1 00:00:01,320 --> 00:00:04,280 Speaker 1: Welcome to Stuff You Missed in History Class, a production 2 00:00:04,400 --> 00:00:14,760 Speaker 1: of iHeartRadio. Hello and welcome to the podcast. I'm Tracy V. 3 00:00:14,920 --> 00:00:18,480 Speaker 2: Wilson and I'm Holly Frye. This episode is coming out 4 00:00:18,520 --> 00:00:21,840 Speaker 2: on July fourth, which is Independence Day in the US. 5 00:00:22,079 --> 00:00:24,599 Speaker 2: So since we have an episode coming out on the 6 00:00:24,680 --> 00:00:27,920 Speaker 2: day itself, which hasn't happened in a very long time, 7 00:00:28,320 --> 00:00:31,400 Speaker 2: I thought we'd do something that's both thematically related and 8 00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,319 Speaker 2: also a listener request. That is Deborah Samson, who's known 9 00:00:35,360 --> 00:00:38,960 Speaker 2: by her married name of Deborah Samson Gannett as well. 10 00:00:40,080 --> 00:00:44,360 Speaker 2: Just as a note upfront, we recognize that gender is 11 00:00:44,720 --> 00:00:48,280 Speaker 2: broader and more nuanced than this, and that is not 12 00:00:48,440 --> 00:00:52,440 Speaker 2: a new idea. Deborah Samson was descended from multiple people 13 00:00:52,440 --> 00:00:56,560 Speaker 2: who arrived in North America aboard the Mayflower in sixteen twenty, 14 00:00:57,120 --> 00:01:00,040 Speaker 2: at which point there were indigenous nations all over the 15 00:01:00,080 --> 00:01:04,000 Speaker 2: continent that recognized and continued to recognize more than two genders. 16 00:01:04,520 --> 00:01:07,480 Speaker 2: We've also talked about people like the public Universal Friend, 17 00:01:07,560 --> 00:01:09,760 Speaker 2: who we covered on the show in twenty twenty, and 18 00:01:09,840 --> 00:01:13,080 Speaker 2: the friend lived at the same time as Deborah Samson did. 19 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:17,600 Speaker 2: They described himself as genderless. But the communities that Deborah 20 00:01:17,680 --> 00:01:21,319 Speaker 2: Samson was part of saw things as very, very, very binary. 21 00:01:21,840 --> 00:01:25,120 Speaker 2: That applies to everything from people's descriptions of her to 22 00:01:25,319 --> 00:01:29,560 Speaker 2: how children were educated, to laws about dress, and it 23 00:01:29,640 --> 00:01:33,240 Speaker 2: is central to what made her famous, which is serving 24 00:01:33,360 --> 00:01:37,200 Speaker 2: in the Continental Army as Robert Shirtliffe during the Revolutionary War. 25 00:01:38,080 --> 00:01:43,960 Speaker 1: Deborah Samson was born on December seventeenth, seventeen sixty in Plimpton, Massachusetts, 26 00:01:44,000 --> 00:01:47,640 Speaker 1: which is just inland from Plymouth. Her family spelled their 27 00:01:47,720 --> 00:01:52,520 Speaker 1: last name Samsom. The spelling with the P in the 28 00:01:52,520 --> 00:01:56,360 Speaker 1: middle shows up in her life later on. Deborah's parents 29 00:01:56,360 --> 00:02:00,560 Speaker 1: were Jonathan Samson Junior and Deborah Bradford Samson, and as 30 00:02:00,600 --> 00:02:03,440 Speaker 1: Tracy just said, they were both descended from people who 31 00:02:03,440 --> 00:02:07,440 Speaker 1: had traveled to North America aboard the Mayflower The Elder. 32 00:02:07,560 --> 00:02:11,200 Speaker 1: Deborah Samson was the great granddaughter of Plymouth Colony Governor 33 00:02:11,240 --> 00:02:16,200 Speaker 1: William Bradford. Jonathan's ancestors included Miles Standish and John and 34 00:02:16,240 --> 00:02:20,040 Speaker 1: Priscilla mullens Alden, who today are probably best known as 35 00:02:20,160 --> 00:02:24,560 Speaker 1: characters from the Courtship of Miles Standish by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. 36 00:02:25,360 --> 00:02:28,519 Speaker 1: Deborah was one of seven children and the family was 37 00:02:28,680 --> 00:02:32,840 Speaker 1: poor Jonathan was a farm laborer and claimed that he 38 00:02:32,919 --> 00:02:35,760 Speaker 1: had been cheated out of his inheritance from his late 39 00:02:35,840 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: father and that his being cheated out of that money 40 00:02:38,680 --> 00:02:41,760 Speaker 1: was the root of the family's poverty. But there are 41 00:02:41,840 --> 00:02:46,160 Speaker 1: probate records showing that Jonathan Samson's senior's estate looks like 42 00:02:46,200 --> 00:02:48,560 Speaker 1: it was divided up pretty fairly, And then there are 43 00:02:48,600 --> 00:02:52,720 Speaker 1: also records showing that Jonathan sold his property to his 44 00:02:52,840 --> 00:02:57,760 Speaker 1: brother in law shortly after his father's death. Family drama. 