Margaret Cochran Corbin - First female Revolutionary War heroine.

Margaret Cochran Corbin (Captain Molly) 1751 - 1800

Margaret Corbin was the first woman to fight in the American Revolutionary War. On November 16, 1776 she and her husband, John Corbin, both from Philadelphia, along with some 600 American soldiers, were defending Fort Washington in northern Manhattan from 4,000 attacking Hessian troops under British command. John and Margaret crewed one of two cannons the defenders possessed. After her husband was killed, Margaret took over firing his cannon until she was seriously wounded. Three years later, she became the first woman in the United States to receive a pension from Congress.

In 1751, Margaret Corbin was not born into a life of luxury and ease, but into a hardy Scotch-Irish (Ulster-Scots) family on the frontier in what was then, Cumberland County. In June of 1756, during the 'French & Indian War' her father Robert Cochran was killed and scalped during the 'Ft. Bigham Massacre' in the Tuscarora Valley, while her mother and her brother, were also taken captive by the Indians during the same attack and never returned. Orphaned at five years old, Margaret and another brother, John, were raised by a maternal uncle. 

Fort Bigham was located between forts Granville & Patterson

Margaret grew up to be strong and tall, she was five feet, eight inches in height. She met a Virginian farmer named John Corbin, and in 1772 they got married. They lived in Franklin County.

 Four years later, during the outbreak of the Revolutionary War John Corbin joined a unit in the army; the Pennsylvania Artillery, Continental Line. Margaret went too. She became a camp follower. Camp followers were women, men, and children who followed after a group of soldiers. They helped by carrying bundles, cooking for the soldiers, mending and washing their clothes, and caring for the sick and wounded. When there was a battle most camp followers stayed in the camp. Margaret went to the battlefield to help her husband.  

Fort Washington, New York

On November 16, 1776 John’s division was stationed at Fort Washington, New York. This was an important fort on Manhattan Island. John was stationed at a pair of cannons on Forest Hill. The fort was attacked by Hessian troops (German auxiliaries) under British command. When John Corbin was hit and killed, Margaret took his place at the cannon, she continued loading and firing the cannon by herself until finally she was severely wounded by grapeshot which tore apart her shoulder, mangled her chest and lacerated her jaw. The fort was eventually captured by the British, the wounded American soldiers were later paroled.

Margaret Corbin gravely wounded at the Battle of Washington Fort

'Captain Molly', as she became known, never fully recovered from her wounds. She was left disfigured and without use of her left arm for the rest of her life.  In 1779, the Continental Congress granted her a pension ("half the pay and allowances of a soldier in service") due to her distinguished bravery. She continued to be included on regimental muster lists until the end of the war in 1783. Margaret Cochran Corbin died near West Point, New York prior to her 50th birthday. 

Margaret's burial & memorial site at West Point

In 1926, the Daughters of the American Revolution had her remains moved from an obscure grave and re-interred with full military honours at West Point military academy where they also erected a monument to her. She was the only Revolutionary War veteran honored in this way.  Near the place of the battle, in Fort Tryon Park in New York City, a bronze plaque commemorates Margaret Corbin "the first American woman to take a soldier's part in the War for Liberty". 

The Scots-Irish & the American Declaration of Independence.

“Signed by Order, and on behalf of the Congress JOHN HANCOCK, PRESIDENT Attest. Charles Thompson, Secretary."

That phrase (above) at the end of the Declaration of Independence should serve as a reminder to all of the debt owed to the Scots-Irish who played such vital parts towards the setting up of their Free and Independent States. 

These were to be the only two signatures on that historical document for many days; that of the President of Congress, John Hancock whose ancestors came from County Down in Northern Ireland, and that of Charles Thompson, born in Co. Londonderry, Northern Ireland, who's penmanship drafted the original document.

The first printed copies of the declaration were known as the Dunlap Broadsides. Dunlap was born in Co. Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It was first read in public by the son of an Ulster Scot, Colonel John Nixon.

The historic Declaration contained sentiments closely identified with the aspirations of the Presbyterian immigrant stock from the north of Ireland who settled in the American colonies during the 18th century. A significant assertion was: “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator, with certain inalienable rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness”.

Apart from JOHN HANCOCK & CHARLES THOMPSON, at least five other signatories were Scots-Irish... 

THOMAS McKEAN, leading Delaware signatory of the Declaration, was the son of William McKean, an Ulster emigrant from North Antrim who came to Pennsylvania via Londonderry as a child and later married Letitia Finney, whose family had also emigrated from Ulster.

GEORGE TAYLOR, a signatory for Pennsylvania, emigrated from Co Antrim as a 20-year-old in the 1720s and he settled in the Scots-Irish dominated Chester county.

JAMES SMITH, another Declaration signatory from Pennsylvania, emigrated from the north of Ireland as a 10-year-old at about 1719 and, like George Taylor, he also settled with his Presbyterian family in Chester county.

MATTHEW THORNTON, signatory from New Hampshire, landed on American soil as a four-year-old in the passage of five ships carrying 120 Presbyterian families from the Bann Valley (Coleraine-Ballymoney-Aghadowey-Macosquin).

EDWARD RUTLEDGE, whose father Dr John Rutledge left Co Tyrone in the north of Ireland in 1735, was and a signatory of the Declaration from South Carolina.

Other Declaration signers - WILLIAM WHIPPLE, ROBERT PAINE and THOMAS NELSON - are also believed to have some Ulster links.

Flag of Mecklenburg County, N.C.

A forerunner to the American Declaration of Independence was the Mecklenburg Declaration, signed at Charlotte in North Carolina on May 20, 1775 by 27 leading citizens in the region, 18 of whom were of Ulster-Scots Presbyterian origin.This Carolina backcountry document fearlessly staked the claim for American independence, with the signatories declaring themselves a free and independent people. Similar patriotic sentiments were expressed at the time by Scots-Irish settlers at Abingdon, Virginia, at Pine Creek in western Pennsylvania and at Hanna’s Town in south-western Pennsylvania.

Famous quotes regarding the Scots-Irish and the American war of Independence...

W. McKinley - Scots-Irish were first to proclaim for freedom in United States

T. Roosevelt - It's doubtful if we wholly realise the part played by the Scots-Irish.

T. Roosevelt - The most ardent Americans of all were the Presbyterian Scots-Irish.

Hessian Commander - This war is nothing more or less than a Scots-Irish rebellion.

American generals of Ulster origin during the Revolutionary war.

Quite apart from the fact that one third to one half of the American colonial army were Ulstermen or the sons of Ulstermen, nothing brings more conviction of the great part played by our people in the Revolution than to consider the number of American officers of high distinction who were of Ulster origin or descent. Over 25 of Washington’s generals were of Ulster heritage, here are some of those men… 

General Richard Montgomery was from County Donegal. He fell while gallantly leading his men in an attack on Quebec. By a strange co-incidence, the British commander on that occasion, and the man who saved Canada for the British Empire, was General Sir Guy Carleton, who was born near Strabane, only a few miles from Montgomery's home.