

10:07 let's see other factors the fact that you know you do have the tradition of the citizen militia Americans are fighting on on and defending their home turf this carried obvious advantages to using mercenaries who didn't really care about the cause other factors to consider it was that the Americans had the advantage of international allies spant Spain Holland and France all joined the American side in this regard well why did they do that well England underestimated Frances desire from revenge from the numerous wars that the French had fought against England most recently obviously Frances lost in the Seven Years War the

10:55 French and anymore so for that reason England's enemies supported America the main theme of today's lecture is really the theme popular mobilization and this is something we could've hinted at in the introductory lecture lecture as we mentioned popular mobilization was complex marginalized minority groups like blacks Indians and women played critical roles in the success of the revolution but none of these groups were really compensated or enfranchise once the new regime came to power so in this lecture we will look at the mobilization of African Americans and women as case studies first the topic of African

11:45 Americans in the Revolutionary War African American servicemen shown here for instance distinguish themselves an early skirmish at Lexington and Concord in 1775 and at Bunker Hill but when George Washington took command of the Continental Army further recruitment of African Americans was barred at least initially for fears that it might foment discontent slavery bolts rebellions and general social unrest so once again free black African Americans participated in some of the early battles as volunteer militiamen

12:32 but when it came to the organization of the professional army the Continental Army the elite leaders of the army like George Washington had a great deal of ambivalence towards using either free blacks or slaves as soldiers why well black slaves were 20% of the American population at the outbreak of the war and fear of slave revolts social unrest rebellion general upheaval led American commanders to turn down African American requests to serve in the regular professional army so they for military leaders had a great deal of mixed feelings about using African

13:19 Americans in the Revolutionary Army despite the fact they needed manpower and the policy was that blacks were initially barred from military service with the Americans however not very long later I'll give you exactly when this policy of barring blacks from military service would be overturned for two reasons first British mobilization of black slaves the British would effectively use and mobilize black slaves as soldiers and issue the so called Dunmore proclamation this was a proclamation of royal proclamation that they basically promised freedom to any slaves joining the Royal British Army

14:05 and turning them against their American masters more on this later the American military leaders also changed their tune and do accept black slaves and free blacks in the Army after 1777 for the following reason the conquer the chronic shortage of troops plaguing the Continental Army by the winter of 1777 the Continental Army's numbers had dwindled from disease desertion and you know casualties death and war added to the active recruitment of enslaved

14:51 blacks by the British as we will discuss this chronic shortage of troops led leaders like George Washington to change his mind and by the end of 1777 blacks would now be accepted in the Continental Army this convinced Washington to approve plans for Rhode Island to raise a regiment of free blacks and slaves we'll discuss this in more detail later so to fill quotas for the Continental Army by the end of the war all states particularly in the north accepted african-american recruits and about 10,000 african-americans fought on the American side during the Revolutionary War during the war about

15:39 4% of the Continental Army the American army was black and New England regiments accepted both free and enslaved blacks and promised freedom to slave serving in the Continental Army let's look at this issue now and a little bit more detail whether they fought on the side of the British or the American than they fight on both the primary motivation for african-americans was gaining their freedom yes they perhaps also supported the loyalists or Patriot cause but their primary motivation was often at odds with the political concerns of these elite leaders so they may not have

16:26 necessarily been concerned with taxation without representation so to speak free blacks in the North and South fought on both sides of the Revolution slaves were recruited with the promise of freedom to weaken the cause of the Masters of the opposing sides when Patriots began to challenge the authority of Great Britain slaves began to challenge their loyalty to their masters so there's this like ripple effect when Patriots begin to challenge the political authority of Great Britain this led to some slaves challenging their loyalty to their masters at least initially before the Continental Army allowed black recruits after 1777 as we said more often than

17:14 not it was African Americans joining the British side because it was the British who first mobilized blacks and it was the British who first promised them their freedom this is a very clever strategy of sort of quote-unquote revolutionising oppressed minority groups you turn and a minority group against the mainstream and it's a common tactic that's used in war it's certainly not specific to this war it was used in the first or the Second World War other Wars but in any case it was first the British who mobilized blacks and turned them against their American masters among those defecting to Great Britain or some of George Washington slaves and 23 of

