Saturday, June 28, 2008
Today In History: Legend of Molly Pitcher.
On this day in 1778, General Washington's troops attacked a British force under Gen. Clinton at Monmouth Courthouse in New Jersey. During the sweltering day, one Mary Hays, ever after known as "Molly Pitcher", supposedly manned her husband's cannon after he was felled by wounds and was made a sergeant by Gen. Washington for it.
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6 comments:
I believe that the battle was in Monmouth, New Jersey, not Virginia.
Be that as it may, we here in The Commonwealth are proud to consider Molly Pitcher our kinswoman until such time as the state of New Jersey legalizes armed self-defense, by cannon or otherwise. And I hereby propose that we make her an honorary member of the VCDL.
Hey!
Boy, you're fast! I realized I had typed "VA" instead of "NJ" and edited not a minute after the initial post...
" In the 1940s, a 78 rpm record album for children dramatized the Molly Pitcher story with musical accompaniment."
My, how things have changed! Thanks Tam, now this run of the mill work day will have some extra meaning to it.
Is this where "Pitching In" comes from?
There was a woman Captain at West Point in charge of the regular army detachment which guarded the cannons in the early Federal period. This is one of the real candidates for the legend of Molly Pitcher. She was missing an arm below the elbow.
When an armed force was needed to fight the Indians at Fallen Timbers, they brought up "Mad" Anthony Wayne, and built a new force from scratch. The aged force of semi-crippled pensioners at West Point were not fit for serious duty.
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