Women throughout time have sacrificed in a variety of ways in order to protect and inspire. The American Revolutionary war women were no exception. Though their circumstances were limited with the stringent societal roles they played, they were integral to the success of colonial boycotts and both Loyalist and Patriot military camp needs. While the war raged at their doorstep, American colonial women protected their children and hearth, played roles as messengers, spies and soldiers, and inspired their husbands to remember the ideals for which they were fighting. Although these women's inspirational stories have long been buried in the annals of history, when brought to light they can serve as a reminder to present and future generations of the service they can provide, one act at a time.
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These women were neither generals nor statesmen. They played no formal role in declaring the war or making the peace. Yet women could hardly have been passive observers to a war waged in the streets of their own towns and cities, the fields of their family farms, or on their very doorsteps. Women and girls were partners with their husbands, father, brothers, and sons . . . their presence was crucial in the most effective protest strategy of all: the boycott . . . As the war began, women transformed peacetime domestic chores and skills into wartime activities, becoming the unofficial quartermaster corps . . . [and] serving the men as cooks, laundresses and nurses . . . Women were enlisted to serve as spies and couriers for the king and for the revolutionaries. But more than anything else, wives and mothers and daughters kept farms and shops and families going for eight long years of conflict so that there was something to come home to when peace returned" (Berkin, xvi).
Carol Berkin on Women in the American Revolution - Courtesy of Gilder Lehrman
JoLyne Merchant, History, Thomas Edison CS South
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