Molly Pitcher

Molly Pitcher is a heroine of the American Revolution. She followed into battle her husband who manned a cannon in the artillery corps of General George Washington. Molly provided basic nursing chores and acquired her name from the pitchers of water she carried to men suffering from heat prostration. When her husband was mortally wounded she took over his cannon, rammer in hand, firing shells at the British troops. My work looks at Molly Pitcher's ancestry, about which there is some debate. Also the name of Margaret Corbin is sometimes confused with Molly's. Corbin relieved her wounded husband in the Battle of Fort Washington in Manhattan. Molly Pitcher was breveted a sergeant by General Washington on the field at Monmouth. She was also awarded a pension from the government because of heroic effort on the field of battle.