45 00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:02,160 Speaker 1: Jonathan Samson and eventually went to sea, and when the 46 00:03:02,200 --> 00:03:05,560 Speaker 1: young Deborah was about five, he didn't come back from 47 00:03:05,560 --> 00:03:08,640 Speaker 1: a voyage. The family was informed that he had died 48 00:03:08,720 --> 00:03:11,880 Speaker 1: in a shipwreck, and it's possible that Deborah believed this 49 00:03:12,000 --> 00:03:15,239 Speaker 1: was what happened to him, but in reality, he had 50 00:03:15,440 --> 00:03:17,680 Speaker 1: moved to what is now Maine, where he and a 51 00:03:17,720 --> 00:03:20,680 Speaker 1: woman named Martha lived as a married couple, and he 52 00:03:20,760 --> 00:03:25,160 Speaker 1: had two more children with her. Deborah's mother could not 53 00:03:25,320 --> 00:03:29,360 Speaker 1: afford to raise seven children on her own, so Deborah 54 00:03:29,440 --> 00:03:31,480 Speaker 1: and at least some of her siblings were sent to 55 00:03:31,560 --> 00:03:35,600 Speaker 1: live with various friends and relatives. Then, when Deborah was ten, 56 00:03:35,720 --> 00:03:39,920 Speaker 1: she was indentured to the Thomas family. Some sources say 57 00:03:39,960 --> 00:03:43,920 Speaker 1: that she was indentured to Benjamin Thomas, deacon at First 58 00:03:44,000 --> 00:03:47,080 Speaker 1: Church of Middleborough, and others say it was to Jeremiah 59 00:03:47,160 --> 00:03:51,080 Speaker 1: and Susan Thomas. There were so many Thomas's living in 60 00:03:51,120 --> 00:03:54,040 Speaker 1: this area that it was nicknamed Thomas Town, and Susan 61 00:03:54,200 --> 00:03:57,240 Speaker 1: was Benjamin's daughter, so it's understandable that there is some 62 00:03:57,280 --> 00:04:01,920 Speaker 1: confusion about exactly who she was. In den too, this 63 00:04:02,200 --> 00:04:05,040 Speaker 1: was a large family with more boys than girls, and 64 00:04:05,080 --> 00:04:08,520 Speaker 1: although Deborah wasn't provided with an education the way that 65 00:04:08,560 --> 00:04:11,840 Speaker 1: the family's children were, she did use their books and 66 00:04:11,880 --> 00:04:15,600 Speaker 1: school materials to teach herself to read and write. 67 00:04:15,720 --> 00:04:19,080 Speaker 2: Most of the documentation we have of Deborah's young life 68 00:04:19,120 --> 00:04:23,040 Speaker 2: comes from a biography by Herman Mann that was published 69 00:04:23,040 --> 00:04:26,600 Speaker 2: for the first time in seventeen ninety seven. Parts of 70 00:04:26,600 --> 00:04:30,520 Speaker 2: that biography were definitely fabricated, and we will be talking 71 00:04:30,560 --> 00:04:33,080 Speaker 2: about that more and a bit, but it does seem 72 00:04:33,480 --> 00:04:36,719 Speaker 2: like she learned to do various types of work around 73 00:04:36,760 --> 00:04:39,839 Speaker 2: the home and the farm during her indenture, and this 74 00:04:39,960 --> 00:04:43,200 Speaker 2: included tasks that were more often done by men and boys, 75 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:48,400 Speaker 2: like plowing and whittling. Samson's indenture ended when she was eighteen. 76 00:04:49,040 --> 00:04:51,120 Speaker 2: For the next couple of years, she worked as a teacher. 77 00:04:51,200 --> 00:04:53,880 Speaker 2: During the summers, in the window between when crops were 78 00:04:53,920 --> 00:04:57,279 Speaker 2: planted and when they were harvested. In the colder months, 79 00:04:57,279 --> 00:05:00,479 Speaker 2: she worked as a spinner and a weaver. We also 80 00:05:00,600 --> 00:05:04,839 Speaker 2: joined First Baptist Church of Middleborough on November twelfth, seventeen eighty. 