Tag: Women History Month

Women’s History Month: The Story of Anna Maria Lane

On By erwguestIn Armies, Civilian, Common Soldier, Revolutionary War, Women2 Comments

Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes guest historian Paige Backus. 

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Aron, Paul. “Fighting as a Common Soldier”. Colonial Williamsburg: Trends and Traditions (Spring 2017). Accessed March 12, 2019. Click here for URL.

Women’s History Month is dedicated to celebrating extraordinary women and encouraging the women of today to be the same.  Throughout American history, there are multitudes of women who certainly were put into extraordinary situations and rose to the challenge to make their place in history. Throughout the American Revolution, women were generally not allowed to serve in the armies so they accompanied their husbands to war as camp followers assisting with the cooking, cleaning, nursing and other domestic tasks needed by the army. This is no small feat considering that women were exposed to the hardships and challenges of war, working without the modern technology we take for granted today, and doing it all in skirts. However, one woman named Anna Maria Lane not only followed her husband into war, but she joined him in battle becoming the only known woman in Virginia to serve as a soldier during the American Revolution. Continue reading “Women’s History Month: The Story of Anna Maria Lane” →

Women in War

On By erwpostIn Armies, Battlefields & Historic Places, Civilian, Emerging Revolutionary War, Memory, Revolutionary War1 Comment

As February turns to March, our friends at American Battlefield Trust (ABT), in honor of Women’s History Month, are starting a series on “Women in War.”

ABT

The objective of the initiative is to highlight the important role women have played in America’s conflicts, especially the wars that the Trust is actively trying to preserve the hallowed ground from. From the home-front to the front-lines, women were crucial to all aspects of the winning or sustaining the fight during the respective conflicts.

That got one historian at Emerging Revolutionary War thinking.

If you had to list the most influential women during the American Revolutionary War time period, who would top the list?

Feel free to comment below!

For information about the ABT’s month-long series click here.

Women Speaking Softly: Female Voices of the Boston Massacre

On By erwguestIn Civilian, Common Soldier, Memory, Monuments, National Park Service, Revolutionary War3 Comments

Emerging Revolutionary War welcomes back guest historian Katie Turner Getty

“Fire! Fire! You dare not fire!” “Cowardly rascals!” “Lobsters!”

Shouts pierced the icy stillness of the night as a raucous crowd gathered in Boston’s King Street on the night of March 5, 1770. With their voices carrying through the wintry air all the way to Long Wharf, the crowd hurled insults at eight British soldiers and their captain. The soldiers’ muskets rattled as snowballs, oyster shells, and chunks of ice lobbed by the unruly crowd rained down upon them.

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Fifth Victim is the sketch of the coffin of Patrick Carr, published in the Boston-Gazette and Country Journal on19 March 1770.

The soldiers shot eleven townspeople that night. Three died in the snow where they stood. Two more would later die from their wounds. The remaining six would survive. All of the victims were male.

Documentary evidence shows that the crowd in King Street on the night of the Boston Massacre was overwhelmingly male. The crowd was variously described as “mostly boys and youngsters”, “near 200 boys and men”, “a parcel of Rude boys”, and “chiefly consisting of boys and lads”.[1] Continue reading “Women Speaking Softly: Female Voices of the Boston Massacre” →

“Remember the Ladies”

On By Phill GreenwaltIn Revolutionary War2 Comments

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March is Women’s History Month, a time to reflect on the many contributions women have contributed in our country. At George Washington Birthplace National Monument, our social media policy for the month has been to highlight important women to the history of the National Park Service and/or to George Washington’s life.

By writing the history text and developing what images to use for these posts, I thought I would take this example and expand it to include two other women that played integral parts in the American Revolutionary movement.

Abigail Adams and Mercy Otis Warren. Continue reading ““Remember the Ladies”” →