Molly Pitcher

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This article is about the possibly legendary heroine of the American Revolutionary War. For the eighteenth-century Massachusetts fortune-teller, see Molly Pitcher.
Molly Pitcher depicted at base of Columbus monument in front of Freehold, NJ Courthouse
Molly Pitcher depicted at base of Columbus monument in front of Freehold, NJ Courthouse

"Molly Pitcher" was the nickname given to a woman who may have fought in the American Revolutionary War. Some Historians differ on who the "real" Molly Pitcher was, or even if she existed at all. Since the various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, historians now often regard Molly Pitcher as folklore rather than history. However, "Molly Pitcher" may be a composite image inspired by the actions of a number of real women. The name itself may have originated as a nickname given to women who carried water to men on the battlefield during the war. This water was not for drinking, as is popularly believed, but for swabbing the cannons.

Contents

[edit] The Legend & The Evidence

Molly Pitcher is generally identified as Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley who married William Hays,[1] or Mary Ludwig Hays, Molly then being a frequent nickname for women named Mary.[2] Biographical information about her, including her actual name and year of birth (1754 is suggested as an approximate birth year) is sparse. According to one version of the story, she was born to a German family in Pennsylvania. Regardless, solid records first appear in 1778; she attended her husband William Hays, an artilleryman who had enlisted in a Pennsylvanian artillery unit in 1777, to the Battle of Monmouth in New Jersey on June 28, 1778.[2] When William fell wounded, possibly from heat stroke, Mary took her husband's post at his cannon. After the battle, General George Washington issued her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer, and she was thereafter known by the nickname "Sergeant Molly". However, some of these details may have been borrowed from the actions of a leading candidate for another Molly Pitcher, a woman named Margaret Corbin.

Mary and William had a son named John L.Hays. Her husband, William Hays, died in 1787 when their son was five years old. Mary married again to one John McCauly (some sources believe his name may have been George McCauley); he died in 1813. Afterwards, she became a nurse and housekeeper.

On February 21, 1822, the state of Pennsylvania awarded her an annual pension of $40 for her heroism. She died January 22, 1832, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, at the age of 78.[2]

[edit] Honors

In 1928, "Molly Pitcher" was honored with an overprint reading "MOLLY / PITCHER" on a U.S. postage stamp. "Molly" was further honored in World War II with the naming of the Liberty ship SS Molly Pitcher, launched, and subsequently torpedoed, in 1943.

There is a hotel in Red Bank, New Jersey, not far from the site of the Battle of Monmouth called the Molly Pitcher Inn. There is also a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike named for Molly Pitcher at southbound mile 71.7. The stretch of US Route 11 between Shippensburg, Pennsylvania, and the Pennsylvania-Maryland state line is known as the Molly Pitcher Highway. The American Legion Post in Englishtown is named "Molly Pitcher Post 04".

[edit] See also

[edit] References

  1. ^ Will the Real Molly Pitcher Please Stand Up!
  2. ^ a b c "Pitcher, Molly." Encyclopædia Britannica. 13 February 2007.
  • Bohrer, Melissa Lukeman. Glory, Passion, and Principle: The Story of Eight Remarkable Women at the Core of the American Revolution. New York: Atria Books, 2003. ISBN 0-7434-5330-1.
  • Raphael, Ray. Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past. New York: New Press, 2004. ISBN 1-56584-921-3. Raphael regards "Molly Pitcher" as a myth which serves to obscure the actual (though less dramatic) contributions of women to the war effort.
  • Goodyear, Robert C. The Real Pennsylvania Dutch American, "Molly Pitcher."


[edit] External links

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New Jersey in the American Revolutionary War
1776
1777
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