81 00:05:05,080 --> 00:05:08,680 Speaker 2: That was shortly before she turned twenty. Although there was 82 00:05:08,720 --> 00:05:11,640 Speaker 2: a pretty big Baptist community in Middleborough, they had at 83 00:05:11,720 --> 00:05:16,440 Speaker 2: least three Baptist churches, most people in the area were Congregationalists, 84 00:05:16,680 --> 00:05:19,560 Speaker 2: especially the people who had the most wealth and power 85 00:05:19,600 --> 00:05:25,000 Speaker 2: and influence. Baptists were really seen as outsiders. This was 86 00:05:25,080 --> 00:05:28,440 Speaker 2: all happening during the Revolutionary War, and we don't know 87 00:05:28,560 --> 00:05:31,960 Speaker 2: much about how the war's earlier years affected Deborah Sampson. 88 00:05:32,839 --> 00:05:36,920 Speaker 2: That seventeen ninety seven biography does give a lengthy recounting 89 00:05:37,120 --> 00:05:40,599 Speaker 2: of a vivid and violent dream she reportedly had just 90 00:05:40,680 --> 00:05:43,799 Speaker 2: before the Battle of Lexington in seventeen seventy five, though 91 00:05:44,480 --> 00:05:46,840 Speaker 2: it's not totally clear whether this is a dream she 92 00:05:47,040 --> 00:05:50,560 Speaker 2: actually had or whether it's a dramatic embellishment, but if 93 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:53,760 Speaker 2: it really happened, it may have reflected her fear and 94 00:05:53,839 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 2: anxiety about what was going on. Although thousands of men 95 00:05:58,960 --> 00:06:01,720 Speaker 2: joined the military at the start of the war, by 96 00:06:01,720 --> 00:06:05,520 Speaker 2: the late seventeen seventies, the Continental Army was really struggling 97 00:06:05,560 --> 00:06:09,359 Speaker 2: to find recruits. Recruitment happened at the state level, and 98 00:06:09,400 --> 00:06:13,719 Speaker 2: the state started drafting people and offering incentives to entice 99 00:06:13,720 --> 00:06:17,680 Speaker 2: people to join. This included offering bounties for people who 100 00:06:17,800 --> 00:06:20,560 Speaker 2: volunteered to serve in the place of men who had 101 00:06:20,600 --> 00:06:24,520 Speaker 2: been drafted but didn't want to go. Although this did 102 00:06:24,600 --> 00:06:27,800 Speaker 2: motivate some people to join, it also caused some issues. 103 00:06:28,520 --> 00:06:32,440 Speaker 2: For example, Massachusetts set quotas for how many recruits each 104 00:06:32,480 --> 00:06:35,160 Speaker 2: town should provide, and it was up to the towns 105 00:06:35,200 --> 00:06:37,920 Speaker 2: to decide how much money they would offer as a bounty. 106 00:06:38,920 --> 00:06:41,760 Speaker 2: This led some people to basically shop around for the 107 00:06:41,760 --> 00:06:45,680 Speaker 2: biggest bounty they could find. Men were expected to enlist 108 00:06:45,720 --> 00:06:47,880 Speaker 2: for three years or until the end of the war, 109 00:06:48,000 --> 00:06:51,480 Speaker 2: whichever came first, but some just disappeared as soon as 110 00:06:51,480 --> 00:06:55,960 Speaker 2: they claimed their bounty. Okay, this caused various issues. In 111 00:06:56,000 --> 00:06:58,839 Speaker 2: addition to the disappearance of people who had claimed a 112 00:06:58,839 --> 00:07:03,240 Speaker 2: bounty and then just vanish, they were disproportionately enlisting people 113 00:07:03,240 --> 00:07:08,000 Speaker 2: who were desperate for money and maybe not people who 114 00:07:08,040 --> 00:07:11,640 Speaker 2: were who would do well as soldiers. 115 00:07:12,280 --> 00:07:16,360 Speaker 1: There was a whole many layers going on with this. 116 00:07:17,360 --> 00:07:20,560 Speaker 1: Samson's first attempt to join the army might have been 117 00:07:20,680 --> 00:07:23,680 Speaker 1: in pursuit of a bounty. This is documented in a 118 00:07:23,760 --> 00:07:28,240 Speaker 1: diary entry by Abner Weston dated January twenty third, seventeen 119 00:07:28,320 --> 00:07:32,160 Speaker 1: eighty two. This diary was found in New Hampshire in 120 00:07:32,200 --> 00:07:34,720 Speaker 1: twenty eighteen, and then bought by the Museum of the 121 00:07:34,720 --> 00:07:38,240 Speaker 1: American Revolution in Philadelphia in twenty nineteen. Somehow, it did 122 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: not cross my radar for any of the unearthed episodes 123 00:07:41,960 --> 00:07:46,400 Speaker 1: that happened during that time. Weston wrote, quote, there happened 124 00:07:46,520 --> 00:07:49,920 Speaker 1: an uncommon affair at this time for Deborah Sampson of 125 00:07:49,960 --> 00:07:54,280 Speaker 1: this town dressed herself in men's clothes and hired herself 126 00:07:54,320 --> 00:07:57,280 Speaker 1: to Israel Wood to go into the three year service, 127 00:07:57,920 --> 00:08:01,440 Speaker 1: but being found out, returned the higher and paid the damages. 