By Karen Whiting
As we celebrate America’s 250th anniversary, we should remember and honor the courageous and faithful women who made a difference.
These include women who went undercover as spies at the peril of their lives and those who supplied funds, cared for soldiers, defended their homes, and ones who communicated to help shape public opinion.
When Hospitality Became Warfare
Quaker Mary Lindley Murray saved a large portion of the Continental Army, according to Dr. James Thacher, a surgeon for General Washington. Mary knew General Putnam’s troops were within a mile of her home in New York, retreating, while the British troops had halted nearby. She cleverly diverted General Tyron, a friend of her loyalist husband, who came to her home for tea.
General Howe took over Quaker Lydia Barrington Darragh’s house, but allowed her family to remain. She pretended to sleep but actually eavesdropped on plans to attack Washington and his forces at Whitemarsh.
She wrote the plans out, received permission to get flour, dropped off her flour sack at the mill and then managed to boldly pass on her note to a soldier in the Continental Army. When Howe’s troops marched to battle they found Washington prepared, and they were forced to retreat.
Needle, Thread, and Nation-Building
Esther De Berdt Reed and Sarah Franklin Bache (daughter of Ben Franklin) founded the Ladies Association for Philadelphia, collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars for the troops. However, Washington wrote, “I would, nevertheless, recommend a provision of shirts in preference to anything else.”
So they mobilized women to make 2,200 shirts for soldiers.
Mary Drape, whose family owned a large granary on the Boston Post Road, set up a roadside eatery as a supply point, providing bread and cider for Continental soldiers passing by. She also melted their pewter and made bullets to give to soldiers.
When her supplies ran low she enlisted neighbors to donate bread.
Mary Kathryn Goddard took over her brother’s work, publishing Baltimore’s first newspaper, to keep the public informed with patriot-leaning news. She also managed the postal system during the war.
Abigail Adams, struggling to pay taxes when she gave much of the food from their farm to soldiers, started a business. She persuaded her husband to send fashionable goods and luxuries that she sold.
These included handkerchiefs, fabric, ribbons, and artificial flowers.
The Doctor Said Amputation, She Said No
Kerenhappuch Norman Turner refused to allow a doctor to cut off her son’s leg after his injury at the North Carolina Battle of Guilford Court House. He insisted he would die from gangrene.
She moved him to a nearby log cabin and had tubs suspended from rafters, and drilled holes in the tubs. She poured in cool water that dripped on the wound, lowered his fever, and saved his leg. She also nursed other soldiers and served as a spy.
How Women Bankrupted an Empire
Much of the impact of women cannot be measured, but the boycotts of tea that women promoted hurt the British East India Company. Tea import dropped from 869,000 pounds of tea in 1768 to 108,000 pounds by 1770. They lost 40,000 pounds a year.
These women and others who made a difference inspire us to be courageous, loyal, and faithful.
Karen Whiting’s knowledge from research on her award-winning book Stories of Faith and Courage From the Home Front (AMG publishers), of American Women’s History, makes her an excellent media guest.
