40 Fun Facts About Deborah Sampson

Which famous Boston Patriot lent Deborah Sampson money and wrote to a congressman on her behalf?

Paul Revere sent her the ten dollars she asked to borrow in 1806. His letter to a congressman vouched for her character after he had asked around about her.

Under which male alias did Deborah Sampson serve 17 months in the Continental Army?

Robert Shirtliff was the name she gave the 4th Massachusetts Regiment, and records also spell it Shurtleff. The other three were real men in her story: her future husband, her captain and her colonel.

Which comedian voiced Deborah Sampson in the animated history series Liberty's Kids?

Whoopi Goldberg joined a starry voice cast that had Walter Cronkite as Benjamin Franklin and Ben Stiller as Thomas Jefferson. Her episode aired in 2003.

Which actress cited Deborah Sampson in a speech at the 2016 Democratic National Convention?

Meryl Streep set Deborah Sampson beside other women who had made history, putting a soldier of the 1780s in front of a prime-time audience more than two centuries later.

After a 1782 skirmish, Deborah Sampson cut a ball out of her own thigh using what?

A penknife and needle let her dodge the doctors who might have found her out, so she left the hospital with the leg untreated. Some shot stayed too deep to reach, and the wound never fully healed.

In which city did a doctor treating Deborah Sampson for fever discover her secret in 1783?

Philadelphia is where she passed out with fever and a doctor found the cloth binding her chest. He told no one in the Army and moved her to his own house to recover.

In 1802, Deborah Sampson became one of the first American women to do what, often in uniform?

To go on a lecture tour was almost unheard of for a woman in 1802. She closed each talk by coming back on stage in Army uniform and running through a demanding military drill.

In 1983, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts proclaimed Deborah Sampson its official what?

Heroine is her official state title, proclaimed on May 23, 1983. The town where she was born later put her on its flag.

Which physical trait, rare in women of the 1700s, helped Deborah Sampson pass as a male soldier?

Her height, about five feet seven, beat the average man of her day by a couple of inches. She joined a company picked for size, where nobody thought to look for a woman.

Four years after Deborah Sampson died, her husband asked Congress for what as a soldier's spouse?

A pension was approved for Benjamin Gannett in 1837, by a committee that said the Revolution offered no other case like his wife's. He died before he could collect it.

In which Massachusetts town was Deborah Sampson born, in a grandparents' house that still stands?

Plympton lies near Plymouth, where her Pilgrim ancestors settled. The town green has carried a bronze plaque in her memory since 1906.

Deborah Sampson's mother was a great-granddaughter of which longtime governor of Plymouth Colony?

William Bradford led Plymouth Colony on and off for about 30 years. His descendant still grew up in poverty, raised in other families' homes.

Deborah Sampson's family was told that her missing father had died in what way?

In a shipwreck was the family story, but the evidence says Jonathan Sampson simply walked out. He started a second household elsewhere and lived for decades more.

Deborah Sampson's father abandoned his family and resettled in which district, later a state?

Maine is where he took a common-law wife named Martha and had at least two more children. He came back to his old hometown in 1794 to see to a property deal.

From age 10 to 18, Deborah Sampson lived with a Middleborough farm family in what role?

Indentured servant was her status in the Thomas household, where she was treated well but kept out of school. The head of the family did not believe in educating women.

At 18 and newly independent, Deborah Sampson spent two summers doing which job?

Teaching school was a bold step for someone never sent to class herself. She had picked up her lessons from the schoolwork the sons of the household shared with her.

Which church cut off Deborah Sampson after she first tried to enlist dressed as a man?

Baptist members withdrew their fellowship and refused to associate with her unless she apologised and asked forgiveness. By the time they voted, she had already left town and joined the Army.

Deborah Sampson's second enlistment, in May 1782, filled a soldier quota for which Massachusetts town?

Uxbridge got the credit for her service: she signed on at Bellingham, for a bounty, to fill one of Uxbridge's places in the Army. A first try closer to home had ended when a local recognised her.

Deborah Sampson served in which kind of elite company, hand-picked for size and strength?

Light infantry companies scouted ahead and covered the flanks of marching regiments. Serving among men chosen for their build made her disguise more convincing.

Near which Hudson Valley town in New York was Deborah Sampson wounded in a 1782 skirmish?

Tarrytown is where about 30 infantrymen from her unit ran into a fight in the summer of 1782. She begged her comrades not to take her to a doctor, fearing discovery.

