A Cyclopaedia of Female Biography/Samson, Deborah
SAMSON, DEBORAH,
Was the child of very poor parents, of Plymouth, Massachusetts. She was received into a respectable family, where she was kindly treated, but where her education was entirely neglected. She, however, contrived to teach herself to read and write; and, as soon as she was able, earned money enough to pay for her own schooling for a short time. When she was about twenty, the Revolutionary war in America commenced; and Deborah, disguising herself in man's apparel, and going to the American camp, enlisted, in 1778, for the whole term of the war, under the name of Robert Shirtliffe. Accustomed to out-door labour, she was enabled to undergo the same fatigues and exercises as the other soldiers. Her fidelity and zeal gained her the confidence of the officers, and she was a volunteer in several hazardous enterprises. She was twice wounded, at first in the head, and afterwards in the shoulder; but she managed to preserve the secret of her sex unsuspected However, she was seized with a brain-fever in Philadelphia, and the physician who was attending her discovered her sex, and took her to his own spouse. When her health was restored, her commanding officer, to whom the physician had revealed his discovery, ordered her to carry a letter to General Washington. Certain now of a fact of which she had before been doubtful, that her sex was known, she went with much reluctance to fulfil the order. Washington, after reading the message with great consideration, without speaking a word, gave her her discharge, together with a note containing a few words of advice, and some money. She afterwards married Benjamin Gannett, of Sharon, Massachusetts. She received a pension, with a grant of land, for her services as a revolutionary soldier.