Northern Wisconsin advertiser. [volume] (Wabeno, Wis.) 1898-1925, 1914-07-03
WOMEN WHO HE'LL Ed
TO FREE COUNTRY
Numerous Instances Where the Wives
and Daughters of Patriots Showed
Themselves Worthy Share
of the Glory.
ny OMEN gave their services in
wv manifold ways during the Rev


dictionary war. Elizabeth
Zane, at the siege of Fort Fincastle-
later Fort Henry-on the present site
of Wheeling, w. Va, crossed a zone
of fire swept by the rifles of 500 saw
ages carrying an apronful of powder
from an auxiliary blockhouse to the
main works, the fresh supply OF am
munition saving the garrison from the
necessity of surrender
Catherine Schuyler, wife of the IA
nous general, set fire to a vast acre
age of wheat fields on the Schuyler
estate to prevent them from falling
into the hands of Burgoyne upon his
advance from Fort Edward to Sara
toga.
Mrs. Esther Reed of Philadelphia
defied the British, who were at that
time in possession of her home city,
by clothing and raising funds for the
American army at Valley Forge. Upon
her death the work was continued by
Mrs. Sarah Bache, daughter of Ben
jamin Franklin. Hundreds of other
Philadelphia women secretly cooper
ated.
The wives of most of the command
ing generals--notably Martha Wash
ington and Mrs Nathaniel Greene
accompanied their husbands in every
campaign, and did everything in their
power to alleviate the hardships of
the soldiery. Mrs. Washington even
went through the cruel winter at VAL
ley Forge, where her ministrations
are said to have saved many lives.
Still other women went into British
prisons and prison ships to save the
sick and wounded American prisoners.
Mrs. Elizabeth Jackson, mother of
Andrew Jackson, in fact, died from
prison fever contracted while engaged
in this work of mercy among the
American captives at Charleston.
Mary Draper invented the pewter
bullet, which came into use after the
supply Of lead was exhausted, and
thousands of patriotic women the
country over surrendered their prize
pewter utensils to be melted up for
ammunition.
Mrs. Rebecca Motto, whose splendid
mansion between Charleston and Cam
den, S. c., was turned into a fort by
the British, instructed the besieging
Americans to set the structure afire
by shooting blazing arrows on to the
roof. The result was that the British
were smoked out, though the mansion
itself was reduced to ashes.
But the most bizarre service Of all
was rendered by Handy Betty Hager,
known also as Betty the Blacksmith,
who refitted guns and artillery for the
patriotic armies. Betty was a natural
mechanic, whose latent abilities were
developed in the employ of Samuel
Leverett, a blacksmith-farmer living
near Boston.
Prior to the battle of Concord, the
patriots of the surrounding country
had been preparing themselves for the
conflict for months Guns of all types
-matchlocks, flintlocks, smoothbores,
blunderbusses> and what not, some of
which had not seen service for three
or four generations-came piling into
the Leverett shop, and while Leverett
himself could be observed by any
passing tory to be busily engaged in
shoeing horses, his unsupported assist
ant was working in secret chamber
making the neighbors' antiquated old
firearms serviceable once more.
Betty kept up this volunteer work
throughout the whole course of the
war, never accepting a single copper
for her labor. To Betty and her en-
ployer, likewise, belongs the credit Of
putting the first captured British cam
non into action. On the retreat from
Concord the British left six brass can
non behind them, thoughtfully spiking
the touchholes so that they could not
be discharged.
Betty and Leverett, however, pa
tiently drilled out the spikes at the
rate of one week, and in no long
time the British found the beleaguer-
ing Americans driving them out Of
Boston at the mouths of their own
cannon.