Download Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
The American Revolution was a home-front war that brought scarcity, bloodshed, and danger into the life of every American, and Carol Berkin shows us that women played a vital role throughout the struggle.
Berkin takes us into the ordinary moments of extraordinary lives. We see women boycotting British goods in the years before independence, writing propaganda that radicalized their neighbors, raising funds for the army, and helping finance the fledgling government. We see how they managed farms, plantations, and businesses while their men went into battle, and how they served as nurses and cooks in the army camps, risked their lives seeking personal freedom from slavery, and served as spies, saboteurs, and warriors.
She introduces us to sixteen-year-old Sybil Ludington, who sped through the night to rouse the militiamen needed to defend Danbury, Connecticut; to Phillis Wheatley, literary prodigy and Boston slave, who voiced the hopes of African Americans in poems; to Margaret Corbin, crippled for life when she took her husband’s place beside a cannon at Fort Monmouth; to the women who gathered firewood, cooked, cleaned for the troops, nursed the wounded, and risked their lives carrying intelligence and participating in reconnaissance missions. Here, too, are Abigail Adams, Deborah Franklin, Lucy Knox, and Martha Washington, who lived with the daily knowledge that their husbands would be hanged as traitors if the revolution did not succeed. A recapturing of the experiences of ordinary women who lived in extraordinary times, and a fascinating addition to our understanding of the birth of our nation. Revolutionary Mothers: Women in the Struggle for America's Independence
Remember the ladies!
Brava! Well-done! “Revolutionary Mothers” is a well-written, well-documented absorbing account of Revolutionary War women of all shapes, sizes, and sides (rebel, loyalist, British, Hessian, Indian, and slave). It is also well-proofed. In a casual read, I could find no typos, something rare these days.
Heeding Abigail Adams enjoinder to “remember the ladies,” the author has us doing that with her compelling descriptions of notable women and their characters. Among my favorites from the telling are Hessian “Mrs General” Baroness Frederika von Riedesel, whom even the rebels admired for her courage and decency, and (in the section on spies…and other heroines) Mammy Kate, “the biggest, the tallest, the most imposing Negress,” who sneaked her captured, smallish, rebel master out of a British prison by carrying him in a laundry basket balanced on her head! Yet, all the women covered in the book played important parts in how the Revolutionary War was won or, for some, lost.
To be fair, there are several very small issues I have with this wonderful book. For some it could start out fairly slowly, with the first chapter giving recurring descriptions of women’s common helpmate roles. On page xi, the author correctly mentions Betsy Ross as the person who may have sewn, without evidence, “the first United States flag.” I presume this flag is the same one with the stars in a circle that Betsy also allegedly designed. However, information coming more to light since the publication of this book gives more definite first-flag-originating credence to the multi-talented Congressman Francis Hopkinson, who is mentioned on page 65 as a ballad composer for a new explosive device. FWIW, Hopkinson’s first-flag has the 13 stars in lines, much like the pattern of our present flag but with the stars having six points, not five, and my research says his ballad was a propaganda poem for the Battle of the Kegs (marine mines newly invented by David Bushnell, also famous for the Turtle submarine). In addition, while the author claims Molly Pitcher did not exist, the name being given to many women who carried water to cool down cannons, she does mention Margaret Corbin several times in the role of taking her husband’s place in helping to fire a cannon. While Corbin is often mentioned elsewhere as a possible inspiration for the legendary Molly Pitcher, a woman more prominent on the list is the not-mentioned Mary Ludwig Hayes, who fought at the Battle of Monmouth. I would also say that for those surprised that Molly Pitcher would bring pails of water for cannon cooling, this apparently is correct, although most of the legend talks about her bringing water to thirsty soldiers on the field. I was also very intrigued with the author’s comments on Caty Green, the fascinating wife of General Nathanael Greene. BTW, in my follow-up research on Caty, it turns out that, if she didn’t help Eli Whitney invent the cotton gin (enGin’), she likely introduced him to the concept and played a major role in funding it and defending Whitney’s patent, a product that eventually and ironically made slavery, an institution both Caty and Nathaneal (RIP) had detested, more profitable.