17:59 Thomas Jefferson's slaves the first step in this was the so-called Dunmore proclamation issued in November 1775 the Dunmore proclamation was a royal proclamation declaring freedom for all slaves taking up arms for the king now I'll just leave that they are on the screen for about 30 seconds and allow you so once again that Dunmore Proclamation promised freedom to any

18:46 slave joining the British Army so as we said the British were the first to recognize the potential benefits of an alliance with oppressed groups like slaves with the colonies on the verge of what revolution on November 7 1775 the royal governor of Virginia there Earl of Dunmore this is him this is him here the royal governor of Virginia the Earl of Denmark issued a proclamation that terrified white plantation owners and gave hope to their slaves as quote a body of traitor and abetters that's the

19:32 Americans threatened to attack the Kings troops in Virginia Dunmore declared quote all indentured servants Negroes or others that are that are able and willing to bear arms they joining his Majesty's as troops as soon as maybe mmm quote and these slaves would be given their freedom these slaves enroll in the Kings so-called Ethiopian regiment the Ethiopian regiment led by Dunmore and this sent shockwaves to slave owners this frightened slave owners all over the south and encouraged blacks and poor whites like indentured servants to flee to Dunmore's cause done more rightly assumed that slaves would turn against their masters

20:19 and supported and support the loyalist cause and definitely it's the loyalists who have the support of more African Americans at least early on he hoped also that the loss of slave labor would be a major economic blow to the rebels and he was right on both fronts as the war progressed black soldiers fought side-by-side with British regulars and also in separate black of auxilary regiments and also with mercenaries staggeringly an estimated 80,000 to a hundred thousand African Americans slaves deserted their masters before the war was over and sure enough this did have an important effect on the

21:04 economy in the end the South sure enough this crippled the tobacco economy of Virginian Maryland and left the plantation economy of Carolina in ruins so by the end of the year by December 1st 1775 some 301 runaway male slaves enlisted in Dunmore's Ethiopian regimen they wore across their chests banners declaring Liberty to slaves with these men actually came women and children as camp followers who hoped male and female I mean to say men with these men came women and children as camp followers female slaves and child slaves who hoped

21:50 that the Dunmore proclamation might also apply to them too to counter the effects of the proclamation the Virginia government issued a warning declaring the proclamation to be null and void and that masters would be provoked to severity should their slaves desert them well what actually happened with this so-called Ethiopian regimen done Laura's biracial army could not stand the forth of Virginia rebels it was defeated early on outside Norfolk and basically his career done Mars career ended in disgrace the former Virginia Governor fled to British ships waiting nearby and the Chesapeake

22:37 he took the surviving members of the Ethiopian regiment on board with him and other black refugees some of these refugees did get their freedom in Britain but worse was to follow a smallpox epidemic broke out on the ship and before the disease ran its course half of the Ethiopian regiment was had died still this sent shockwaves to slave owners Virginia planters quickly moved to prevent any further loss of slaves they threatened death or resale to any slave supporting the loyalist cause to make their point the the two-thirds the

23:25 remaining two-thirds of the Ethiopian regiment that the Americans had captured in battle as prisoners of war were sold into slavery in the West in distinct indicial equation that the Americans were able to take prisoner in these skirmishes in Virginia were sold into slavery in the West Indies just to make a point this same pattern of the Dunmore proclamation was followed by other British commander commanders like Sir Henry Clinton and General George Howe in

24:10 the north I don't need to repeat that General Howe declared freedom to slaves who deserted the Americans for military service when the English army returned to Great Britain after they were defeated there were a significant number of black loyalists who fled with them some 8,000 to 12,000 blacks came with them who were liberated and freed and some of these free blacks did indeed resettle in Sierra Leone now if you remember Sierra Leone was founded by humanitarian charitable individuals who believed that the best way to destroy

24:56 the slave trade would to be a stepped would be to establish a settlement a colony of free blacks on the African coast and the colony's first immigrants were black loyalists who came to Britain after the American Revolution and this colony was established in 1787 they began travelling back to Africa in 1787 including some of these black loyalists what about blacks on the American side well before the Revolution many free african-americans had supported the patriot movement a good example of this is Crispus Attucks Crispus Attucks was a

