The Tale of “Molly Pitcher” – Battle of Monmouth (American Revolution)

Posted on June 28, 2015 Updated on June 28, 2015

The legend of “Molly Pitcher” at least in part refers to one Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley born in 1754, near Trenton, N.J., U.S. However, there is a debate among the historians regarding the true identity of the legend. The other name who is believed to be the legendary Molly Pitcher includes Margaret Corbin.  It is also believed that the title “Molly Pitcher” is a composite character of all the women who assisted the Continental army.

Though details of Mary Ludwig’s childhood remains debated it is believed that her parents were immigrants settled in New Jersey. At the age of 13 she worked as a domestic help of Dr. William Irvine in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. During the same period she married a man named William Hays, a barber who during the American Revolution became a gunner in the Pennsylvania Artillery. Sometime later Mary joined her husband in the battlefield during the Philadelphia Campaign (1777-1778).

Mary earned the title “Molly Pitcher” in the Battle of Monmouth, where she carried buckets, or pitchers, of water to her husband’s artillery crew. On June 28, 1778, her husband fell wounded and Mary earned a name for herself when she reportedly took his place at the cannon for the remaining part of the battle.

Post the war they returned to Pennsylvania and settled in Carlisle. After her husband’s death around 1789, she remarried another Rev War vet by the name of John McCauley around 1792.

After being widowed a second time, in the face of financial difficulties she applied for a soldier’s widow’s pension.  On 21 February 1822 the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania instead awarded Molly an annual pension of USD40 for her own military service during the Revolution.

After her death on January 22nd, 1832 in Carlisle, the legend lived on. Her contribution to the American war of Independence was recognized and later monuments were built near the Monmouth battle site and at Mary Hays’s burial site in Carlisle. In 1928 a postal stamp was issued in her name by the U.S. Postal Service, a battleship during World War II was named after her and a rest stop on the New Jersey Turnpike was also named in her honor.

Source: Encyclopedia.com; Encyclopaedia Britannica; Courier-Post; Revolutionary-War.net