Information AboutMolly Pitcher |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT MOLLY PITCHER | |
| american folklore | |
| women in the american revolution | |
| pitcher, molly | |
| new jersey in the american revolution | |
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"Molly Pitcher" was a nickname given to a woman who may have fought in the American Revolutionary War . 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 THE LEGEND AND THE EVIDENCE Molly Pitcher is generally identified as the Irish immigrant woman Mary Hayes McCauley (who supposedly married John Casper Hays before she married William Hayes), or '''Mary Ludwig'''. Biographical information about her, including her actual name and year of birth (1753 is suggested as an approximate birth year), is sparse - her original surname is unknown. According to one version of the story, she was born to a ''. 13 February 2007 . When William fell wounded, possibly from heat stroke, Mary took her husband's post at his Cannon . According to the legend, 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 another leading candidate for the "real" Molly Pitcher, a woman named Margaret Corbin . Her husband John Hayes died in 1788. Mary married again, to one John McCauly; he died in 1813. Afterwards, she became a nurse; on 21 February 1822 , the state of Pennsylvania awarded her an annual pension of $40 for her heroism. She died 22 January 1832 , in Carlisle , Pennsylvania. 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 0434" SEE ALSO REFERENCES
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