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deborah sampson by elise becker

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deborah sampson was born in plimpton massachusetts on december 17 1760 as the oldest of three daughters and three sons of jonathan and deborah sampson when she was only a kid her father left them to go to sea where he died then her mother sent all of her family away including her.

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her mother could not take care of her kids because they did not have enough money after deborah was taken away she worked as a servant on a farm she learned to do a lot from the men she loved to learn and she begged the boys in the family to teach her new things deborah learned so much from them that she became a teacher in middleborough public school.

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she wanted to help the men in the american revolution she could not because back then ,girls could not fight in the war deborah knew that if she wanted to help in the war she would have to pretend to be a boy she practiced acting like a man and finally she was ready to fight with the soldiers she signed up in the army and thought up a new name for herself her boy name was robert shurtleff.

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she was a brave soldier and volunteered for dangerous missions the other soldiers were proud of robert deborah became a servant to the general robert served the general his food and washed his clothes.

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she was five feet and seven inches tall which was tall for a woman but the soldiers just thought that she was a very short boy.

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but then she got hurt in the head and leg she let the doctor help her head injury but not her leg she took out the bullet in her leg by herself her leg never healed all the way but her secret was safe deborah was afraid that if the other soldiers found out that robert was a girl that they would kill her after that deborah became sick with a fever and was put in the hospital the doctor found out her secret that robert was a girl the doctor took her to his home to recover from her sickness.

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after leaving the army she married a farmer named benjamin gannett they had three children deborah taught at a school and gave speeches on what happened during the war at the end of some of her speeches she would dress up in her uniform to show them what she looked like in the army.

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this memorial was dedicated to deborah sampson on veterans day november 11 1989 in front of a public library .

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massachusetts general court recognized her as a hero on january 20 1792 she received four dollars a month deborah sampson died when she was 66 years old on april 29 1827 in sharon massachusetts.

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bibliography http www.stoughtonhistory.com/debsampson1902.htm http armstrong-history.wikispaces.com/staci+s i+am+deborah+sampson http plymouthcolony.net/plympton http www.flickr.com/photos/boston_public_library/2589535463 http www.distinguishedwomen.com/biographies/sampson.html

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