This article was originally published in the March 2015 Boston Compass (#62)

A true story, The American Heroine premiered at Boston’s Federal Street Theatre on March 26, 1802. The performance featured Deborah Sampson as her daring alias, Private Robert Shurtliff of the Continental Army. Sampson’s show toured throughout Massachusetts and New York, captivating audiences with her harrowing tales of combat and brushes with both death and the discovery of her cleverly concealed identity. A woman dressed in a soldier’s uniform was a rare site for theatergoers, but even more fundamentally novel was the notion of a woman on a public speaking tour. Never before had this occurred in America.

Sampson grew up in poverty in a broken home and entered into indentured servitude at age 10. At age 22 “Shurtliff” served in the Revolutionary War as a means to support herself and experience the country beyond Massachusetts’s South Shore. In 1782 she received a bullet to her inner thigh during a skirmish in Westchester County, NY. Rather than allow her true sex to be revealed to the medic, she treated the wound herself and resumed her duties despite agonizing pain. She managed to evade detection for some 18 months into her service before falling ill in Philadelphia; upon examination while unconscious the attending doctor noticed the cloth binding her breasts. When she had fully recovered the doctor informed the commanding officer of her secret. Although impersonating a man was technically illegal, the officer granted her an honorable discharge and commended her for her bravery, albeit privately.

Following the honorable discharge receiving back pay proved difficult, as it was for many veterans at the time. She was once again in the familiar position of being broke. After a nine-year bureaucratic battle she successfully petitioned for her back pay. Somehow from this petition her unique story was leaked to the press, who painted her as an American Heroine. Capitalizing on her newfound celebrity, she commissioned a biographer and published The Female Review in 1797, later selling copies by the dozens on her groundbreaking speaking tour.

Sampson was repeatedly denied a federal pension often rewarded to wounded veterans who could prove financial need. In 1804 her friend, neighbor, and esteemed patriot Paul Revere wrote a letter to Congressman William Eustis on her behalf, stating in part, “I have no doubt your humanity will prompt you to do all in your power to get her some relief; I think her case much more deserving than hundreds to whom Congress have been generous.” Her pension was granted shortly thereafter and today Deborah Sampson is the official Heroine of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

—Neil Horsky // horskyprojects.com