Born November 12, 1751
Franklin County, Pennsylvania
Died c. 1800
Westchester County, New York

Camp follower, soldier

A tablet in her honor at Corbin Place in New York City praises Margaret Cochran Corbin as the "first woman to take a soldier's part in the war for liberty."

Margaret Cochran Corbin picked up the gun of her soldier husband and took his place after he was killed by gunfire in a Revolutionary War battle. Wounded herself, she became the first woman in the United States to receive an annual payment from the government as a disabled soldier.

Corbin was born on November 12, 1751, reportedly near Chambersburg, Pennsylvania. She was the daughter of a Scottish-Irish colonist named Robert Cochran, but the name of her mother is unknown. In 1756 Native Americans killed Corbin's father and kidnapped her mother. Five-year-old Margaret and her brother, John Cochran, escaped capture and were raised by...