The Lake County star. [volume] (Chase, Mich.) 1873-current, 1876-05-04
DEBORAH SAMSON, THE WOMAN
SOLDIER.
BY CHARLES M'KNIGHT, ESQ.

SOLDIER.
BY CHARLES M'KNIGHT, ESQ.
Philadelphia Saturday Evening Post.l
Many instances are mentioned in the
history of the Revolution in which fe-
male heroism was most illustriously dis
played, but for romantic interest and
humble devotion to her country we can
find no parallel to the case of Deborah
Samson.
Deborah was poor orphan, of Ply.
mouth county, Massachusetts,, depend
ing On the charity of farmer for her
daily subsistence. She was treated with
kindness, was we'll fed and comfortably
clothed, but had no advantages of educa-
tion, and her efforts and aspirations in
that line clearly demonstrate that she
was a character of superior tastes and
longings. She borrowed books of pass.
ing children, and persevered until she
had learned to read; but made no other
attempt at selfinstruction until released
by law, at eighteen years of age, from
her indentures. She then hired out to a
farmer half the time, and, with the
means thus laboriously secured, attended
district school the other half.
Meantime the Revolution had broken
out, and the stirring news from Concord,
Lexington and Bunker Hill thrilled
every patriotic heart. Deborah was
moved to an uncommon degree she en-.
tered into every scheme for the relief OF
the army, and bitterly regretted that
she was not man that she might shed
har hICo1 for fha onuptru che CO ,,a,a l.
loved. Poor, alone and unfriended, but
actuated by feeling of the purest and
most exalted patriotism, she quietly re-
solved that she could and would do more
for the great cause. BY keeping school
for time she had amassed the sum of
twelve dollars, with which she bought
some coarse fustian, and, working at in
tervals when secure from notice, she
made up suit of mems clothing, each
article as made being hidden in stack
of hay. et
Having completed her preparations,
she never faltered nor asked counsel of
any, but quietly announcing that she
was going in search of better wages, the
lonely girl departed, slipped on her dis
guise under the shelter of the nearest
woods, and pursued her way to the
American army. where she presented
herself in October, 177S, as a young man
anxious to join the patriotic force. AL
though not beautiful, her features were
pleasing, and her figure, tall for woman,
was finely proportioned. For man she
would have been called handsome, and
her general appearance was extremely
prepossessiDg. ...
Her old friends supposed her in do
mestic service at distance. Rumors of
her elopement with British soldier,
and afterward of her death, came to
them, but nothing was known for GER
tain, and she soon dropped out of peo-
pies minds. She was received in the
army without a suspicion of her sex,
enlisting for the whole war by the name
of Robert Shirtliffe. As the young re-
cru;t had neither home nor family, her
captain, Nathan Thayer, of Midway,
Massachusetts,, gave her a temporary
home with him until his company should
be. full.
For several weeks she remained at
Medway, diligently performing daily
the routine of soldiers duties and
hardships. Her frame was robust; she
was used to work; she was eager and
willing to learn, and she soon became
perfect in her drill. The uniform drawn
by her did not fit well, but with her
needle and thread he soon altered it to
suit him. While residing with Captain
Thayer, Robert was thrown much in the
company of a young girl visiting Mrs.
Thayer. Coquettish by nature, and
anxious to make conquest of the bloom
ing soldier, she fell in love with her
companion. Robert was much amused,
but curious to learn how far he could
carry the deception, he paid back her at
tentions, and was so rapidly winning his
way that Mrs. Thayer demonstrated with
him, and showed how wrong it was for a
young man to trife with young girls
feelings. The caution was taken in good
part, and the Irritation ceased, but Rob
ert received at parting many tokens of
regard from his unsuspecting friend.
For three years Robert acted as soldier,
part of the time being employed as a
waiter in Colonel Patterson's family and
winning the esteem Of her officers for
exemplary conduct and faithfulness to
duty. She was a volunteer in several
hazardous enterprises, and was twice
wounded first by sword cut on the
left side of the head Many were the odd
and singular adventures she passed
through. Enough, as she would often
say, to fill volumes. Frequently placed
in circumstances where she feared detec-
tion, yet she always escaped without the
slightest suspicion. The soldiers called
her Milly, in playful allusion to her want
of beard, but none of them ever dreamed
that hegallant and amiable youth fight
ing by their side, and so uncomplaining-
ly submitting to all the privations and
hardships of soldiers life was in reality
a woman.
About four months after her first
wound, she received another and a
moro serious one, being shot through the
shoulder. Her first emotion, when the
ball entered, she described to be sick
ening terror at the probability of her sex
now being discovered. She prayed for
death as preferable TO the shame that
would then overwhelm her; but strange
as it may seem, she even yet escaped de-
lection, and soon recovering, again took
her place at the post of duty. ne
Her immunity, however, was not long
to continue. She was suddenly seized
with brain fever, and her suilerings, for
the few days that reason struggled
against the disease, we're indescribable.
Always her chief dread was that reason
should desert her, and that she should