Molly Pitcher, Cannoneer in Petticoats

In this latest chapter of ‘When Character Counted,’ we meet the woman whose battlefield exploits became an American legend.

"Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth," 1859, engraved by J. C. Armytage. Public Domain

In wartime, heroism can spring up in the least likely of candidates.

Daughter of German immigrants and a stranger to books and schoolrooms, Mary Ludwig (1754–1832) was in her late teens or early 20s when she married William Hays, a barber. When war broke out between Great Britain and the American colonies, Hays joined a Pennsylvania artillery unit. Eventually, Mary accompanied him as a camp follower, then a common practice among wives.