Women's Role In The Revolutionary War Essay

In a world full of war, women played key roles throughout the revolutionary movement. From one side of the spectrum lay more traditional roles such as nurses, cooks, and maids, and furthermore on the more unconventional side of the spectrum included spies and secret soldiers known as the daughters of liberty. These women were, at the time, not yet known to being the key to winning the war. One of the most common and influential roles of women was a nurse. Many of the wives, sisters, daughters, and mothers who eventually became nurses had trailed close behind their own soldiers looking for a way to provide for their families. Without the men that were no longer around women had to find a way to raise their children, care for the household, and continue the businesses their husbands had left for them. Many of the women were reluctant to take the job knowing that in the hospitals, the sick and their caregivers death rate was phenomenally high. Despite the percentage, many women including Mary Waters and Mary Pricely were willing to take

Since most of the women were used to doing this kind of work around the household they had no problem pulling their own weight in their given position. Originally, men were given these jobs, but they needed all the bodies they could get on the battlefield so positions like the ones listed above were left for the poor wives, mothers, and daughters. One such lady named Margaret Corbin did one act of patriotism that earned her the first woman to ever receive a pension for her service in the revolutionary war. As a matross, someone who fires and loads cannons, she continued firing cannons when her husband was injured and killed in battle. In conclusion, even though some of these women did not become well known or share their story, excluding margaret corbin, they still played a key role in the revolutionary