Polly Cooper

Polly Cooper by Su Shen
Polly Cooper cooked up strength and perseverance for the American soldiers.

Little is known about Polly Cooper's childhood, but we know for sure the she was born into the Oneida tribe.

Polly Cooper contributed in the war by helping George Washington's sick, starving, and suffering soldiers. Cooper is known to be the mother of this country. Chief Shenendoah sent Polly Cooper with forty other warriors to deliver 600 hundred baskets of corn to the starving soldiers at Valley Forge. Cooper decided to stay at Valley Forge when she saw how much the troops were suffering. She made special medicine for the sick and wounded. She taught the soldiers how to cook the corn, and she cooked for them as well. Cooper also brought water to the soldiers as they were fighting, because most of them were dehydrated. She must of been very brave and caring to do that.

Polly Cooper's contribution to the war may have changed people's perspective of American Indians. People back then thought American Indians weren't civilized. After they saw her teaching the soldiers how to cook and made special medicine, people may have thought the American Indian's were more civilized than they thought they were. She believed that all men have mothers, and mothers didn't send their sons out to kill other mothers' sons. Cooper would not accept money as payment for taking care of the soldiers. The officers wives took Cooper a walk downtown. She saw a black shawl and thought it was beautiful. The officers bought it for her and it is now known as Polly Cooper's shawl.

Polly Cooper sacrificed the company of her friends and family in her tribe for a few years to help George Washington's soldiers.