During the battle of Monmouth, a gunner named Pitcher was killed; and when the call was made for some one to take the place of her fallen husband, his wife, who had followed him to the camp, and thence to the field of conflict, unhesitatingly stepped forward, and offered her services. The gun was so well managed as to draw the attention of General Washington to the circumstance, and to call forth an expression of his admiration of her bravery and her fidelity to her country. To show his appreciation of her virtues and her highly valuable services, he conferred on her a lieutenant's commission. She afterwards went by the name of Captain Molly.

The poet Glover tells us, in his Leonidas, that Xerxes boasted

and Herodotus also very justly eulogizes the same character. Yet Artemisia was scarcely more serviceable to Xerxes in the battle of Salamis, than "Captain Molly" to Washington in the battle of Monmouth. One served in a Grecian expedition, to gratify her great spirit, vigor of mind and love of glory; the other fought, partly, it may be, to revenge the death of her husband, but more, doubtless, for the love she bore for an injured country, "bleeding at every vein." One was rewarded with a complete suit of Grecian armor; the other with a lieutenant's commission, and both for their bravery. If the queen of Caria is deserving of praise for her martial valor, the name of the heroic wife of the gunner, should be woven with hers in a fadeless wreath of song.