Tales, Traditions and Romance of Border and Revolutionary TimesEllis, Edward Sylvester
History
Tales, Traditions and Romance of Border and Revolutionary Times
Ellis, Edward Sylvester
Frontier and pioneer life -- United States -- Anecdotes; United States -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783 -- Anecdotes
There comes to us, from the days of chivalry, in song and story, legends
of ladies who followed their lords to the distant field of Palestine,
hiding their soft hearts under the disguise of the page's dress. Time,
the romancer, has thrown his enchanting vail over their adventures,
surrounding them with the grace of mystery and the glory of sentiment.
Perhaps in the far-away future of our immortal republic, young men and
maidens will dream over the story of DEBORAH SAMPSON, the girl-soldier
of that Revolution which won us our liberties. It will not be said that
she donned the uniform and shouldered the musket for the sake of some
dear lover, that she might ever be near to watch over him in the hour of
danger, and to nurse him if wounded, with all the tender solicitude of
woman's love; but it will be told that she went into the service of her
country because men were few and her heart was in the cause. She had
health and courage, and that high patriotism which burned alike in manly
and feminine breasts. That she was brave, is proven by her being twice
wounded in battle. There is no need of putting any other construction
than that of pure patriotism upon her actions; the steadiness with which
she performed her duties show that it was no wild love of adventure
which possessed her.
Deborah Sampson was born in the county of Plymouth, Massachusetts. Her
parents were poor and vicious, and their children were taken from them
by the hand of charity, to be placed with different families, where
there was a prospect of their being better cared for. Deborah found a
home with a respectable farmer, by whom she was treated as one of the
family, except in the matter of education. To overcome this deprivation
she used to borrow the books of school children, over which she pored
until she learned to read tolerably well. This simple fact reveals that
her mind was no ordinary one. She was a true child of New England,
ambitious to be the equal of those by whom she was surrounded, and
looking upon ignorance almost as degradation. Many of our now famous
minds began their culture in this humble way, by the side of the kitchen
fire, perhaps with a pine-torch, by the light of which to pursue their
eager groping after knowledge.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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