Evening Republican, Volume 15, Number 150, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 26 June 1911 — MOLLY PITCHER, HEROINE [ARTICLE]

MOLLY PITCHER, HEROINE

The best-known of all the American heroines of battle is Molly Pitcher, the story of whose adventures, especially on the battlefield at Monmouth, Is one of the most picturesque Incidents of the revolutionary war. The early life of Molly is somewhat vague. She is supposed to have been bom at Carlisle, Pa., October IS. 1744. Her right name waa Mary Ludwig, and while the soldiers were only familiar her first name, calling her Molly, they soon applied the second, because wherever they saw Molly they also saw the pitcher with which she carried water to the sick and wounded in the camps. Several writers say Molly came to this country from Germany with her parents, who were among the Palatines. The first information we have of her is tost she was employed as s maid in the family of General Irvine at Carlisle. and on July 84, 1769, was married to John Hays, a barber. Her husband was com- . missioned a gunner In Proctor's First Pennsylvania artillery. Continental line, December 1, ms, and Molly followed him to the field. This waa a common thing for the wives of private soldiers to do, their time being passed in much 1 Dluck**ai!d also the following year in

the important battle of Monmouth, N. J. In the latter battle her husband, a gunner, had fallen, when she sprang to his place and fired the cannon. Molly had been carrying water to the soldiers from a spring, toe mercury being at’ 96 degrees in the shade. As no one was able to take his place when he became Incapacitated, it is said she dropped her pail, seised the rammer, and vowed that she would avenge his 'death. She proved an excellent substitute, her courage exciting toe admiration of all, and on the following morning, In her soiled garments, General Greene presented her to Washington, who praised her, gallantry and commissioned her a sergeant. * It is related she received many presents from toe French officers and that she would sometimes pass along the French lines, cocked hat in hand, and would get it almost filled with coins. She is said to have served in the ftrmy nearly eight years -in aIL Bhe was placed on tho list of half-pay officers and for many years after the Revolution lived Ut the Carlisle barracks. cooking and washing for toe soldiers. The bouse in which she spent her later ye«ura in Carlisle was demolished in recent years. She died January 11, 1823, at the age of seventy-nine, and waa burled with military

honors, but her grave remained unmarked until 1876, when Peter Spahr of Carlisle con- > ceived the idea of erecting a monument A monument oh the battlefield of Monmouth further commemorates Molly Pitcher, a baa relief representing her In the act of ramming a cannon. She also figures in George Washington Parke Cuatla’ painting "The Field of Monmouth.” So familiar had the heroine of Monmouth become that the name "Molly Pitcher” was applied by the continental soldiers, in their hot and weary march through .V' New Jersey, to any woman who brought them water to drink. "Molly” la credited with having remarked at a banquet at which there were British soldiers, when she was called upon to toast irfag George: “When Washington leads his soldiers into battle, God help King George!” COULDN'T STAND EXPOSURE. The meihbtr of the legislature, of whom soifae graft stories bad been circulator, was about to build a house. “You will want a southern exposure, 1 suppose r* asked the architect * "No. sir!” said the man. “If you can’t build this bouse without any exposure. Hi get another architect"