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Biography: Life of Molly Pitcher
Born 1754, Died 1832
Molly Pitcher, the heroine of the Battle of Monmouth, was born on October 13, 1754 in New Jersey. Her real name was Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley. Mary was taken to Pennsylvania to work as a servant and there she married a barber named William Hays. When the Revolutionary War began William Hays enlisted as a gunner in the Pennsylvania Artillery. Mary eventually joined her husband and wintered with the Army at Valley Forge.
On June 28, 1778 at the Battle of Monmouth, Mary gained the nickname “Molly Pitcher”. During the battle she went back and forth carrying water from a well in a pitcher to her husband and other hot and exhausted men. Molly also tended to the wounded while making her rounds. When her husband was wounded, Molly Pitcher stepped forward and took his place at the cannon. She swabbed the cannon, rammed the charge and ball and kept the cannon firing. Molly Pitcher manned the cannon for the rest of the battle. For her heroism Molly Pitcher was made a non-commissioned officer by General George Washington.
Following the War, Molly and her husband returned to Carlisle, Pennsylvania. After the death of William Hays in 1789, Molly Pitcher married George McCauley.
In 1822 Molly Pitcher was given a pension by the Pennsylvania State Legislature for her heroic service. She died on January 22, 1832. A monument marks her grave in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.
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