Plypton Deborah Sampson, Massachusetts has an incredible connection with the American Revolution. She was the first woman to enlist in the United States Army and she was the first woman who took a bullet for the country. She made him pretending to be a man for almost two years.
Using the name of Robert Shurtlieff, Sampson served with the fourth Massachusetts regiment from 1781 to 1783 in the revolutionary war, which began 250 years ago this week.
The amateur historian Steve Connolly from Sharon has taken a long look at SamSson’s life and produced a nine -part documentary about it.
How Deboh Sampson joined the military
Connolly discovered that Sampson was forced to be introduced for a family of Middleborough when she was a girl, after her father abandoned her, her mother and her six brothers.
When Sampson was not studying in secret textbooks that belonged to his new brothers, he was learning to do things that many women never did, such as shooting a musket, hunting, riding horses and carpentry. Those skills that would help her get ready in the continental army of George Washington, under alias Robert Shurtlieff.
“All direct lineage in Deborah, everyone emerged in Mayflower, so she came from a fairly strong stock. The physical attributes helped her. It was higher and became strong.
“He wanted to be part of this, he really established his goals. He was going to help answer the call to his new nation.”
As part of his costume, Sampson would unite his chest with cloth, and the age of 21, was recruited in the light infantry, an elite unit known for being more mobile and agile than regular infantry.
“I was a cunning soldier. I would look on the flanks of the imminent battle and dimension things and return and tell the men that this is where we are going to attack and that is how they were going to do things,” said Connolly.
How many times did Deborah Sampson shot?
But in Samson’s first skirmish in Tarrytown, a local British loyal band shot him in his thigh with a musket ball. What he did next a place in history.
“Deborah Sampson was The First Woman To Take A Bullet for Our Country. She Fought To Defend A Document That Didn’t Full -Time Her. All Men Are Created Equal It Read, It Made No Mention Of Women. A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A BLAST A burst, a burst, a streak, a streak, a burst, to Lave to Penknife, took out the musket ball and was replaced again, “said actress Mijl in the 2016 speech at the National Democratic Convention.
What happened to Deborah Sampson when they caught her?
That son of courage would keep his secret safe for almost two years, until a fever placed in the hospital. His doctor, Barnabas Binney, had a big surprise.
“This is a soldier in our light elite infantry, the best of the best. She is a woman!” Connolly said. “He was so surprised that he had to leave that hospital immediately. He brought her home to rehabilitate to keep her safe.”
Once he toured for health, Sampson turned to herself. But to their surprise, the men were impressed with what he did. She was punished. In fact, he was given an honorable discharge. With a little help from Paul Revere, he became the first woman to recharge a military guest house.
“A woman defended our country, the call replied. She was simply going to be a nurse, she was going to be a soldier. What was so bad about that?” Connolly said.
Collection / Getty images of Kean 
Sampson would have a full life after the war, becoming the mother of four children. In 1802, it was a one -year conferences tour of their experiences, the first woman in the United States to do so.
Sampson died in 1827 at the age of 66. It is buried in the rock cemetery Ridge in Sharon. His tombstone says ‘The Female Solider’ and includes both names: Deborah Sampson and his alias, Robert Shurtlieff. A statue of Sampson is outside the library in Sharon.
In 1983, the governor of Massachusetts, Michael Dukakis, told Sampson the official heroin of the Commonwealth.
The Congress approved Deborah Sampson law and signed in the law in 2021. He established the Women’s Health Office in the Department of Veterans Affairs. It also gives women to veteran greater access to critical care and resources such as advice, child care and legal services.
For more information about Deborah Sampson, visit the state website.
