Pomeroy weekly telegraph. [volume] (Pomeroy, Meigs County, Ohio) 1860-1866, 1862-11-21

| She'll be Il soldier, too; she'u to the
SHAKsPEARE
| Deborah Samson, the daughter Of
very poor parents, Plymouth county,
Massachusetts,, began, when about twenty
years Of age, to feel the patriotic zeal
which had prompted the sterner sex in
her neighborhood to take up arms in
their country's defense
She accordingly assumed male attire,
and enlisted in the Revolutionary army.
We agree with Mrs. Ellet, that, while
| this course cannot be commended, her
exemplary conduct, after taking the
first step, goes far to plead her excuse,
and is worthy of record. Her method
Of obtaining mems garments, and her
military career, are thus narrated by the
author just mentioned:-
By keeping the district school for a
Summer term, she had anna ssed the sum
of twelve dollars. She purchased a
quantity of course fustian, and work
ing at intervals when she could be Sc
cured from observation, made up suit
of mems clothing; each article, as it was
finished, being hid in stack of hay
Having completed her preparations, she
announced her intention of going where
she could obtain better wages for her
labor Her new clothes and such other
articles as she wished to take with her,
were tied in bundle The lonely girl
! departed: but went not far, probably
only to the shelter of the nearest wood,
before putting on the disguise she Was
so eager to assume. Although not
beautiful, l-er features were animated
and pleasing, and her figure tall for a
woman, was finely proportional. AS a
man she might have been called hand
some; her general appearance was ex-
tremely possessing, and her manner
calculated to inspire confidence. She
now pursued her way to the American
army, where she presented herself, in
October, 1878, as young man anxious
to Join his efforts to those Of his coun-
trymen, in their endeavors to oppose the
common enemy Her acquaintances,
meanwhile, supposed her engaged in
service at distance. Rumors of her
elopement with Il British Soldier. and
even of her death, were afterward cur
rent in the neighborhood where she had
resided; but none were sufficiently inter-
ested to make such search for her as
might have led to discovery.
Distrusting her own constancy, and
resolute to continue in the service, not
with hstanding any change of her inclina-
ton, she enlisted for the whole term of
the war She was received and enrolled
in the army by the name df Robert
Shirtcliff. She was one Of the FIRST vol
unteers in the company Of Captain Ma
than Thayer, of Midway, Massachusetts;
and as tie young recruit appeared to
have no home or connection, the Cap
tain gave her home in his family un-
til his company should be full, when
they were to join the main army.
We now find her performing the du-
ties and enduring the tatigues of mill
tary life. During the seven weeks that
she passed in the family Of Captain
Thayer, she had time for experience and
reflection; but, in after years, her con-
slant declaration was that she never, for
one moment, repented or regretted the
step she had taken. Accustomed to
labor from childhood, upon the farm and
in out door employment, she had ac-
quired unusual vigor of constitution;
her franc was robust and Of masculine
strength, and having thus gained de-
rree of hardin ood. she was enabled to