128 00:08:02,480 --> 00:08:05,560 Speaker 1: Other second and third hand accounts add some other details 129 00:08:05,600 --> 00:08:08,640 Speaker 1: to this, including that Samson was living in the home 130 00:08:08,720 --> 00:08:12,160 Speaker 1: of Captain Benjamin Leonard, who employed her as a weaver, 131 00:08:12,640 --> 00:08:14,920 Speaker 1: and that a woman named Jenny helped her steal some 132 00:08:15,040 --> 00:08:18,840 Speaker 1: of Leonard's son's clothes. Jenny is described as the daughter 133 00:08:18,880 --> 00:08:21,440 Speaker 1: of an enslaved woman, and as Samson's roommate at the 134 00:08:21,520 --> 00:08:24,360 Speaker 1: Leonard House, where Jenny was probably working as a servant. 135 00:08:24,960 --> 00:08:28,720 Speaker 1: After giving her name as Timothy Thayer and receiving her bounty, 136 00:08:29,120 --> 00:08:33,080 Speaker 1: Samson went to a tavern and drank, then came home intoxicated, 137 00:08:33,520 --> 00:08:35,880 Speaker 1: got into bed with Jenny, and got up and went 138 00:08:35,920 --> 00:08:39,839 Speaker 1: about her business. The next morning, when Timothy Thayer didn't 139 00:08:39,880 --> 00:08:42,600 Speaker 1: report to be mustered in, a woman who had been 140 00:08:42,600 --> 00:08:44,880 Speaker 1: in the room when he enlisted said she noticed that 141 00:08:44,960 --> 00:08:49,319 Speaker 1: he held a pen just like Deborah Samson. Apparently, Samson's 142 00:08:49,360 --> 00:08:51,719 Speaker 1: way of holding a pen was distinctive because of an 143 00:08:51,720 --> 00:08:55,200 Speaker 1: injury to one of her fingers, and after being questioned, 144 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:58,720 Speaker 1: Samson reportedly confessed and returned the bounty money. 145 00:08:59,480 --> 00:09:03,319 Speaker 2: This was real scandal, and although herman Mann's biography gave 146 00:09:03,400 --> 00:09:06,560 Speaker 2: some other reasons, Samson may have enlisted for the second 147 00:09:06,559 --> 00:09:08,880 Speaker 2: time to try to get away from it. We will 148 00:09:08,880 --> 00:09:21,200 Speaker 2: get to that after a quick sponsor break. On May twentieth, 149 00:09:21,240 --> 00:09:25,839 Speaker 2: seventeen eighty two, Robert Shirtliff accepted an enlistment bounty from 150 00:09:25,840 --> 00:09:29,920 Speaker 2: the town of Uxbridge, Massachusetts. He was tall, taller than 151 00:09:29,960 --> 00:09:33,280 Speaker 2: the average soldier, but apparently too young to grow facial hair. 152 00:09:34,000 --> 00:09:37,520 Speaker 2: There were no physical exams required to enlist at this point, 153 00:09:37,840 --> 00:09:40,880 Speaker 2: nobody had to provide any kind of documentation of their 154 00:09:40,960 --> 00:09:44,840 Speaker 2: name or their age. About a year and a half 155 00:09:44,880 --> 00:09:48,959 Speaker 2: would pass before anybody realized that Robert Shirtliff, whose name 156 00:09:49,040 --> 00:09:51,400 Speaker 2: is spelled a lot of different ways in different various 157 00:09:51,440 --> 00:09:55,080 Speaker 2: records for anybody, realized that he had previously been known 158 00:09:55,160 --> 00:09:59,360 Speaker 2: to everybody before this point as Deborah Sampson. Shirtliff was 159 00:09:59,440 --> 00:10:03,160 Speaker 2: mustard in to the fourth Massachusetts Regiment at Worcestern, Massachusetts. 160 00:10:03,200 --> 00:10:06,760 Speaker 2: Three days later, he marched with the regiment to West Point, 161 00:10:06,800 --> 00:10:09,199 Speaker 2: where he was assigned to Captain George Webb's company of 162 00:10:09,280 --> 00:10:13,199 Speaker 2: light Infantry. The light infantry was seen as an elite 163 00:10:13,200 --> 00:10:16,120 Speaker 2: group made up of young, agile men who could move quickly, 164 00:10:16,520 --> 00:10:20,920 Speaker 2: do reconnaissance, and engage in skirmishes with the enemy. Webb's 165 00:10:20,920 --> 00:10:23,880 Speaker 2: companies spent most of their time in the Hudson River Valley. 