(b. December 17, 1760; d. April 29, 1827) Soldier during the American Revolution.

During the American Revolution, a young woman named Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man, enlisted in the Continental Army, and served with apparent valor for one and a half years before being discharged. Sampson's story became widely known only in later years, when she published an account of her life and traversed the country on a speaking tour in an effort to raise funds for her family. Sampson's adventures reveal both the limitations on women's roles during the Revolutionary era and the lengths to which one woman would go to serve her country.

Born to a poor family in Plympton, Massachusetts, Sampson lost her father, a sailor, at sea when she was five years old. Her mother, unable to support her six children, sent her to live with family friends and acquaintances; eventually she was bound...