A Forgotten Female Patriot of the American Revolution

When one thinks of the 'Revolutionary War,' it is natural to recall the stirring renditions of its various battles & participants, but such recollections generally invoke famous officers and soldiers, not female heroines.

Though there are many women of the Revolutionary Era, that are somewhat familiar to the general public, who served directly or indirectly in a martial capacity, such as the famed 'Molly Pitcher' (Mary Hays McCauly) or Deborah Samson Gannett, too few today remember the life and sacrifice of 'Captain Molly,' or Margaret Cochran Corbin, who would become the first woman in American history, to receive a pension for military service.

Edward Hagaman Hall's 1932 biography of Corbin, 'Margaret Corbin: Heroine of the Battle of Fort Washington, 16 November 1776,' is not currently required reading in college texts, and though she continues to appear in editions of the well-respected Dictionary of American Biography, for the most part, this native Pennsylvanian is poorly remembered or completely ignored.

In 1751, Margaret Cochran Corbin was not born into a life of luxury and ease, but on the frontier in what was then, Cumberland County, Pennsylvania where she became an orphan at the age of five. In June of 1756, during the 'French & Indian' or 'Seven Years War,' her father Robert Cochran, a Scot-Irish settler was killed and scalped during the 'Ft. Bigham Massacre' in the Tuscarora Valley, while Jane her mother, along with her brother, were also taken captive by the Indians during the same attack and never returned.

Raised by a maternal uncle, Margaret would eventually marry a John Corbin from Virginia, who would enlist in the artillery at the opening of the Revolutionary War, in Capt. Thomas Proctor's unit of the 'Pennsylvania Continental Line,' which was engaged in battle against the British forces on November 16, 1776 at Fort Washington, New York.

While manning his cannon, John Corbin was killed during the above conflict by Hessian forces, thus leaving his wife Margaret a widow, who was present at his side, to 'man' the gun herself and continue the efforts of her deceased husband. The 'Minutes of the Supreme Executive Council' for Pennsylvania, as found in Vol.12 of the Colonial Records, dated June 29, 1779 records the following:

"And in favor of Margaret Corbin, for Thirty Dollars, to relieve her present necessities, she having been wounded and utterly disabled by three grape shott, while she filled with distinguished Bravery the post of her Husband, who was killed by her side, serving a piece of Artillery at Fort Washington.

Ordered, That the case of Margaret Corbin, who was wounded and utterly disabled at Fort Washington, while she heroically filled the post of her husband, who was killed by her side...be recommended to a further consideration of the Board of War, This Council being of opinion, that notwithstanding the rations which have been allowed her, she is not Provided for as her helpless situation really requires." (p.34-35)

Margaret Cochran Corbin eventually was enrolled within the 'Invalid Regiment,' and on July 6, 1779, Congress voted that,

"during her natural life or the continuance of said disability the one-half of the monthly pay drawn by a soldier in the service of these states...and now....one complete suit of clothes, or the value thereof in money" (see, Journals of the Continental Congress, XIV: 805; Dictionary of American Biography, Vol. IV: 1938, p. 438).

After the Revolution, Margaret was living with a second husband at Highland Falls, New York, near the Hudson River, and passed away on January 16, 1800. In 1926 her remains were disinterred, the surgeon of the West Point Hospital, verifying that her skeleton bore the evidence "that her shoulder and breast were badly bruised and battered" as history attested. Her remains were taken to West Point where they were reinterred, and a granite memorial with a bronze tablet erected over her grave. As stated on the marker:

"In Appreciation of her Deeds for the Cause of Liberty, and that her Heroism may not be forgotten, her dust was removed to this spot and this Memorial erected by THE NATIONAL SOCIETY OF THE DAUGHTERS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION, IN NEW YORK STATE, 1926."

As we commemorate 'Women's History Month,' during March, let us not forget the many sacrifices and hardships that women endured, some who are now forgotten or are barely-known and remembered, such individuals like Margaret Cochran Corbin, a Pennsylvanian, but most importantly, an American heroine.

