Quicknation, comprehensive information and links about Molly Pitcher

Molly Pitcher was a generic name applied to women who bravely carried water (usually in buckets) to men on the battlefield during the American Revolutionary War. The various Molly Pitcher tales grew in the telling, and most historians now believe they should be regarded as folklore rather than history, though real women inspired these stories.

One such woman was ), born in New Jersey, who attended to her husband William Hays, an artilleryman, in the Battle of Monmouth on June 28, 1778. When William fell wounded, possibly from heat stroke, Mary bravely took her husband's post at his cannon, thus saving it from having to be pulled back due to depleted man power.

According to legend, after the battle, General George Washington issued her a warrant as a noncommissioned officer, and she was thereafter known by the nickname "Sergeant Molly", although this version of the story may conflate this Molly with another, a woman named Margaret Corbin.

In 1928, "Molly Pitcher" was honored with an overprint reading "MOLLY PITCHER" on a U.S. postage stamp. "Molly" was further honored in World War II with the naming of the Liberty ship SS