25:43 revolutionary martyr he was a free free black living in Boston he worked as a sort of as a stevedore on the docks and he became a revolutionary martyr and icon when he became the first person to be killed at the Boston Massacre supposedly for taunting the British soldiers on guard so absolutely blacks also supported the the the Patriot cause at the time of the outbreak of the war boasts both free and enslaved blacks enlisted in private militias and served with distinction at Lexington and Concord but as I mentioned before American leaders were notable for their

26:29 and Bivens towards black servicemen they needed their service but they were hesitant to use them for fear of a sort of race war or social unrest only when the Americans were truly desperate and to keep step with with British black mobilization did the Continental Army allow blacks to and lists now this is a very interesting quote George Washington had supposedly admitted to a fellow officer in 1775 that quote success in the war would come to whatever side could armed blacks the fastest end quote on the American side during the war slave owners sometimes let their slaves

27:15 enlist in the war with the promise of freedom many held true to their promise others did not so as we said to meet quotas for the Continental Army after the winter of 1777 New England states beginning with Rhode Island recruited black slaves and freedmen for the Continental Army with of course the promise of freedom for slaves further south there were efforts by American patriots to enlist black servicemen in as well even in the south where slavery was so entrenched further south young Patriots in South Carolina tried to get the South Carolina legislature to raise and armed black troops the legislature

28:03 refused for fear of insurrection but instead the legislature voted to give slaves confiscated from loyalists to white volunteer militiamen as rewards so it was often said that Africans were a little torrefied in the south a not terrified but torrefied a sort of play on Ward a Tory T deal ry was a synonym for British meaning a conservative British but it was said that in the South African Americans were a little torrefied in other words they supported the British with their promise of protection and freedom in the Dunmore proclamation

28:51 so coming a little bit today to a discussion of numbers on both sides black servicemen accounted for about four percent of the total forces now they were used in military combat functions as well as in support functions it really buried on the individual regiment but for Great Britain about twenty four thousand blacks served in the war and for the Americans whose Army was smaller about ten thousand black soldiers serves of the American Ballack soldiers about ten thousand about about half five thousand served in combat positions notably this is sort of interesting the average

29:37 length of service for African American soldiers was longer quite long four point five years four and a half years which was much longer than the average terms of service for the average white volunteer the average white volunteer militiamen typically served no more than a quarter of a year usually locally so the black time of service was eight times longer than the average period for white soldiers so as some historians have calculated while blacks were only four percent of the army the manpower base they comprised around one-quarter of the Patriot strength in terms of actual men our serve because they served these terms are eight eight times longer

30:26 the idea of African Americans as service of servicemen also had a sort of ripple effect in politics the rhetoric of revolution created space for blacks to make demands of white society influenced by Enlightenment ideas revolutionary rhetoric of course these demands were not always met but the mere fact that they're speaking out is significant in the north in the 1770s there were various petitions from Perkin northern blacks to abolish slavery the only state that actually did this was Vermont Vermont was the lone

31:15 state to incorporate the abolition of slavery into its state constitution which was formed in July 1777 these petitions were not without effect elsewhere but elsewhere in the north the abolition of slavery was much more gradual elsewhere in the north abolition was a gradual protracted process but it did occur gradually as late as 1810 thirty thousand blacks in the north remain slaves which was like a quarter of the black population so yes the majority of blacks in the north were no longer slaves but still a quarter were in 1840 there were many many less black

32:05 slaves in the north only a thousand of course in the south not even moderate emancipation decrees past slavery became more and more entrenched entrenched just before we go on let's take a second to think about the fate of black loyalists and state and the fate of black Patriot servicemen were these promises met well I mentioned before when the English army returned to Great Britain after the war some 8,000 to 12,000 liberated blacks came with them who did gain their freedom and some of whom resettled in Sierra Leone other black loyalists resettled in in English Canada particularly Nova Scotia

32:53 as for Patriot african-american servicemen african-american Patriots who had served in the Continental Army found that the post-war military situation offered very little benefit for them after the war several state legislators voted to bar blacks from military service this became even more formal later in 1792 the US Congress formally excluded African Americans from military service only allowing quote able-bodied white male citizens to serve so did all who serve in the war first as slaves gained their freedom well some did some did not some owners reneged on their promise and some held true to this

