Women in the American Revolution

281 Pages·2017·3.798 MB·English

by  Sudie Doggett Wike

Women in the
American Revolution
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Women in the
American Revolution
S d W
udie oggeTT ike
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Jefferson, North Carolina
LibRARyofCongReSSCATALoguing-in-PubLiCATiondATA
names: Wike, Sudie doggett, author.
Title: Women in the American Revolution / Sudie doggett Wike.
description: Jefferson, north Carolina : Mcfarland & Company, inc.,
Publishers, 2018. | includes bibliographical references and index.
identifiers: LCCn 2017052890 | iSbn 9781476671963 (softcover : acid free paper)
♾
Subjects: LCSH: united States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Women. | united
States—History—Revolution, 1775–1783—Participation, female.
Classification: LCC e276.W54 2018 | ddC 973.3082—dc23
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2017052890
ISBN 978-1-4766-7196-3 (print)
ISBN 978-1-4766-3087-8 (ebook)
bRiTiSHLibRARyCATALoguingdATAAReAvAiLAbLe
© 2018 Sudie doggett Wike. All rights reserved
No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form
or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying
or recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system,
without permission in writing from the publisher.
on the cover: Molly Pitcher firing cannon at Battle of Monmouth,
e. Percy Moran artist, 1911 (Library of Congress)
Printed in the united States of America
McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers
Box 611, Jefferson, North Carolina 28640
www.mcfarlandpub.com
for our daughter, dr. Martha Wike, our son, Sidney Wike, Jr.,
our grandchildren, Abigail and Miles Wike and katie and Christopher Lyne.
Acknowledgments
A special thanks to my husband, ophthalmic surgeon Sidney Wike,
for critiquing the entire manuscript. Select sections of the work have
also benefitted from the careful reading, comments and questions
of our son, Sidney Wike, Jr., and our grandson, Christopher Lyne. i am
grateful to dr. John S. gaines, former dean of faculty and professor
emeritus of king university, for his guidance and encouragement.
books and articles from his extensive personal library have enriched
this work. Thanks to Myra orr- Ashbrook for sharing her exhaustive
research through dAR files. The writing of this history was inspired
initially by the enthusiastic cooperation of our local fort Chiswell
Chapter of the national Society of daughters of the American Revo-
lution (dAR) located in bristol, Tennessee- virginia. each member was
eager to know how her particular Patriot (a direct ancestor who fought,
provided service, or furnished supplies for the American cause) fit into
the panoramic puzzle of the Revolution. The description of each of
these dAR members regarding her Patriot’s service in the Revolution,
as proven by primary documents, formed the root for researching this
book.
vi
Table of Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Preface 1
Prologue: George III and Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg 7
PART ONE. WAR IN THE NORTH
1. founding Mothers in the first days of Revolution 11
2. Correspondence Committees, the Tea Party and Coercive Acts 27
3. Siege of boston and the Canada Campaign 35
4. new york and new Jersey Campaigns 56
5. Saratoga Campaign, ben franklin and french Aid 73
6. valley forge, Monmouth battle and Sullivan’s Raid 87
PART TWO. WAR IN THE SOUTH
7. Regulators and Wataugans 99
8. Pontiac’s War, boundaries and Treaties and dunmore’s War 106
9. Transylvania, great bridge battle and kentucky County, virginia 123
10. Snow Campaign, Moore’s Creek, Sullivan’s island and the Cherokee War 131
11. northwest Territory, Chickamauga expedition and Mid–Tennessee 145
12. georgia invades florida, and the Savannah and Augusta Campaigns 153
13. Charlestown Campaign, Camden battle and fishing Creek 164
14. Militiamen Cross the blue Ridge and face ferguson in Tryon County 173
15. Watauga, kings Mountain and the Journey Home 183
16. Cornwallis Reverses Course and Confronts greene in the South 200
17. british and American Strategy in the virginia Campaign 219
18. The virginia Campaign and the American victory at yorktown 230
19. The Last Pockets of Revolution and the Treaty of Paris 239
Chapter Notes 245
Bibliography 253
Index 259
vii
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Preface
in upper new york bay stands a colossal statue of a woman holding a tablet inscribed
JuLy iv MdCCLCCvi, the day the nation that became the united States of America declared
its independence from great britain—July 4, 776. Her uplifted hand holds a torch, a uni-
versal symbol lighting the way through the harbor to freedom and a path to liberty, one of
hope and opportunity. She stands on the same spot where general William Howe, com-
mander in chief of the british Army in America and vice Admiral Lord Richard Howe,
commander of the british navy in America, sailed into the harbor to subdue the british
colonies in America. The massive incursion caused Lucy knox to panic, gather up her chil-
dren and flee along with scores of other families. Almost a decade later a defeated british
military departed this same spot and sailed back to London, leaving America independ-
ent.
Much has been written about the men who fought on the battlefields or in Congress
to counter the british incursion during the revolutionary period. A good bit has been writ-
ten about a few educated women—Mercy Warren, Abigail Adams, Hannah Winthrop and
british historian Catherine Macaulay, all of whom corresponded with each other and influ-
enced prominent political and military leaders like general george Washington, general
Henry knox, and congressmen Thomas Jefferson and John Adams. Relatively little, however,
is known about the contributions of a colossal number of ordinary women without whom
the symbolic Statue of Liberty would not exist. oral history is all that remains of the majority
of women who faced hardships on the home front or exerted a steady influence in the back-
ground of the battlefields. Their contributions were of such magnitude that the war would
not have been won without their support.
These enormous contributions of women were crucial not only behind the lines on
the battlefields but also on the home front. Most colonial women worked at home, caring
for large families, weaving and mending clothing, plowing, planting and harvesting crops,
milking cows, feeding, killing and cooking chickens at the hearth over an open fire. Some
ladies melted lead and molded bullets; some made saltpeter for gunpowder. if they leveled
a rifle, it was to defend against indian attacks or to shoot varmints. These wives and daugh-
ters freed up their men to fight on the battlefield. Without the womens’ sacrifice, the men
would have been unable to go to war to fight for independence.
Women wrote letters, raised funds for the army, and sewed fringed hunting shirts for
soldiers. They spied and carried messages on horseback. Some cannonaded alongside their
men on the battlefield or masqueraded in men’s clothing to fight as soldiers. if they were
successful at that, some received pensions. if caught, they were expelled.
Women camp followers—wives, children and other women seeking work, food and
