Deborah Sampson, Soldier (Tess)

Deborah Sampson by Tess

Deborah Sampson was not an average house wife. She was born on December 17, 1760. She had a very depressing childhood. When she was little, her father abandoned her family to fight in the Revolutionary war. A few months later, he died at sea. Soon, her mother became very ill and could not take care of the kids, so she sent the all away to become indentured servants.

During the Revolutionary War, Sampson did something that no one thought a women would do. She dressed up as a man and enlisted herself in the military. She chose to fight under the name "Robert Shirtiff". Everything was going as planned until she was shot in the leg. She knew that if she let the doctor heal her, he would find out her secret. She knew the only way to save her secret was to pull the bullet out of her leg herself. Soon, she was injured again, and the doctor found out that she was a women.

He sent her home, without letting her finish her time in the war. Soon she became a teacher, and fell in love with a man named Benjamin Gannett. Together, they had three children, Earl, Mary and Patience, and adopted one little girl name Susanna. Sampson died on April 29, 1827 at age sixty-six, in Sharon, Massachusetts.