33:41 we don't actually have reliable statistics for for this on the Patriot side but what was more important was the gradual abolition of slavery in the north by 1810 75 percent of all african-americans in the North were free by 1840 virtually all african-americans in the north were free save about a thousand okay the next topic so we're looking at popular mobilization of minority groups is women and the American Revolution so women of course are not a numerical minority they're 50% of the population but they were treated as non-citizens in a similar but different way as blacks

34:29 okay women women's roles in terms of the actual military conflict women eight women contributed both in direct and indirect ways in contrast to african-americans women who also contributed strongly to the Revolution received little tangible gain I don't mean to say that the condition of African Americans was great after the Revolution absolutely far from it but you know at the very least some African Americans gained their freedom and were put on the gradual path towards abolition so arguably there was some benefit to African Americans to participation although of course they

35:15 are certainly not treated as equals while both African slaves and women were non-citizens arguably women's inequality became II more entrenched after the Revolution Abigail Adams had requested in a letter of March 13 1776 that her husband the revolutionary leader John Adams quote remember the ladies when crafting the Constitution and system for the new government his response was his response was that I won't quote him he he knew better and to repeal our masculine system systems most leaders of the

36:00 American Revolution almost all leaders of the American Revolution with the exception of Thomas Paine believed that the subjugation of women that the inequality of women was necessary and natural so at a time when more and more men were becoming more at a time when more and more men were becoming eligible to vote at a time when the American system was becoming more democratic for men it became less and less democratic for women women were clearly excluded as non-citizens after the Revolution no state granted women suffrage no state granted women the right to vote the exception was New Jersey in New Jersey from 1776 to 1806 New Jersey granted

36:49 widows and single unmarried women spinsters the right to vote if they met certain property requirements now these were single women independently women without a male representative so in any case I'm going to focus women's contributions to the Revolution work were multiple I'm going to focus on military service as a parallel to what we looked at with african-americans women served in the military during the American Revolution both in direct and indirect ways women who cross gender lines to pose as male soldiers were greeted with ambivalence many of you have probably heard of the famous molly Pitcher we'll talk about her more later she

37:35 famously filled her husband's shoes and the cannon at the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey for her bravery in battle she became a national heroine who was personally congratulated by George Washington whether or not there was a real real molly Pitcher or whether she was a legend this is a matter of debate debate among some among historians molly Pitcher was a sort of collective moniker it was sort of a sort of nickname for any woman serving in the Army either in actual combat or support function so it was often women who brought their husbands water on the battlefield were given this nickname of molly Pitcher molly Pitcher was sort of

38:20 nickname for like women active in the American Revolution just as like GI Joe was a nickname gave and given to American servicemen in World War two nonetheless there is solid evidence that there was a real molly Pitcher we'll look at her later whether or not women who served in combat were praised as heroines or vilified as virág O's women who had to sex themselves whether or not women were praised or vilified usually depended on the motivations for service women whose devotion to a man drove them to military service and masculine action these sorts of women women who were sort of supporting their husband they were frequently admired as

39:07 heroines like molly Pitcher but women who enlisted on their own terms for adventure and glory they sometimes provoked the wrath of officers and enlisted men so in other words a calculated deception women who willingly cross gender lines and posed as men in other words a calculated deception was condemned more readily than a spontaneous crossing of gender lines molly Pitcher sort of spontaneously performed this masculine task because her husband fainted during the battle so she was supporting her husband but women who just posed as men and fight in the revolution there sometimes scored but even even this split could be flexible and sometimes

39:54 enlisted women enlisted women masquerading as men could sometimes enjoy the respect and notoriety of their male colleagues sometimes their gender was an open secret as an example of how male soldiers tended to admire women who supported their husbands on the battlefield more than women who enlisted on their own terms I'm going to refer to the testimony of an actual revolutionary soldier who describes the courage under fire of one woman on the battlefield which was quite something so Joseph plumb Joseph plumb Martin was a private in the Continental Army so he said lowdown enlisted men and here's