Deborah Sampson was wounded in 1782 when her patrol fought a local band of which enemy?

Tories, colonists loyal to the Crown, clashed with her unit in Westchester County, north of British-held New York City. Her company scouted the contested ground between the two armies.

What weapon gashed Deborah Sampson's forehead in the same 1782 fight in which she was shot?

A sword cut was the one wound she let a doctor treat, since a head injury posed no risk to her disguise. She left the hospital before he could look at her leg.

Deborah Sampson spent seven months of 1783 as a waiter to which Continental Army general?

John Paterson learned her secret from a doctor's note that she delivered to him herself. Instead of a reprimand, he gave her a discharge, some words of advice and money to get home.

Which doctor found out Deborah Sampson was a woman, kept quiet, and nursed her in his own home?

Barnabas Binney had his wife, his daughters and a nurse look after her, and told the Army nothing. He later sent her to her general carrying a note that revealed the truth.

At which New York post on the Hudson River was Deborah Sampson honorably discharged in 1783?

West Point saw her leave the Army with an honorable record after a year and a half in uniform. Other women caught serving as men had been reprimanded.

Which general, a former Boston bookseller, gave Deborah Sampson her honorable discharge in 1783?

Henry Knox, the artillery chief who hauled captured cannon from Ticonderoga to Boston, signed her out of the Army. She had served a year and a half without being found out by her officers.

In which Massachusetts town did Deborah Sampson spend her married life on the Gannett family farm?

Sharon still has the Deborah Sampson Gannett House, though it is privately owned and closed to visitors. The farmland around it is protected from development.

Which Massachusetts governor signed the 1792 act granting Deborah Sampson her withheld Army pay?

John Hancock approved 34 pounds plus interest, pay the Army had held back because she was a woman. She had petitioned the state legislature for it that January.

Herman Mann's 1797 biography of Deborah Sampson was published under which title?

The Female Review came out while she was still alive, written by a man who knew her personally for years. The other three titles are modern books about her life.

The Deborah Sampson Act, passed by Congress in 2020, removes barriers to care for which group?

Women veterans gained a dedicated Office of Women's Health under the law. It carries the name of a woman who spent years petitioning to be paid for her own service.

During World War II, the S.S. Deborah Gannett honored Deborah Sampson as which kind of vessel?

A Liberty ship bearing her married name was launched in April 1944, one month after its keel was laid. These mass-produced cargo carriers were usually named after famous Americans.

A statue of Deborah Sampson stands outside which building in the town where she farmed?

The public library is one of three local tributes, beside a park in her name and the house she lived in. The house is privately owned, so the statue is the one visitors can walk up to.

Evan Rachel Wood played Deborah Sampson in a season premiere of which Comedy Central series?

Drunk History opened its fifth season with her story, told by actress Paget Brewster. The show has an inebriated narrator recount real events while a cast acts them out.

Deborah Sampson's Army service ended weeks after the signing of which peace agreement with Britain?

The Treaty of Paris was signed in September 1783, and November 3 was then set for soldiers to muster out. She left a little earlier, once her general learned the truth.

In 1783, Deborah Sampson's unit marched to quell a rebellion by which group demanding overdue pay?

American soldiers protesting late pay and delayed discharges frightened Congress into leaving for Princeton, New Jersey. It was on this duty that she fell ill and was found out.

Under which name did Deborah Sampson first enlist in early 1782, only to be recognized and exposed?

Timothy Thayer collected an enlistment bonus and then never reported for duty. Once found out, she repaid what was left of the money and escaped any Army punishment.

Deborah Sampson said she fought at which 1781 siege, a claim a neighbor's diary later cast doubt on?

Yorktown ended in October 1781, months before the 1782 enlistment shown in her service record. She described digging trenches and helping storm a British redoubt there.

Which kitchen tool did the young Deborah Sampson make by hand and sell door to door?

Pie crimpers, which seal and pattern the edge of a pastry crust, were one product of her knack for woodwork. She also turned out milking stools, winter sleds and weather vanes.

In the winters around 1780, Deborah Sampson earned her living at which craft for local families?

Weaving won her work at the Sproat Tavern and with several families, who boarded her while she worked. She was regarded as highly skilled at it.

In 1906, Deborah Sampson's birthplace fixed a bronze plaque in her memory to what on the town green?

A boulder was set on the green by the town together with a Daughters of the American Revolution chapter that bears her name.