"Molly Pitcher" was a nickname given to a woman who may have fought briefly in the American Revolutionary War. Historians differ on who was the "real" Molly Pitcher, or even if she ever existed at all. Since the various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, most historians now believe they should be regarded as folklore rather than history, though the actions of real women probably inspired the legend. The nickname may have been a generic name applied to women who bravely carried water (usually in buckets) to men on the battlefield during the war.
One candidate for the "real" Molly Pitcher is Mary Hays McCauly (or Mary Ludwig Hays), about whom there is conflicting biographical information, including her actual name and year of birth. According to one version of the story, she was born to a German family in New Jersey, and attended to her husband William Hays, an artilleryman, in the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. When William fell wounded, possibly from heat stroke, Mary bravely took her husband's post at his cannon. According to the legend, after the battle, General George Washington issued her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer, and she was thereafter known by the nickname "Sergeant Molly". However, some of these details may have been borrowed from the actions of the other leading candidate for the "real" Molly Pitcher, a woman named Margaret Corbin.
In 1928, "Molly Pitcher" was honored with an overprint reading "MOLLY / PITCHER" on a U.S. postage stamp. "Molly" was further honored in World War II with the naming of the Liberty ship SS Molly Pitcher, launched, and subsequently torpedoed, in 1943.
There is a hotel in Red Bank, New Jersey -- not far from the site of the Battle of Monmouth -- named after Molly Pitcher, called the Molly Pitcher Inn. There is also a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike named for Molly Pitcher at Southbound Mile 71.7. The stretch of US Route 11 between Shippensburg, Pennsylvania and Chambersburg, Pennsylvania is known as the Molly Pitcher Highway.
See also: Honorable Order of Molly Pitcher
References
- Bohrer, Melissa Lukeman. Glory, Passion, and Principle: The Story of Eight Remarkable Women at the Core of the American Revolution. New York: Atria Books, 2003. ISBN 0743453301.
- Raphael, Ray. Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past. New York: New Press, 2004. ISBN 1565849213.