Revolutionary Women in the War for American Independence: A One-volume Revised Edition of Elizabeth Ellet's 1848 Landmark Series

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Greenwood Publishing Group, 1998 - History - 226 pages


This modern, annotated adaptation of the original three-volume edition of Women of the American Revolution by Elizabeth Ellet restores, in a single volume, a unique compilation of the roles played by eighty-four American women in the Revolutionary War. A best-seller in the 1850s, Ellet's work is here carefully edited for today's readers by a distinguished Revolutionary War historian. It contains a new introduction and many explanatory footnotes. A new organization arranges these biographies from north to south by colony, underlining the vast differences in class and culture among the various states.

While not America's earliest female historian, Elizabeth Ellet may easily lay claim to being America's first historian of women. Before publication of her books, readers had come close to losing track of the important role played by women in the War for Independence. Ellet preserved these valuable stories through reliance, whenever possible, on first-person accounts which are still as fresh and compelling today as they were in the nineteenth century. A vivid and comprehensive account which will be of interest to both military historians and scholars of women's history.

 

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the review is bout how mary want to war and help the men with the water and other stuff the men needed u can also use a social studies book and read about it in a book instead of a computer or a labtop or a tablet.....

Selected pages

Contents

Mrs John Walker
142
Mrs Woods
145
NORTH CAROLINA AND TENNESSEE
149
Martha Polk Brevard
150
Rachel Craighead Caldwell
151
Margaret Sharpe Gaston
153
Mary Hooks Slocumb
155
SOUTH CAROLINA
159
Martha Bratton
160
Mrs Dillard
162
Isabella Barber Ferguson
163
Emily Geiger
165
Mrs Thomas Heyward
169
Elizabeth Hutchinson Jackson
170
Sarah Wayne McCalls
171
Elizabeth Marshall Martin
173
Mrs Richard Shubrick
175
Mrs John Simpson
176
Mrs Strong
177
Esther Gaston Walker
178
Eliza Yonge Wilkinson
179
Eleanor Wilson
182
GEORGIA
187
Nancy Hart
188
SLEEPING WITH THE ENEMY
193
Margaret Shippen Arnold
195
Rebecca Franks
199
Mrs Mary Harvey
200
Jane McCrea
201
Flora McDonald
203
Margaret Moncrieff
204
Mary Philipse Morris
208
Mrs Munro
209
Index
219
Copyright

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Page 24 - I have retrenched every superfluous expense in my table and family ; tea I have not drunk since last Christmas, nor bought a new cap or gown since your defeat at Lexington ; and what I never did before, have learned to knit, and am now making stockings of American wool for my servants ; and this way do I throw in my mite to the public good. I know this — that as free I can die but once ; but as a slave I shall not be worthy of life. I have the pleasure to assure you that these are the sentiments...
Page 22 - Patriotic mothers nursed the infancy of freedom. Their counsels and their prayers mingled with the deliberations that resulted in a nation's assertion of its independence. They animated the courage, and confirmed the self-devotion of those who ventured all in the common cause. They frowned upon instances of coldness or backwardness* and in the period of deepest gloom, cheered and urged onward the desponding. They willingly shared inevitable dangers and privations, relinquished without regret prospects...
Page 196 - I know you young men are all in love with Mrs. Arnold, and wish to get where she is as soon as possible. You may go and take your breakfast with her, and tell her not to wait for me; for I must ride down and examine the redoubts on this side of the river, and will be there in a short time.
Page 180 - your husband and your son are my prisoners ; the fortunes of war may soon place others of your sons — perhaps all your kinsmen, in my power. Your sons are young, aspiring and brave. In a good cause, fighting for a generous and powerful king, such as George III., they might hope for rank, honor and wealth. If you could but induce your husband and sons to leave the rebels, and take up arms for their lawful sovereign, I would almost pledge myself that they shall have rank and consideration in the...
Page 99 - Madam, when once the woman has tempted us, and we have tasted the forbidden fruit, there is no such thing as checking our appetites, whatever the consequences may be.
Page 24 - I believe the two Howes have not very great -women for wives. If they had, we should suffer more from their exertions than we do. This is our good fortune. A...
Page 188 - This hint was enough ; the dead man was dragged out of the house ; and the wounded tory and the others were bound, taken out beyond the bars and hung ! The tree upon which they were...
Page 36 - Her heart sank within her ; she strove in vain to collect and compose herself, and overpowered with dread and uncertainty, was ushered into the presence of the Chief. He noticed her extreme agitation, and supposing it to proceed from diffidence, kindly endeavored to re-assure her. He then bade her retire "with an attendant, who was directed to offer her some refreshment, while he read the communication of which she had been the bearer. Within a short time she was again summoned into the presence...
Page 23 - The army ought not to regret its sacrifices or its sufferings when they meet with so flattering a reward, as in the sympathy of your sex; nor can it fear that its interests will be neglected, when espoused by advocates as powerful as they are amiable.
Page 22 - ... ventured all in the common cause. They willingly shared inevitable dangers and privations, relinquished without regret prospects of advantage to themselves, and parted with those they loved better than life, not knowing when they were to meet again. We have no means of showing the important part women bore in maintaining the struggle, and in laying the foundations on which so mighty and majestic a structure has arisen. History cannot do them justice; for history deals with the workings of the...

About the author (1998)

LINCOLN DIAMANT studied American History at Columbia University and was a writer for CBS News before he became a biographer and historian of the American Revolution. He is author of eight books, including Chaining the Hudson (1994) and The Broadcast Communications Dictionary (Greenwood, 1989). He has lectured extensively on American History and has served as a commentator for Fox Television.

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