166 00:10:24,679 --> 00:10:28,280 Speaker 2: The Battle of Yorktown had ended the previous fall, and 167 00:10:28,360 --> 00:10:31,080 Speaker 2: that is seen as the last major battle of the 168 00:10:31,120 --> 00:10:35,160 Speaker 2: Revolutionary War and as a decisive victory for the United States, 169 00:10:35,280 --> 00:10:39,080 Speaker 2: but the war did not actually end for almost two 170 00:10:39,200 --> 00:10:42,960 Speaker 2: more years after that. Much of the Hudson River Valley 171 00:10:43,080 --> 00:10:47,120 Speaker 2: was neutral ground between US territory and New York City, 172 00:10:47,160 --> 00:10:49,959 Speaker 2: which was still being held by the British, but there 173 00:10:49,960 --> 00:10:52,720 Speaker 2: were lots of troops from both sides in this area. 174 00:10:53,080 --> 00:10:55,640 Speaker 2: There were also French troops who were allied with the 175 00:10:55,720 --> 00:10:59,920 Speaker 2: United States, as well as indigenous people's Some were on 176 00:11:00,120 --> 00:11:02,120 Speaker 2: the sides of the British. In some of the United States, 177 00:11:02,120 --> 00:11:04,760 Speaker 2: in this particular area, they were more likely to be 178 00:11:04,880 --> 00:11:08,840 Speaker 2: allied with or otherwise support the British. Although this area 179 00:11:08,960 --> 00:11:12,080 Speaker 2: didn't see any major battles in seventeen eighty two or 180 00:11:12,120 --> 00:11:17,080 Speaker 2: seventeen eighty three, there were lots of smaller skirmishes. Later on, 181 00:11:17,280 --> 00:11:20,720 Speaker 2: Herman Mann's biography of Deborah Samson would recount a dramatic 182 00:11:20,840 --> 00:11:24,200 Speaker 2: tale of her being seriously wounded with a head injury 183 00:11:24,559 --> 00:11:28,360 Speaker 2: and two musket balls lodged in her thigh. She was 184 00:11:28,480 --> 00:11:30,840 Speaker 2: so afraid that her sex would be discovered that she 185 00:11:30,960 --> 00:11:34,559 Speaker 2: thought about taking her own life with a pistol. Instead, 186 00:11:34,720 --> 00:11:37,120 Speaker 2: she made her way to a French encampment, where she 187 00:11:37,160 --> 00:11:40,040 Speaker 2: allowed a French doctor to treat and dress her head 188 00:11:40,080 --> 00:11:43,920 Speaker 2: wound before sneaking away with some wine. A penknife and 189 00:11:44,000 --> 00:11:47,959 Speaker 2: a needle to extract the musket balls herself. She was 190 00:11:48,040 --> 00:11:50,400 Speaker 2: able to remove one of them and treat and dress 191 00:11:50,400 --> 00:11:52,680 Speaker 2: the wound, but the other remained in her body for 192 00:11:52,760 --> 00:11:56,840 Speaker 2: the rest of her life. It is extremely likely that 193 00:11:57,000 --> 00:12:01,000 Speaker 2: during her time as Robert Shirtlift, Deborah Samson really was 194 00:12:01,200 --> 00:12:05,240 Speaker 2: wounded in action and really was disabled afterward. She had 195 00:12:05,240 --> 00:12:08,360 Speaker 2: to document all that to receive pensions for her service, 196 00:12:08,400 --> 00:12:12,040 Speaker 2: which she did. We'll talk about that more later. However, 197 00:12:12,600 --> 00:12:17,640 Speaker 2: this part of Samson's biography is uncannily similar to another work, 198 00:12:17,679 --> 00:12:22,360 Speaker 2: which was titled The Female Soldier that describes the experiences 199 00:12:22,400 --> 00:12:25,680 Speaker 2: of Hannah Snell, who joined the British Army as James 200 00:12:25,760 --> 00:12:28,960 Speaker 2: Gray in seventeen forty five and fought against the Jacobites. 201 00:12:29,720 --> 00:12:34,160 Speaker 2: Back in Middleborough, Massachusetts, First Baptist Church was deciding what 202 00:12:34,320 --> 00:12:38,120 Speaker 2: to do about Deborah Samson's earlier enlistment as Timothy Thayer. 203 00:12:38,920 --> 00:12:42,440 Speaker 2: The Church minutes from September third, seventeen eighty two read quote. 