40:42 what he says about a woman helping her husband a woman whose husband belong to the artillery and who was then attached to a cannon the engagement attended with her husband at the time with the whole time basically read read the read read the quote carefully there is a cannon ball that shoots right between her legs that basically carries away the bottom parts of her skirt she seems unfazed she goes on with her work and she said it's good that it did not come a little bit higher so that's sort of funny but he was admiring her and her break this the bravery of this unknown woman we don't actually know the name of the woman

41:28 who's referring to so now I want to give you an example of each type of female military activism the woman supporting her husband and the woman enlisting and myrrh masquerading as a man on her own terms okay so as an example of this we'll look at the real molly Pitcher there were many Mali pictures but the most famous molly Pitcher is mary luke big Hayes Mary Ludwick Hayes was the daughter of German immigrants she was born in Philadelphia and she married John Hayes who was a barber in 1769 about two hours from Philadelphia in Carlisle Pennsylvania she signed up to serve with captain

42:14 Frances Proctor's company in the Pennsylvania artillery two years after her husband she basically became a camp follower can't follow our women who follow the military she became a camp follower and joined her husband's regiment at its winter camp in Valley Ford's in the winter of 1777 she's definitely a distinctive individual she was described by the men in her company as illiterate who smoked as an illiterate woman who smoked and chewed tobacco and could swear just as good as the men she also traipsed or traipsed about and public pregnant which was

42:59 pretty unknown and scandalous for the target if you were heavily pregnant but this didn't stop her others like her included Margaret Kerr Corbin who actually served in the same regiment as molly Pitcher she earned the respect and endearment of the troops due to her courage and dedication during the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey in June 1778 she supplied male soldiers with cool water during the heat of battle from water she collected at a nearby spring the men the men would yell Molly a nickname for any woman molly Pitcher and the nickname stuck this nickname

43:45 molly Pitcher was applied to anyone for performing these support functions like bringing water but it really stuck with her but different than other camp followers she actually fought in the battle her husband John collapsed from heatstroke and could not continue swabbing and loading the cannon so Molly took his place loading and firing the cannon and watched as cannonballs whizzed through the legs of colleagues like the woman I described that was actually from the same battle for her hair she received the personal thanks of George Washington but keep in mind she keep in mind this was sort of a temporary aberration from gender roles she's crossing gender lines temporarily

44:31 and spontaneously and it was all performed in support of her husband supposedly so she'd received a personal thanks of George Washington later years after the war the state of Pennsylvania awarded her an annual pension for heroism for her heroism at Monmouth and she was buried in the old graveyard in Carlisle Pennsylvania where she lived and died most of her life where an honorary grave was erected on the hundred centennial of the revolution FYI as a piece of personal trivia I am from Carlisle Pennsylvania so I am very familiar with molly Pitcher and her legend and have very fond memories of learning about her as a child as well as

45:18 this next figure I actually read sort of young adult you know biographies of her as a child loved her as well the next one is Deborah Sampson definitely the the most famous prominent example of a woman masquerading as a man in the revolution Deborah's so in and up so here's her story Deborah Sampson enlisted in the Continental Army as a man under the masculine pseudonym of Robert Shurtliff the made up knee she served on active duty she served in active duty for about an over a year a little over a year with the 4th Massachusetts regiment in the Continental Army she was wounded twice

46:04 because of her smooth youthful face and smooth complexion her fellow soldiers called her Molly she carefully hid her gender she bound her chest tightly with linen cloth to hide her chest from the soldiers and only a wound which was a bullet lodged in her thigh and about a fever led to the eventual discovery that she was a woman which we see here after she was discovered handing her resignation to the superiors and ultimately led to an honorable discharge and a handsome pension of $8 a month Sampson's story is quite different than

46:51 Mary Hays so obviously in contrast to molly Pitcher who was just temporarily filling the shoes of her husband Deborah Sampson served on her own terms due to her own initiative she was born to a middle-class family in Plimpton Massachusetts to a family of Puritans who were descendants of Mayflower passengers she was much better educated than the illiterate Hayes but largely through her own initiative Deborah Simpson her father abandoned her family at an early age after her own mother died she was placed in the care of relatives and acquaintances occlude including a pastor's widow who believed in women's education as Puritans did and

