Deborah Sampson enlisted in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment in 1782 under the name Robert Shurtleff. She served for approximately seventeen months, was wounded twice, and was honorably discharged in October 1783. In 1792, the Massachusetts legislature awarded her a soldier's pension. In 1804, Paul Revere wrote to the Secretary of War on her behalf. The pension application is at the National Archives. The Revere letter is at the MHS.
Deborah Sampson was born on December 17, 1760, in Plympton, Massachusetts. Her father abandoned the family when she was young and her mother could not care for all the children. She was bound out as an indentured servant to the Thomas family in Middleborough, Massachusetts, from age ten to eighteen. She taught school and worked as a weaver after her indenture ended.
In 1782, the First Baptist Church of Middleborough recorded that she had been excommunicated for 'dressing in men's clothes and enlisting as a soldier.' This record establishes that her first enlistment attempt was discovered and failed. She enlisted successfully a second time in May 1782 at Bellingham, Massachusetts, as Robert Shurtleff, and was mustered into the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment under Captain George Webb.
Sampson served in the area around West Point, New York, and participated in several engagements. She was wounded at Tarrytown in 1782, taking a sword cut to the head and musket ball wounds to the thigh. She removed one musket ball herself rather than see a surgeon and risk discovery. A second ball remained in her thigh for the rest of her life. Her identity was discovered in 1783 when she became ill with fever and a doctor in Philadelphia, Dr. Barnabas Binney, examined her and discovered she was a woman.
Binney did not report her immediately. He took her to his home to recover. When she recovered, he gave a letter to her commanding officer, General John Paterson. Paterson discharged her honorably on October 25, 1783, at West Point. The discharge papers were signed without any formal proceedings against her.
In 1792, the Massachusetts legislature passed a resolve awarding Sampson arrears of pay for her service, citing her performance of 'extraordinary and meritorious services' and the hardships she endured. This was a state recognition of military service, not a federal pension.
In 1804, Paul Revere wrote to Secretary of War Henry Dearborn on her behalf, describing her character and the validity of her service claim. His letter is at the Massachusetts Historical Society. The federal pension application was filed September 14, 1818, under the Act of March 18, 1818. The National Archives holds the file under Record Group 15, S 32722.
I have been induced to enquire her situation, and character, since she quitted the male habit and soldier's uniform; for the purpose of forming an opinion if her past services, and the present nessesity, might make it consistent with the Regulations of the Department of War, to grant her relief. I have made enquiry of respectable persons who have been acquainted with her, since she relinquished the soldier's dress, and character; the person informs me, that she has a small farm in Sharon, a husband and three children.
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