Born October 13, 1754
Trenton, New Jersey
Died January 22, 1832
Carlisle, Pennsylvania

Domestic servant, camp follower

"You girls should have been with me at the battle of Monmouth and learned how to load a cannon."
Painting: "Molly Pitcher at the Battle of Monmouth" by C. Y. Turner. Reproduced by permission of the Corbis Corporation (Bellevue).

Mary McCauley ran a household and tended to children, the typical duties of a woman of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. But when her country needed her, she showed independence of thought and action. Nicknamed "Molly Pitcher," Mary McCauley demonstrated courage under fire and helped save American lives at a critical Revolutionary War battle.

The woman believed to be the Molly Pitcher of Revolutionary War fame was born Mary Ludwig on October 13,1754. Her parents were dairy farmers who lived on a small farm outside...