47:38 taught Deborah to read and write Deborah's early life was difficult she actually spent time as an indentured servant and had to educate herself privately and secretly but she became well educated enough before she during the army to teach school which was pretty unusual for a woman wearing men's men's clothing and taking advantage of her height 5/9 the average height in the 18th century for women was like 5 feet so wearing men's clothing and taking an advantage of her height of 5 9 Samson enrolled in an elite Massachusetts regiment in 1782 the 4th Massachusetts regiment she saw action in several battles her first battle took place on

48:26 July 3rd 1782 outside Tarrytown New York and there she sustained two injuries she took two musket balls in her thigh and had a pretty major cut on her forehead she begged her fellow soldiers to let her die and not take her to a doctor of she did not want her secret of her her female sex to be discovered but nonetheless a fellow soldier put her on his horse and they took her to a hospital it was always assumed that she was a very young man because of her higher pitched voice so a fellow soldier put her on the horse and took her him/her to a hospital the doctors

49:12 treated Deborah or Roberts had head wound but she fled she hightailed out of there before she could before they could attend to her leg the thigh would obviously fearful that her identity would be discovered in the Attic of a house she dislodged one of the balls herself the musket balls remarkably she took out one of the musket balls with a penknife and sewing needle but the other was too deep to dislodge as a child I remember reading her biography and reading this part in any case her leg never fully healed and it was later due

49:58 to fevers and complications from this one that she was discovered and found out as a woman but she was treated very leniently very sympathetically so perhaps her gender was an open secret up among the men and perhaps she enjoyed a certain respect and notoriety she did continue to serve after Tarrytown but eventually the the wound caught up with her the rest of her life was both conventional and unconventional she married a farmer but he was never very prosperous so they always had money problems she had three children contemporaries described her as conventionally feminine maternal those sorts of qualities but partially due to a need for cash and partially due to our thirst for adventure

50:44 she took the she took to the stage of major cities giving lectures and performances and became one of the very first American women to perform openly on stage believe it or not this sort of thing was scandalous she charged $7 per ticket and put on a sort of patriotic show in major American cities like New York and Boston she wore her old Continental Army uniform and performed military maneuvers with a musket like molly Pitcher and others she also received state and federal pensions um of course I don't want to promote the idea that these sorts of women were widespread women like Hayes molly

51:33 Pitcher or Deborah Sampson were the exception not the norm far more common in terms of women's military service work camp followers far more common but nonetheless controversial were women women's roles as camp followers I mentioned them before can't followers Somali picture was actually I can't follow camp followers were women who followed the Army and performed necessary support functions like laundry cooking foraging supplies doing whatever was necessary to support soldiers like taking them water in battle like molly Pitcher this also included included this also

52:19 included offering services as prostitutes the number of camp followers varied but they tended to be to be especially strong during the winter months when the army was stationed at winter quarters where they could tend to the men and their clothing camp followers tended to be almost invariably lower class women uneducated illiterate women these camp followers were miles away from the Army officer wives like Martha Washington or Nathaniel greetings wife for instance who also appeared at winter camp and were housed in comfortable farmhouses these elite men these elite male

53:05 officers wives were not kept followers these elite lives performed charitable function they organized and make shifts social season for the officers including balls and dinner party parties but were miles away from the uh these sort of unfeminine rowdy behavior associated with the camp followers who were these camp followers well American civilians called them camp followers the British called them trolls and dachsies officers and Generals notoriously resented them but found them useful like a sort of necessary evil there was a grudging recognition on both sides that these women had a place in the army camps and even in battle as cooks as washer women seamstresses as

53:53 nurses as scavengers for supplies as sexual partners and sometimes as soldiers and spies exactly how many camp followers there were remains a mystery but their numbers fluctuated their numbers rose and fell with the seasons their numbers expanded during the winter months when the armies were stationary stationed at winter quarters and the number of camp followers decreased when the fighting began but there was they still followed the army about 20,000 women marched with the American army meaning that women made up about 3% of the total population of the American army camps perhaps 5000 women and 12,000 children followed the British Army the British

