Life Of Molly Pitcher

Colonial Bytes: Women and The Revolution - A portrait of Molly Pitcher

Molly Pitcher was born on October 13, 1744, in New Jersey. She later moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, to work as a domestic servant in 1768 and later married John Casper Hays on July 24, 1769. She joined her husband as a camp follower during the Philadelphia Campaign (1777-1778) in New Jersey during the Revolutionary War. Her actions during the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778, became legendary. Molly returned to Pennsylvania after the war in April 26, 1783, where, after the death of John Hays, she remarried to a war veteran named John McCauley. She was later honored by the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1822 for her “services during the Revolutionary war.” She died on January 22, 1833, in Carlisle, Pennsylvania. Molly Pitcher’s real name was Mary Ludwig, the daughter of a German settler, John George Ludwig. On October 13, 1744, Mary Ludwig was born on a small farm between Princeton and Trenton in New Jersey. It was there where she grew up and helped her father, who was a dairyman, on the farm. She was raised to be a hard worker, and as typical hardworking farm girl—heavy-set, strong, and sturdy—she could do all the chores and tasks that a small farm requires. In 1768, Mary Ludwig was hired by a Mrs. Irvine from Carlisle, Pennsylvania, who wanted a young girl to help with the housework. Mary Ludwig lived with Doctor and Mrs. Irvine for some years, and it was there that she met her husband, John Casper Hay, a local barber. They married on July 24, 1769. In 1775, the Revolutionary War began, and Hays enlisted in Colonel Thomas Procter’s First Pennsylvania regiment artillery, in which he served for one year. He then enlisted again in January of 1777 in Captain Alexander’s Company of Colonel William Irvine’s 7th Pennsylvania regiment. Mary Ludwig Hays followed her husband to war, a custom in the British Army and, to some extent, among the American troops. Following her husband’s regiment, she nursed the sick and assisted in cooking and washing. On June 28, 1778, in Freehold, New Jersey, during the Battle of Monmouth, Mary Ludwig Hays earned the nickname “Molly Pitcher,” becoming one of the most popular female images of the Revolutionary War. On that day, during the Battle of Monmouth, Molly Pitcher performed an act of unusual heroism, an act that would go down in history as legendary. That day in Freehold, New Jersey, it was told that Mary trudged back and forth from a nearby spring bringing water to the soldiers on that hot and smoky battlefield. Welcoming the sight of the sparkling water, the weary soldiers nicknamed her “Molly Pitcher.” According to some accounts, on one of her trips from the spring, Molly Pitcher, as she was always called thereafter, saw her husband collapsing next to his cannon, unable to fight. Molly dropped her pitcher and took over his position, and she was seen firing the cannon throughout the dreadful battle until victory was achieved.