Born December 17, 1760
Plympton, Massachusetts
Died April 29, 1827
Sharon, Massachusetts

Farmer, soldier, public speaker

"Wrought upon … by an enthusiasm and frenzy … did I throw off the soft [clothing] of my sex, and assume those of the warrior."
Portrait: Deborah Sampson. Reproduced by permission of the Rhode Island Historical Society/Women in Military Service Memorial Foundation.

Disguised as a man, Deborah Sampson served admirably as a soldier in the Continental army during the American Revolutionary War (1775–83) and later gave speeches about her time in the military. She established a public presence for women that went far beyond the normal cultural limits of her time. The former soldier then went on to become a wife and mother. She asked for and received a military pension (money benefits) from the U.S. government, also unheard of for a woman of her time.

Deborah Sampson was born on December 17, 1760, to a poor...