Revolutionary War Hero Margaret Corbin Honored at West Point

When a British cannonball killed her husband at Fort Washington in 1776, Margaret Corbin didn't flee. She stepped up to his cannon and kept firing.

Margaret's early life on the Pennsylvania frontier was already marked by tragedy. At just five years old, she lost her father in an attack and her mother was taken captive.

In 1772, she married John Corbin. When he enlisted in the Pennsylvania State Artillery a few years later, Margaret followed him into the Revolutionary War as a camp follower, cooking meals and caring for wounded soldiers while learning the mechanics of artillery.

On November 16, 1776, British and Hessian forces stormed Fort Washington. Margaret stood on the front lines, dousing overheated cannons with water to keep them operational.

Then her husband fell. The cannon he was operating went silent at a critical moment in the battle.

Margaret had watched artillery crews work for over a year. She knew exactly what to do. She grabbed the ramrod and began loading and firing the cannon with remarkable speed and accuracy.

Her fellow soldiers were stunned. Here was a woman, in the thick of combat, keeping an artillery position firing against one of history's most powerful armies.

An enemy artillery strike tore through her position, severely wounding her jaw, chest, and left arm. She would lose the use of that arm forever. The British eventually captured the fort, but Margaret survived.

Why This Inspires

Margaret's sacrifice didn't go unnoticed. In 1779, the Continental Congress made her the first woman in American history to receive a lifelong military pension, officially recognizing her military service.

Today, she remains the only female Revolutionary War veteran with a monument at West Point Cemetery. Her grave stands among the honored soldiers who founded our nation.

Her story matters now more than ever as America approaches its 250th birthday. The fight for independence wasn't won solely by the famous names we learned in school. It was forged by everyday people who gave everything when the moment demanded it.

Margaret Corbin's courage reminds us that heroism has never belonged to just one gender, and the true price of freedom was paid by more hands than history books often reveal.