Mary Hays (American Revolutionary War)

Mary Ludwig Hays (October 13, 1754 – January 22, 1832) was a woman who fought in the American War of Independence at the Battle of Monmouth. The woman behind the Molly Pitcher story is most often identified as Hays, but it is likely that the legend is an amalgam of more than one woman seen on the battlefield that day.

Life and military career

Mary Ludwig was born in Trenton, New Jersey, British America. There is some dispute over her birth date, but a marker in the cemetery where she is buried lists her birth date as October 13, 1754. She had a moderately sized family which included her older brother Johann Martin; their parents were Maria Margaretha and Johann George Ludwig, who was a butcher. It is likely that she never attended school or learned to read, as education was uncommon among girls at this time.

Her father died in January 1769, and her mother married John Hays the following June. In early 1777, Mary married William Hays, a barber in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Continental Army records show that he was an artilleryman at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. Dr. William Irvine organized a boycott of British goods as a protest of the Tea Act on July 12, 1774, in a meeting in the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, and William Hays' name appears on a list of people who were charged with enforcing it.

In early 1778, the Continental Army trained under Baron Friedrich Wilhelm von Steuben. Hays trained as an artilleryman, and Mary and other camp followers served as water carriers, carrying water to troops who were drilling on the field. Also, artillerymen needed a supply of water to soak the sponge used to clean sparks and gunpowder out of the barrel after each shot. It was during this time that Mary probably received her nickname, as troops would shout, "Molly! Pitcher!" whenever they needed her to bring fresh water.

Battle of Monmouth

right|thumb|Molly Pitcher at the [[Battle of Monmouth, engraving by J.C. Armytage, c. 1859]]

thumb|Molly Pitcher Spring Marker

At the Battle of Monmouth in June 1778, Mary Hays attended to American soldiers by giving them water. Just before the battle started, she found a spring to serve as her supply, and two places on the battlefield are now marked as the "Molly Pitcher Spring." She spent much of the early day carrying water to soldiers and artillerymen.

The weather was very hot, and William Hays collapsed during the battle, either wounded or suffering from heat exhaustion. It has often been reported that he was killed in the battle, but it is known that he survived.

Joseph Plumb Martin recalls an incident in his memoirs, writing that at the Battle of Monmouth, "A woman whose husband belonged to the artillery and who was then attached to a piece in the engagement, attended with her husband at the piece the whole time. While in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she observed that it was lucky it did not pass a little higher, for in that case it might have carried away something else, and continued her occupation." However, there is no mention of the woman Martin describes serving the gun crews with water, nor of her husband becoming a casualty.

Later in the evening, the fighting was stopped due to gathering darkness. Although George Washington and his commanders expected the battle to continue the following day, Sir Henry Clinton's army retreated during the night and continued on to Sandy Hook, New Jersey.

After the battle, General Washington asked about the woman whom he had seen loading a cannon on the battlefield. In commemoration of her courage, he issued Mary Hays a warrant as a non-commissioned officer. Afterward, she was known as "Sergeant Molly," a nickname that she used for the rest of her life. She is buried in the Old Graveyard in Carlisle under the name "Molly McCauley". A statue of "Molly Pitcher," standing alongside a cannon, is also in the cemetery. But according to this same monument--unveiled July 4, 1876, long after Mary/"Molly"'s death--the year she died is marked "January 1833," not January 1832. And the monument also records she was only "Aged 70 years," which (probably erroneously) would place her birth year at 1763, instead of 1754 as noted here.

The Molly Pitcher story

Molly was a common nickname for women named Mary in the Revolutionary time period. Biographical information about Mary Hays has been gathered by historians, including her cultural heritage, given name, probable year of birth, marriages, progeny, and census and tax records, providing a reasonably reliable account of her life.

Historian Emily Teipe notes that the deeds in the story of Molly Pitcher are generally attributed to Mary Ludwig Hays. However, she has also pointed out 'The historical record presents other candidates too numerous to mention' and contends that 'the name Molly Pitcher is a collective generic term', serving as a common label for the 'hundreds, perhaps thousands, of women (who) served not only as ammunition wives, manning and firing the guns, but also in the army and colonial militia'.

References

Bibliography

Bilby, Joseph G., and Katherine Bilby Jenkins. Monmouth Court House: The Battle That Made the American Army. Yardley, PA: Westholme, 2010.
Downey, Fairfax. 1956. "The Girls Behind the Guns". American Heritage. 8, no. 1: 46-48.
Bohrer, Melissa Lukeman. Glory, Passion, and Principle: The Story of Eight Remarkable Women at the Core of the American Revolution. New York: Atria Books, 2003. .
Raphael, Ray. Founding Myths: Stories That Hide Our Patriotic Past. New York: New Press, 2004. . Raphael regards "Molly Pitcher" as a myth that serves to obscure the actual (though less dramatic) contributions of women to the war effort.
The Real Pennsylvania Dutch American, "Molly Pitcher" – A Documented History. .

External links

Pitcher Molly Pitcher Overprint on 2¢ Postage Stamp