Black History Month: The Remarkable Life of 'Billy' Brown

During the decade of the 1820's, John Fanning Watson, the intrepid antiquarian of early Philadelphia history, interviewed 'Billy' Brown, a free & aged Black man in his 93rd year, residing within the Frankford section of the city, whom he describes as being "quite intelligent," as well as being "possessed of an observing mind & good memory."

Luckily, prior to Brown's death, his remarkable and adventurous life as a former slave and servant, were in part recorded by Watson, thus preserving for present-day readers, the 'life & times' of a forgotten African-American. These are biographical events only partly published in Watson's famous Annals, the remainder being recorded in that author's unpublished manuscript volumes, held within the possession of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, for the years 1823 & 1829.

'Billy' Brown, Mss 'Annals of Philadelphia,' John F. Watson, Vol.1.'

Ethnically, Brown was of the West African tribe known as the Igbo or Ebo, and bore the name of Walka, who along with his parents & five brothers were initially enslaved by fellow Africans. It took he & other captives two years to reach the sea coast, but he remembered quite well, his homeland, and "spoke of seeing Elephants." He and others had been "bartered about among the Blacks for checkered linnen & flannel."

Eventually arriving in the West Indies, he at first was in Jamaica, then Barbadoes, Antigua, and sailed northwards to New York, where he became a slave, "waiter" or servant to a "Col. Brown" of the "Irish Regiment,' during the 'French & Indian War.'

'Billy' Brown was present at the famed, 'Battle of the Monongahela,' better known as 'Braddock's Defeat,' fought in western Pennsylvania in July of 1755, and became an eye-witness to the slaughter & mayhem surrounding that event, giving many details concerning the battle in the narration of his life to Watson. Even though a slave, he was permitted to carry "Pistols & sword to defend himself," during the engagement.

'Billy' remarked how Gen.Edward Braddock "spoke quick & swore much," and said to George Washington (at that time a Virginia militia officer) on their journey through the Pennsylvania wilderness, to what is now Pittsburgh, when angry at him, 'We'll dine today at Fort Duquesne or in Hell!'

Brown also confirmed the oft-told story, of the unpopularity of Braddock, how he was killed, not by the French or their Indian allies, but by a Colonial soldier who had shot an Indian, and then "Braddock shot the soldier, the soldier's Brother {then} shot B.K. {Braddock}, but was not arrested, even though "the soldier offered to give himself up, {but} the officers took no notice of him."

After 'Braddock's Defeat,' Brown and his master would be present at the 'Battle of Quebec,' fought in Canada on September 13th, 1759, where he personally witnessed the demise of the famed officer, General James Wolfe, whom he states remarked to Col. Brown while dying, "Never mind the loss of one man Brown. You know I never fly for one man." It was in Canada, while serving as a waiter to Colonel or General Brown, that he lost "his toes by frost."

Brown would follow his master back to the West Indies, where they joined the British fleet which attacked Havana, Cuba, having cut "the chain across the Harbour, run under the fort and took the town," in 1762.

Next the African sailed to Ireland with his master where he would reside for some years. He was later given passage to come to Philadelphia, with a "Capt. Duncan," in 1768, but upon arrival in America, was sold to Jonathan Bayard Smith, famed Philadelphia merchant and a Pennsylvania delegate to the Continental Congress in 1777-78.

Brown claimed he was eventually sold to General George Washington, but finally became the property of a Virginia slave master named Thomas Wiley, whom he states was "a Cruel Master" who had "whipt {sic} 4 slaves to death."

It was during his period of enslavement with Wiley, that Brown stated he had "lost his fingers by the frost," as well as "one of his eyes." Eventually escaping in 1791, 'Billy' Brown made it back to Pennsylvania where he married and resided at Frankford, where John F. Watson would eventually meet him and hear his life's story, as a 'personal experience narrative' or first-hand account, a couple of years prior to Brown's death.

The life story of 'Billy' Brown is quite detailed and extensive, revealing once again, the fascinating and rich material that awaits the avid researcher at The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, data pertinent & appropriate as well, during this celebration of 'Black History Month.'