Women during American Revolution

Role of women during the american revoltuion

Hannah Blair

PenelopeBarker

Elizabeth Maxwell Steel

Mary Slocumb

Hannah Blair

Hannah Blair was a Quaker who was a revolutionary Patriot. She helped soldiers with food, supplies, and other help. She would hide soldiers, carried secret messages, and fixed uniforms.Her farm was burned by British Loyalists when they found out. After the war, the United States government thanked her and gave her a small pension for her services.

In the year 1761, Penelope had to run the house and plantations alone because her husband Thomas had to go to London to help North Carolina. Due to the American Revolution and the British stopping American ports, he had to stay in England until September 1778.Penelope Barker was different from most wives in the colonies. She was used to managing everything by herself.

Penelope Barker

When people in the colonies started to want independence from Britain, Penelope knew it could cause trouble because of her husband's job. So, on October 25, 1774, she led fifty-one women in Edenton to go against the British Tea Act from 1773. They met at a lady's house, where Penelope was in charge. They promised not to drink British tea or use English things until unjust laws were changed. This event became known as the "Edenton Tea Party" and became famous when a funny drawing was published in London in 1775.

North Carolina has its share of legends, and some are associated with the state's most famous historical events. One of these legends is about the supposed heroic wartime actions of a woman named Mary (or Polly) Slocumb.

Mary Slocumb

The story has been told, at least from the late 1840s onward, that Mary Slocumb had a dream that Ezekiel, her Patriot husband, has been badly wounded and bloodied in the Battle of Moores Creek Bridge on February 27, 1776 and rode through the night to be at his side there. The legend tells that she rode a horse through the night for some sixty miles to reach Moores Creek. She arrived there to learn that her husband was fine, so she cared for wounded Patriot soldiers.

Elizabeth Maxwell Steel

Elizabeth Maxwell Steel was a brave woman who lived in Salisbury, a town in North Carolina, during the Revolutionary War. She was born in western Rowan County to a family that came from Scotland and Ireland. After her second husband William Steel died, Elizabeth ran a place for travelers to stay in Salisbury. She was also good at buying and selling land and managed to save some money, even though she didn't go to school. During the Revolution, Elizabeth strongly supported the American Patriots. She wrote letters to her brother-in-law in Pennsylvania to share her thoughts. People who knew her said she was determined and capable. Some stories say that during a big battle, she helped General Nathanael Greene by giving him a place to stay and some money.