The Dakota chief. (Gann Valley, Buffalo County, S.D.) 18??-1913, 1896-07-02
AZ - CannOncer in n Battle.

N,rroret Corbin, Il New York woman.
whose bravery ranks her with Byron's
fomous heroine. the maid of ~Saragossa.
aud also With the maid of Domremy. is
comparatively unknown to the world.
tI;vtnriaus overlooked one of the grand
ost women thar ever trod the earth. when
,bov failed to tell Of the deed of hcroism
,iouc Ivy Margaret Corbin during the bat
flo Of Fort Washington. A few lines i'll
nm encyclopedia tell something of her.
hnt no place else is there Il word about
her.
II WAS in the defense of New York city
,h,t Margaret Corbin showed herself as Il
courageous and brave woman. In the
battle of Harlem p~lains-tirst and last of
inheritance to be fought on the Island Of
Nanhattan-hcrs was the only deed of
shining valor that gave the surrender of
Fort Washington the glory of victorious
resistance. There wer. incompetence.
lack of arms. pusilanimity-indced. it was
there at Fort Washington that treachery
like Arnold's. only more successful. was
practiced. Some men died bravely. One
of them Margaret Corbin'S husband.
He was serving a nnO against the
HcSSians in one of the redoubts which
STAYED the advance Of The enemy on the
fort. Baron ~Kuyphausen was directing
his well-disciplined troops according to
the information taken through the lines
by the traitor. Off to the southeast Lord
Percy was pressing with superior conf
dencc and numbers upon the earthworks
defended by Col. Cadwaladcr Of Philadel-
phia. Just as hope was departing, and
,b, tp,nrinnnS y-arn fuIipr hazel; hnrn
and there. one gunner was rendered con-
s@picuous by standing his ground. 1t was
Corbin. "A Pennsylvania man, and by his
side his tidy little wife. cheeks flaming
with exertion and excitement, labored to
speed his loading and firing.
Suddenly Corbin dropped and rolled to
his wife's feet, dead. The fragile woman
stepped to the gum. swabbed it. rammed
home the shot and touched off the charges.
valiantly determined not to yield what
her husband died to retain. There was
only hostile faces around. and she was
alone and isolated. Presently, wounded
by three grapeShot, she fell. She hadn't
saved the orif1ame like Jeanne dare. but
she had shown again that there is one
thing that can do as well as the
best Of men-they can die grandly!
1t was due rather to a stanch constitI-
ton than to tender nursing that Margaret
Corbin did not como to her death by those
linked balls. Three years later. in 1T19.
the council of Pennsylvania appealed on
her behalf to the board of war, and in
consequence she received from Congress
a pension Of One-half the monthly pay
of a soldier in service. Learning, in the
year following, that her injuries deprived
her Of the use of one arm. the Govern
ment allowed her lone complete suit of
clothes ont of the public stores" or the
value thereof in money in addition TO the
provision previously made. That, and
the title of patriot" in the records, which
is "A fine title to hold and deserve. is all
the recognition which her service ever got.
1t was thirty-three years afterward that
the maid of Saragossa initiated Margaret
Corbin's bravery, and received the renown
that should nave been bestowed upon the
heroine of the battle at Fort Washington.