Oh Say Can You See That He's Not A He?

Perhaps it is a superficial understanding of 19th century America that would lead you to be surprised by the writing of Angelina Grimke. A white, a northerner, and a woman, she attacked slavery and argued for the rights of she and her fellow members of the "gentler sex". This argument at times had to be taken up against other women, too, who truly believed a woman's place was in the home under the authority of men. In 1837, prompted by one such woman named Catherine Beecher, she wrote a series of letters. In her last one she said: 

When I look at human beings as moral beings, all distinction in sex sinks to insignificance and nothingness; for I believe it regulates rights and responsibilities no more than the color of the skin or the eyes. My doctrine then is, that whatever it is morally right for a man to do, it is morally right for a woman to do.

This was written at a time when coverture legally stripped the rights from a woman, once wed, and placed her under the control of her husband. Though some husbands of the time were not so abusive of this accepted norm, it certainly helped Deborah Sampson that she remained single until after the end of the Revolutionary War when she was honorably discharged from the army. Otherwise it might have been impossible to join the war, as she had disguised herself as a man and assumed the fake name of Robert Shurtliff in order to fight for her country's independence, simultaneously defying the law and proving the point that Grimke would write years later. That which it is moral for a man to do is moral for a woman to do also. 

Born in Plympton, Massachusetts to the descendants of illustrious Pilgrims (most notable of which being her mother’s great grandfather, the early Plymouth governor and signatory of the Mayflower Compact William Bradford), Deborah Sampson led a life that lacked the luxury one might expect to have come from her pedigree. She lost her father at five years old when, trying to make some money for the family, he died on a sea voyage. Unable to keep the entire family together, her mother would indenture her to the family of the Deacon Benjamin Thomas, who was also a successful farmer, living in Middleborough, Massachusetts. Once 18 and freed from her servitude, she stayed at the Thomas home while she took on jobs teaching and weaving from 1779 through 1780.

Never one to allow confinement to the more womanly duties even while working on the farm, it seems less surprising that she would decide to join the Revolutionary War, which was in full swing. In 1782, she found someone to act as an agent to go enlist her for the army under the name Robert Shurtliff in exchange for a portion of the recruit’s signing bonus.

It must be noted, as a tribute to this young woman’s moxie, that this was her second attempt to sign on to the war. This was done only after leaving Middleborough, where she had earlier tried to enlist herself as Timothy Thayer while in disguise. During this first attempt she was found out when a woman reportedly noticed "Thayer" holding the signing quill the way Deborah Sampson held a pen, which was recognizable due to a finger injury. (Highly concerned with the most pressing and morally imperative issues as religious institutions always are, the First Baptist Church in Middleborough excommunicated her for this, because dressing like a man was not Christian-like.) With her second and successful attempt at enlistment though, Deborah Sampson became the first woman in American history to impersonate a man and join the American Army. 

During the summer of 1782, Sampson volunteered with about thirty other soldiers to scout and flush out Tory soldiers (those colonists who were loyal to the crown) and was wounded in the fighting. She allowed herself treatment for a head injury but, for fear of having her true sex discovered upon examination, this furtive and plucky lady concealed from the doctor a bullet wound in her leg. Such was her determination to continue, Sampson removed the bullet herself, from her own leg, and then returned to her duties.

The secret would soon come to light though. About a year and a half into her enlistment, the truth was found out by the doctor Barnabas Binney in Philadelphia, where she had come down with a severe fever that had been making the rounds in the city. The discovery reportedly happened when, while unconscious from fever, Binney put his hand to Shurtliff's chest to feel for a heartbeat, thereby accidentally discovering that he was in fact a she. 

Rather than sell her out, Binney opened his home to her until the War’s end in 1783, when she had to return to West Point, New York and report under Major General Paterson. Upon seeing her off, Binney gave her a letter for Paterson, which, once delivered, informed him of her true identity and heaped praise upon her character. She would be given an honorable discharge by General Henry Knox in October of 1783 after serving as an American infantrywoman, end up receiving a full military pension, and embark on a lecture tour about her experiences. Seemingly, she was the first American woman to do all three of these.

I'd be surprised if more than a handful of you have heard of her, and what a shame that is. A courageous, venturous, and smart woman, she defied the conventional wisdom of her time and made herself a model for the equality of the sexes. (Such equality was a concept both doubted and denied at the time, and still to some unfortunate extent, today).

I can't help saying that I don't believe her example should teach that in order to prove their equality to men, women must take on the roles traditionally confined to men any more than men must do the corollary. (Though, one can't deny the pressure has historically been on women, while the assumption of dominance has been on men). With that being said, it certainly doesn't hurt, and at the time was perhaps necessary. She not only took on such a role (apparently only out of the desire and ambition sourced in her personality) but surpassed any expectations one might have had of her. She did what she wanted. She proved herself. She looked the social norms and legal restrictions of her day in the face and said "Fuck you." And she contributed to the birth of a new nation. Whether she wanted to be one or not, Deborah Sampson is a feminist hero, and a hero of character. 

Deborah Sampson 

(Photo Source: https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/modern-day-female-civil-war-re-enactors-honor-women-who-fought-men-north-and-south-180951249/)