204 00:12:42,600 --> 00:12:46,160 Speaker 2: The church considered the case of Deborah Sampson, who last 205 00:12:46,200 --> 00:12:49,680 Speaker 2: spring was accused of dressing in men's clothes and enlisting 206 00:12:49,679 --> 00:12:52,800 Speaker 2: in the army, and although she was not convicted yet 207 00:12:52,880 --> 00:12:56,040 Speaker 2: was strongly suspected of being guilty, and for some time 208 00:12:56,120 --> 00:12:59,760 Speaker 2: before behaved very loose and unchristian like, and at last 209 00:12:59,840 --> 00:13:02,440 Speaker 2: left our parts in a sudden manner. And it is 210 00:13:02,559 --> 00:13:05,280 Speaker 2: not known among us where she is gone. And after 211 00:13:05,400 --> 00:13:09,400 Speaker 2: considerable discourse, it appeared that as several brethren had labored 212 00:13:09,400 --> 00:13:13,960 Speaker 2: with her before she went away without obtaining satisfaction, concluded 213 00:13:14,000 --> 00:13:17,400 Speaker 2: that it is the church's duty to withdraw fellowship until 214 00:13:17,440 --> 00:13:21,520 Speaker 2: she returns and makes Christian satisfaction. Okay, that means they 215 00:13:21,559 --> 00:13:26,120 Speaker 2: basically kicked her out and she'll She apologized and was 216 00:13:26,160 --> 00:13:29,240 Speaker 2: absolved for having done wrong. A couple of other notes 217 00:13:29,280 --> 00:13:33,439 Speaker 2: on this. Today, the word loose has sexual connotations when 218 00:13:33,480 --> 00:13:35,439 Speaker 2: it's used in this kind of a context, but at 219 00:13:35,440 --> 00:13:37,720 Speaker 2: the time it was more of a general description of 220 00:13:37,760 --> 00:13:40,559 Speaker 2: bad behavior and in terms of a conviction. 221 00:13:41,400 --> 00:13:45,680 Speaker 1: Cross dressing had been outlawed in Massachusetts since the sixteen nineties. 222 00:13:46,160 --> 00:13:49,199 Speaker 1: The prohibition on cross dressing also traced back to a 223 00:13:49,320 --> 00:13:52,960 Speaker 1: verse in the Biblical Book of Deuteronomy, which described men 224 00:13:53,080 --> 00:13:56,839 Speaker 1: dressing in women's clothes and vice versa as an abomination. 225 00:13:57,760 --> 00:14:01,640 Speaker 1: To return to Samson's time, as Robert Shirtlift, that injury 226 00:14:01,720 --> 00:14:04,400 Speaker 1: made it impossible to keep up with the light infantry, 227 00:14:04,920 --> 00:14:07,920 Speaker 1: so Shirtlift seems to have convinced someone to assign him 228 00:14:07,960 --> 00:14:10,640 Speaker 1: to the task of caring for a wounded soldier who 229 00:14:10,679 --> 00:14:14,760 Speaker 1: could not be moved. After that, Shirtlift was given another 230 00:14:14,800 --> 00:14:17,680 Speaker 1: assignment in seventeen eighty three, this time working as a 231 00:14:17,720 --> 00:14:22,400 Speaker 1: waiter for General John Patterson. This wasn't a food service position, 232 00:14:22,440 --> 00:14:26,360 Speaker 1: it was more like a personal servant. Shirtlift accompanied Patterson 233 00:14:26,400 --> 00:14:28,680 Speaker 1: in his unit to Philadelphia, which at the time was 234 00:14:28,720 --> 00:14:33,600 Speaker 1: the US capital. An armistice went into effect on April nineteenth, 235 00:14:33,640 --> 00:14:38,240 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty three, and as the US started demobilizing its forces, 236 00:14:38,280 --> 00:14:42,680 Speaker 1: it furloughed troops without fully paying people for their services, 237 00:14:43,240 --> 00:14:47,000 Speaker 1: also without a clear plan for funding pensions for anybody. 238 00:14:47,800 --> 00:14:50,680 Speaker 1: Demands for pay and for better conditions were part of 239 00:14:50,720 --> 00:14:54,360 Speaker 1: a mutiny along the Pennsylvania Line in seventeen eighty three, 240 00:14:54,760 --> 00:14:57,720 Speaker 1: and Patterson's troops were sent to Philadelphia to try to 241 00:14:57,760 --> 00:15:02,520 Speaker 1: put that mutiny down. In Philadelphia, Robert Shirtliffe became ill 242 00:15:02,520 --> 00:15:06,480 Speaker 1: with a fever and delirium and was hospitalized. The cause 243 00:15:06,600 --> 00:15:09,480 Speaker 1: isn't clear, although there were epidemics of both measles and 244 00:15:09,640 --> 00:15:13,800 Speaker 1: smallpox in Philadelphia at that time. Measles is the more 245 00:15:13,920 --> 00:15:16,520 Speaker 1: likely of the two, since the various descriptions of this 246 00:15:16,640 --> 00:15:20,960 Speaker 1: don't include typical smallpox symptoms, and George Washington had ordered 247 00:15:20,960 --> 00:15:22,840 Speaker 1: the troops to be inoculated against it. 248 00:15:23,560 --> 