Evening Republican, Volume 21, Number 198, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 6 September 1917 — NOT ONE SUCKER [ARTICLE]

NOT ONE SUCKER

Part Played by One Yankee Woman in Revolution. ——— , -A. Margaret Corbin Took Her Husband’s Place at the Gune In Battle of Fort Washington and Fell Wounded. $ Margaret Corbin, who was born in Franklin county, Pennsylvania, November 12, 1751, was the only daughter of Robert Cockran, who was killed by the Indians in 1756. Margaret’s mother, for whom the daughter was named, was taken into captivity at the same time. Margaret was now five years old and escaped her parents* fate because she and her brother were visiting an uncle, who raised Margaret. In 1772 Margaret married John Corbin of Virginia. Corbin enlisted in the First company, Pennsylvania artillery, and his wife, having no children, followed; her husband to war, serving as a nurse and aid In camp life. When John Corbin was killed at the battle of Fort Washington, November 16, 1776, Margaret took his place at the gun, until struck down with three grapeshot, which severed an arm and tore away part of her breast. Mary Pitcher’s husband, Hays, was a gunner in the same regiment, and it is safe to assume that Margaret Corbin’s heroism at Fort Washington inspired Molly Pitcher’s act at Monmouth. At the surrender Margaret was enrolled as a member of the “Invalid Regiment.” Her wounds at Fort Washington were such that they were ultimately the cause of her death in 1800. On account of her wounds the supreme council of Philadelphia on June 29, 1779, granted her S3O and recommended her to the board of war for a regular pension. The resolution of congress, JUly 6, 1779, is on record in which honorable mention is made of the services of Margaret Corbin. “Resolved, That Margaret Corbin, wounded and disabled at the attack of Fort Washington, while she heroically filled the post of her husband -Mio was killed by her side, serving, a piece of artillery, do receive during her natural life or continuance of said disability, one-half the monthly pay drawn by a soldier in service of these States; and that she now receive out of the public stores one suit of clothes or the value thereof In money.” Margaret Corbin was the first woman pensioned by our government for heroic deeds.