The Anderson intelligencer. [volume] (Anderson Court House, S.C.) 1860-1914, 1898-11-09

of Major Gen. John Paterson, by
Thomas Egleston, in the New York
Times, is taken the following sketch
Of an interesting case:
Early in May, 1871, Gen. Paterson
received under his authority soldier
who turned out to be woman, De-
:borah Sampson, who enlisted as a man
In Capt. Webb's company, in Col.
Shepard $ regiment, under the name
Of Robert Shurslieff. Her height was
recorded by the proper officer as 8 feet
"a inches; eyes hazel, inclining to
blue. She enlisted inWorcester IL
company with large number Of other
recruits. At West Point her civilian
suit was exchanged for a Continental
uniform, which was blue coat faced,
with white, white vest, breeches,
: stockings, with black straps about the
knees, half-boots, black stock made OF
velvet stifened with leather, cap
with q yariagated cockade on one side,
4 white plume tipped with red on the
other side, and awhite sash about the
crown. She was furnished with q
French fuse and bayonet, knapsack,
cartridge box and twenty cartridges.
In the month of June she was sent
I with q part Of her company to Harlem
and White Plains. They defeated
there part Of the enemy, and, though
the battle was unexpected and furious
and the man next to her was shot dead
At the second discharge, she says that
she suffered less from fear than
fatigue, thirst, and the heat Of the
day. She was afterward transferred
with most Of her company to Col.
Henry Jackson regiment.
The American forces early in June
we're joined by the French from New
port, under Col. Rochambeau. After
4 series Of lnanoeuyres, made to deceive
the enemy into othe belief that an
attack on New York was intended, the
whole allied army, about the 10th, under
the command Of Washington, took up
s;ta march for the Chesapeake. The
army went: from the head of the bay
TO James E.iver in fleet Of transports,
consisting Of more than one hundred
vessels, furnished for this occasion by
the French admiral, Count de Grasse,
for the capture Of Yorktown. She
bore the great fatigue and did extraor-
dinary work, unwilling to be outdone
by the men in the trenches, and was
often exposed to FIRE.
On the night Of the 7th of October
she was one in large detachment
nnder Gen. Lincoln, who were ordered
to open trenches within a mile Of the
enemy IS lines. The night was one OF
severe labor and exposure, and in the
morning Gen. Lincoln, noticing her
extreme exhaustion and blistered
hands, said: You have had too great
q share Of fatigue, my fine lad. Retire
to your tent and pleasantly dream an
shour or two. Day after day for a
week the air was filed with shot and
she'll. Two large redoubts were held
by the enemy three hundred yards in
advance oil the American lines, and
severely enfladed the besieging forces.
1t was necessary to carry these re-
doubts by assault. The attack was
one entrusted to body Of French
troops under Baron Viomenil, and the
other to American infantry under the
Marquis de Lafayette. She vas en-
gagged in this attack. The redoubts
we're carried on the 18th at the point
Of the bayonet. On the 28th Corn
wallis surrendered.
After the surrender the army re-
turned North by the same route it had
come, and went into winter quarters
on the Hudson. In june, 1882, she
with thirty others volunteered on an
expedition against party OF Tories
who were committing outrages on the
east Of the Hudson. She received
two wounds, one in the left temple
and the other in the thigh near the
groin. She was carried to the hospital,
but concealed the wound in the thigh,
and extracted the ball herself, so that
her sex escaped detection. In all re-
spects she acted with bravery, firm
ness, and resolution equal to any SOL
der in the regiment.
Peace was proclaimed on the 18th
ofApril, 1888. Being sent to Phila-
delphia during the summer Of that
year, she was seized with malignant
fever, which nearly ended her life.
During this attack DR.. Binney, the
surgeon, discovered her sex, but the
secret was kept and she was trans
ferred to the apartments Of the matron