00:15:26,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, it could have been something totally else, but those 249 00:15:26,160 --> 00:15:29,960 Speaker 2: two diseases really were rampant. While working at a hospital 250 00:15:29,960 --> 00:15:34,359 Speaker 2: in Philadelphia, doctor barnabas Binny discovered that one of his patients, 251 00:15:34,480 --> 00:15:38,560 Speaker 2: known as Robert Shirtliffe, was wearing a breastbinding, but he 252 00:15:38,680 --> 00:15:42,240 Speaker 2: kept that a secret. It is not totally clear how 253 00:15:42,320 --> 00:15:47,320 Speaker 2: Samson's commanding officers eventually learned her identity. In Man's book, 254 00:15:47,640 --> 00:15:50,960 Speaker 2: Benny gave her a letter that explained the whole situation 255 00:15:51,160 --> 00:15:53,960 Speaker 2: and told her to deliver it to General Patterson, and 256 00:15:54,040 --> 00:15:56,760 Speaker 2: she did that even though she was pretty sure the 257 00:15:56,840 --> 00:16:01,560 Speaker 2: letter was saying that she was a woman. Later, even 258 00:16:01,760 --> 00:16:05,000 Speaker 2: more romanticized versions of this claimed that she gave the 259 00:16:05,080 --> 00:16:08,160 Speaker 2: letter not to Patterson but to George Washington himself. 260 00:16:09,080 --> 00:16:13,720 Speaker 1: Whatever those details were. General Henry Knox granted Robert Shirtliffe 261 00:16:14,000 --> 00:16:17,680 Speaker 1: an honorable discharge on October twenty third, seventeen eighty three. 262 00:16:18,560 --> 00:16:21,640 Speaker 1: And this is not at all how the Continental Army 263 00:16:21,760 --> 00:16:24,760 Speaker 1: or the various militias generally dealt with women who tried 264 00:16:24,760 --> 00:16:28,520 Speaker 1: to enlist, or with people who successfully enlisted but were 265 00:16:28,600 --> 00:16:32,480 Speaker 1: later discovered to have female bodies. It was way more 266 00:16:32,520 --> 00:16:36,360 Speaker 1: common for people to be publicly shamed, charged with crimes 267 00:16:36,400 --> 00:16:40,680 Speaker 1: including fraud and cross dressing, or subjected to just deeply 268 00:16:40,800 --> 00:16:46,400 Speaker 1: humiliating and traumatizing physical examinations which really were just sexual assaults. 269 00:16:47,160 --> 00:16:50,240 Speaker 1: It's possible that there are other women who managed to 270 00:16:50,280 --> 00:16:54,080 Speaker 1: serve undetected in the Revolutionary War, or people who might 271 00:16:54,120 --> 00:16:58,720 Speaker 1: describe themselves as non binary or as transgendermen today, but 272 00:16:58,800 --> 00:17:03,600 Speaker 1: the honorable discharge if Robert Shirtliffe, is really unique. After 273 00:17:03,640 --> 00:17:07,479 Speaker 1: being discharged, Sampson returned to Massachusetts, and as far as 274 00:17:07,520 --> 00:17:10,080 Speaker 1: we know, once she got there, she resumed her life 275 00:17:10,160 --> 00:17:14,439 Speaker 1: as Deborah Sampson. The first public report of her service 276 00:17:14,440 --> 00:17:17,680 Speaker 1: in the Revolutionary War was published just a few months later. 277 00:17:18,320 --> 00:17:21,640 Speaker 1: It named Robert Shirtliffe, but it did not mention Sampson's name. 278 00:17:21,760 --> 00:17:25,320 Speaker 1: Quote four particular reasons. It doesn't say what they are, 279 00:17:25,480 --> 00:17:30,800 Speaker 1: just that they're particular. This was printed in the Independent 280 00:17:30,880 --> 00:17:34,480 Speaker 1: Gazette or the New York Journal revived on January tenth, 281 00:17:34,480 --> 00:17:37,720 Speaker 1: seventeen eighty four. And it was picked up by other newspapers. 282 00:17:37,760 --> 00:17:42,240 Speaker 1: Later on it began quote. An extraordinary instance of virtue 283 00:17:42,320 --> 00:17:45,360 Speaker 1: in a female soldier has occurred lately in the American 284 00:17:45,480 --> 00:17:50,280 Speaker 1: Army in the Massachusetts Line. Vis a lively, comely young nymph, 285 00:17:50,440 --> 00:17:53,840 Speaker 1: nineteen years of age, dressed in man's apparel, has been 286 00:17:53,880 --> 00:17:57,880 Speaker 1: discovered and what redound to her honor. She has served 287 00:17:57,880 --> 00:18:01,160 Speaker 1: in the character of a soldier for near three year, undiscovered, 288 00:18:01,880 --> 00:18:06,679 