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Molly Pitcher’s legend, of Revolutionary fame, thrives in the romantic atmosphere of gunpowder and battle drums. But while her bravery and boldness blaze across history, her identity and personal history fade into oblivion.

Even Molly Pitcher’s heritage is elusive. Generally thought to have been born Mary Ludwig on October 13, 1754, in New Jersey, historians disagree if she was of German, Dutch or Irish decent. Nicknamed Molly, she probably worked as a maid in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Even more inscrutable is the identity of her husband. She may have married John Casper Hays or William Hays, both reputed to be barbers. Whichever man was Molly’s lucky husband, he probably enlisted in the colonial artillery, some say as a private, others a sergeant, at the outbreak of the American Revolution. Molly is said to have followed her husband to war as a camp follower, serving with other army wives as cook, laundress, and nurse.

On June 28, 1778, General Charles Lee of the Continental Army attacked Sir Henry Clinton’s British army resting near Monmouth Courthouse in New Jersey, on their march to New York. Lee’s clumsy maneuvers (which would lead to his court marshal) nearly led to the American’s retreat, but George Washington arrived at the battle, uniting the troops as they held off the British. The day was incredibly hot, with temperatures in the upper nineties, as Molly scurried back and forth among the lines of soldiers, offering her water pitcher to the thirsty men. Her husband was manning one of the cannons, when he fell, wounded. With no one left to manage the gun, the strategically placed weapon was going to be moved, when Molly intervened. She took over the operation and kept the cannon firing through the rest of the battle. Unlike her husband she escaped injury, though it is written by a contemporary, Joseph Plumb Martin of Connecticut, that, “While in the act of reaching for a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could stemp, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation.”

The British retreated after dark, ending the irresolute Battle of Monmouth. Some say after the battle Molly was personally recognized for her bravery by an admiring George Washington, who then made her a sergeant.

After the Revolution, Molly and her husband returned to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. She was left a widow in 1789, and remarried George McCauley. In 1822, the Pennsylvania State Legislature granted her a pension for her outstanding valor at the Battle of Monmouth.

There is even a debate over the exact date of Molly Pitcher’s death. Her gravestone, tax records and contemporary newspapers do not agree if she died in January of 1832 at the age of ninety or in January of 1833 at the age of seventy-nine. Whatever day she died, whatever her age, monuments stand near her grave in honor of her heroism.

Molly Pitcher’s story is one of inconsistencies, but whatever her real name, whatever her real history, what is remembered is her true heroism. Molly Pitcher represents the noble bravery that all American patriots felt as they struggled for a free new nation. Other women of the time figuratively stood behind the guns as they made daily sacrifices in the interests of the country they dreamed could be. The legend of Molly Pitcher is not only glamorous in itself, it is so much more thrilling because it embodies the courage of the entire patriotic cause and the American dream of today. The dispute over her heritage melds her into her own melting pot. The wounding of her first husband, though we do not know his exact name, represents the loss that thousands of other women felt for their fallen young men, and still feel today. Her fight to hold off the British at all costs was a common goal for all Revolutionary Americans. Whether she was personally acknowledged by George Washington or not, she is recognized by history and the United States as a hero.