Page:The part taken by women in American history.djvu/172

Rh hearthstone and vibrated in the heart of every patriot in New England, and the zeal which urged men to quit their homes for the battlefield found its way to the bosom of lonely Deborah Samson.

Much effort has been expended by historians and women annalists to extenuate the conduct of this woman who claimed the privilege of shedding her blood for her country, but, after all, it was a most natural decision. It is likely her youthful imagination was kindled by the rumor of the brave deeds possible in that varied war life, and it must be borne in mind, too, that she was alone in the world, with few to care for her fate, and so she felt herself accountable to no human being. Be that as it may, she took the scant twelve dollars she had earned by teaching the district school, and purchased a quantity of coarse fustian and, working at intervals, made up a suit of men's garments—each article as it was finished being hidden in a stack of hay. Having completed her preparations, she announced her intention of going where she might obtain better wages for her labor. The lonely girl departed, but probably only to the shelter of the nearest wood, before putting on the disguise she was so anxious to assume. Her features were animated and pleasing, and her figure, tall for a woman, was finely proportioned. As a man, she might have been called handsome—her general appearance said to have been prepossessing, and her manner calculated to inspire confidence.

She pursued her way to the American army where, in October, 1778, she was received and enrolled by the name of Robert Shircliffe, a young man anxious to join his efforts to those of his countrymen in their endeavors to oppose the common enemy. She was one of the first volunteers in the company of Captain Nathan Thayer, of Medway, Massachusetts, and the captain gave her a home in his family until his company should be ready to join the main army. In performing the