54:40 Army ships did arrive with some women aboard who were usually wives of noncommissioned officers but surprisingly surprisingly are not surprising the majority of women who followed the British camp came from American cities and farms because the British Army was better equipped and supplies and supplied 5/6 of British soldiers the vast majority of British soldiers were single men so they welcomed these American camp followers as temporary quote/unquote camp wives a sort of concubine most of these camp marriages ended when the men returned home however a significant number of the germ mercenaries who deserted their regiments

55:27 settled in America and actually stayed with their so-called camp lives why did these women follow the camp many were lower-class refugees driven by fear of poverty starvation or even the possibility of rape or death at the hands of hostile invading armies they did actually receive two small stipends they were paid not a lot and military food rations freshens for their support services and for some this meager get meager scraping by was preferable to no food at all in some sense even though they were subject to masculine military culture becoming a camp follower was an act of Independence and liberation

56:13 well that carried women thousands of miles away in their homes and friends not all camp followers were poor refugees camp followers also included prostitutes trades men trades women and settlers that means a sort of provision are like a a peddler who came to the camp to ply their wares which of course as I mentioned included sexual acts sexual acts on the part of prostitutes unlike the officers wives camp followers broke the rules of appropriate family behavior they they were perceived to be very unladylike and very masculine they cursed and drank like men they preferred to steal rather than starve and like molly Pitcher they appeared in public pregnant which was something of a

56:59 scandal they were supposedly ugly they dressed in threadbare rags and an interesting accumulation of clothing one reason why the camp followers were so controversial is that they were notorious for foraging the battlefields scavenging the battlefields and stripping provisions and clothing from sick dying and dead soldiers like vultures and of course they took this clothing for themselves to cover themselves and their male relatives or dependents the camp followers were often driven by hunger and did resort to plundering and looting as they followed the army what was the attitude of army leaders like the Continental

57:45 Army commander George Washington what was the attitude of army commanders towards these camp followers army officers were annoyed by the camp followers these women rode on military wagons they ate the military rations George Washington was especially annoyed by the camp followers he said in August 1777 the multitude of women in particular especially those who are pregnant or have children are clogged upon every movement clogged upon every movement meaning they were bogging down the movement of the army even worse was the woman's refusal to obey George Washington's orders eight times during the war the general issued general directives to the army ordering the

58:31 female camp followers to March with a baggage to March with a baggage and not to ride on baggage wagons but Washington and his officers could never make the women comply the women were also troublesome at other times for instance a major turning point in the war was when Washington and the Americans took Philadelphia which the British had controlled in June 1778 when he took Philadelphia in June 1778 he specifically ordered the camp followers to march in the rear with the baggage and stay out of the city and do not participate in this military campaign but again the women did not comply as one eyewitness remembered the army had

59:18 barely passed through the main thoroughfares before these camp followers poured after their soldiers their hair flying their brows beady with with with the heat I'm sorry that that is a typo with with the heat with the heat their belongings slung over one shoulder chattering and yelling into sluttish grilles as they went and spitting in the gutters but even George Washington and noise annoyed as he was by the camp followers conceded that these women were an absolute necessity he knew that he would many men to desertion if these women were not permitted his men needed the comfort of their wives or mothers if especially when they were sick or wounded and perhaps their sexual

1:00:05 services prevented desertion as well other critical reasons to keep women in the camps were their roles as nurses and washer women hygiene dirty uniforms were a major problem in every regiment and men refused to do this traditionally female tasks of washing laundry of course hygiene poor hygiene meant more than unsavory smelling uniforms and underwear of course in the crowded tents of an army camp poor hygiene lack of cleaning cleanliness was a breeding ground for communal communicable diseases typhus dysentery flu this is actually quite important now I don't want to suggest that this is the only

1:00:50 way that women contributed to the American Revolution women of course took over businesses and farms while men were away at war on a more everyday level women spearheaded the fight against profiteering you know profiteering means people who tried to profit from the war like efforts to overcharge on sugar and tea there were also charitable campaigns acknowledged by the elite army leaders wives for instance very much in contrast to these women society Philadelphia society women like Esther Reid and Sarah

1:01:37 Franklin Bock headed terrible campaigns in Philadelphia to raise funds for clothing and supplies for the Continental Army I don't really have time to go into all of this in great detail but again we look at the start of the the American War of Independence and the question of popular mobilization of these minority groups who arguably did not benefit from the revolution thank you so much and I will see you now