In conclusion, this is a highly readable book and a welcome addition to any Revolutionary War library. Fully recommended!
Of possible interest: George Washington's Liberty Key: Mount Vernon's Bastille Key - the Mystery and Magic of Its Body, Mind, and Soul, a best-seller at Mount Vernon. “Character is Key for Liberty!” English Informative examination of the role of women in the American Revolution by looking at both sides of the conflict as well as Native Americans African Americans. Berkin also explores the use of women as spies.
This is not a long book, but packs lots of research that informs the reader on all aspects of female participation in the conflict with an epilogue on the American women's role after the war. I especially found fascinating the chapter on Native American women and the great influence they had in their society.
My mother recommended this book to my wife, who then recommended it to me. I am now recommending it to you. English Carol Berkin examines the roles women played in the American Revolutionary War. She looks at their contributions through the lens of allegiance, class, and origin. The book is well-organized into groups involved in the war, such as active participants, camp followers, generals’ wives, spies, and exiled women. She looks at the Revolution from the viewpoints of English, American, and even Hessian women. She reserves separate chapters for informative stories of tribal and enslaved women.
She articulates the fears and challenges these women faced. They transcended their traditional roles – which were severely restrictive from a modern standpoint. Many women took over the running households and properties, and some descended into poverty and starvation.
She relies on letters, diaries, news articles, and published material from the time period and cites all sources. I very much enjoyed reading about these women. This book offers are more well-rounded picture of the people and culture of Revolutionary times.
English This is a well-researched book that explores an oft-misunderstood aspect of the American Revolution: the role of women. It first covers pre-war norms, then looks at how the war affected women, and how women affected the war. It looks at various aspects of society, patriot and loyalist points of view, and the impact on slaves and Native Americans.
The writing is a bit dry, but it is a quick read, and makes a valuable contribution to ones understanding of Revolutionary America. English I'm giving this three stars to applaud Berkin for bringing these women and their stories to light. However, I wasn't thrilled by the presentation, There is a lot of room for bringing this exciting era and these women to life. Unfortunately, Berkin's prose and the organization of her material seems hamstrung by her academic background. It is more readable than most academic tracts, but still flat and workaday. If she had only trusted the women's own words from their letters and diaries to give us a flavor of their personalities, she could have livened things up a lot. She fails, also, to paint an evocative picture of the physical conditions they had to endure. English

This was more like a long essay review on the role of women in the Revolutionary War. This was an easy read, made palatable for those outside the academic realm, but not anything to rave about. However, it made me want to seek out the diaries and sources she cited which is always a good thing. Some of her biographical vignettes had me looking them up for more information. So, it's a good start but maybe not one you need. English A fascinating glimpse into the lives of many women at different levels of society during the Revolutionary War. The first few pages were a bit dry and difficult to get through, but once I was past them, I was hooked.
I greatly enjoyed hearing the many stories of heroism performed by the women of the era, be they patriot or loyalist. These women proved that they were every bit as invested in the events of the era as their fathers, husbands, and sons. Even though they were denied many of the same basic rights that men took for granted, they still had their ways of becoming involved in the issues of the day.
An excellent look at a group so often overlooked by history. English This book was not what I expected. I thought it would be mini-biographies of women who helped in the American Revolution. But, instead it is a book about changing women's roles before, during, and after the war. The book covers the roles of prominent women, poor women, African American women/slave women, and Native American women--and it even talks about the role of British women. There are real life examples to prove the point being made.
I'm not sure what to rate this--3.5? 4? English It would have been so great to have read a book like this for my high school history classes. I never knew how much women were involved in the Revolution and its outcome until I read this. A fantastic read! English Very much an overview of women's roles during the Revolutionary War. I learned quite a bit about the lives of native women and loyalists, as well as those who followed the army. I loved that they left the references in the book - often times when books like this one are published for the masses, they omit the references. Though, this was obviously meant for a more general audience than someone like me with a masters in history. Still very enjoyable and was perfect for my vacation reading. English