Speaker 1: during which time she displayed herself with activity, alertness, chastity, 289 00:18:06,800 --> 00:18:10,040 Speaker 1: and valor, having been in several skirmishes with the enemy 290 00:18:10,320 --> 00:18:13,680 Speaker 1: and received two wounds, a small shot remaining in her 291 00:18:13,720 --> 00:18:17,119 Speaker 1: to this day. She is a remarkable vigilant soldier on 292 00:18:17,200 --> 00:18:20,760 Speaker 1: her post, and always gained the admiration and applause of 293 00:18:20,800 --> 00:18:24,680 Speaker 1: her officers, was never found in liquor, and always kept 294 00:18:24,720 --> 00:18:27,520 Speaker 1: company with the most upright and temperate soldiers. 295 00:18:28,359 --> 00:18:32,000 Speaker 2: This report describes her illness and the discovery of her sex, 296 00:18:32,080 --> 00:18:36,120 Speaker 2: and her honorable discharge, before offering an explanation for why 297 00:18:36,160 --> 00:18:37,000 Speaker 2: she did all of this. 298 00:18:37,200 --> 00:18:37,680 Speaker 1: Quote. 299 00:18:38,160 --> 00:18:40,920 Speaker 2: The cause of her personating a man, it is said, 300 00:18:41,040 --> 00:18:44,280 Speaker 2: proceeded from the rigor of her parents, who exerted their 301 00:18:44,320 --> 00:18:47,800 Speaker 2: prerogative to induce her to marriage with a young man 302 00:18:47,880 --> 00:18:52,240 Speaker 2: she had conceived a great antipathy for. Together with her 303 00:18:52,280 --> 00:18:55,600 Speaker 2: being a remarkable heroine and warmly attached to the cause 304 00:18:55,640 --> 00:18:57,920 Speaker 2: of her country, in the service of which it must 305 00:18:58,000 --> 00:19:02,439 Speaker 2: be acknowledged, she gained reputation, and no doubt will be 306 00:19:02,560 --> 00:19:06,440 Speaker 2: noticed by the compilers of the history of our Grand Revolution. 307 00:19:07,760 --> 00:19:11,080 Speaker 1: I have so many feelings about that. Right up. A 308 00:19:11,160 --> 00:19:14,560 Speaker 1: couple of factual notes on this. Samson was about twenty 309 00:19:14,640 --> 00:19:18,360 Speaker 1: one when she enlisted, rather than nineteen, and although recruits 310 00:19:18,359 --> 00:19:21,560 Speaker 1: were expected to serve for three years, Robert Shirtlift's time 311 00:19:21,600 --> 00:19:24,800 Speaker 1: in the army is documented it closer to eighteen months. 312 00:19:25,560 --> 00:19:28,920 Speaker 1: Samson's parents also weren't really involved in her life at all, 313 00:19:29,000 --> 00:19:32,400 Speaker 1: so this story about fleeing an unwonted marriage reads more 314 00:19:32,440 --> 00:19:34,919 Speaker 1: like a literary trope and a way to make readers 315 00:19:34,960 --> 00:19:38,639 Speaker 1: more sympathetic to her, rather than any real explanation of 316 00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:43,200 Speaker 1: her reasoning. We'll talk about Samson's post revolutionary war life 317 00:19:43,240 --> 00:19:57,280 Speaker 1: after another quick sponsor break. Deborah Sampson married Benjamin Gannette 318 00:19:57,320 --> 00:20:01,840 Speaker 1: of Sharon, Massachusetts, on April seventh, seventeen eighty five. There 319 00:20:01,920 --> 00:20:05,320 Speaker 1: is a gown in the collections of Historic New England 320 00:20:05,480 --> 00:20:08,960 Speaker 1: that may have been her wedding dress. Was originally made 321 00:20:09,000 --> 00:20:11,720 Speaker 1: as an open gown to be worn with a petticoat 322 00:20:11,760 --> 00:20:14,879 Speaker 1: around seventeen seventy, and then it was remade as a 323 00:20:14,880 --> 00:20:18,160 Speaker 1: full dress without that open front about fifteen years later. 324 00:20:19,000 --> 00:20:21,879 Speaker 1: Then it was altered again in the seventeen eighties, presumably 325 00:20:21,920 --> 00:20:24,359 Speaker 1: so Deborah could get married in it. So the dress 326 00:20:24,359 --> 00:20:27,320 Speaker 1: from there was passed down within the family. Some of 327 00:20:27,359 --> 00:20:30,680 Speaker 1: her descendants even wore it for things like historical reenactments 328 00:20:30,680 --> 00:20:34,880 Speaker 1: and other events. Deborah and Benjamin had three children, Earl 329 00:20:35,119 --> 00:20:39,040 Speaker 1: Mary and Patience, and they adopted Susannah Shepherd after her 330 00:20:39,040 --> 00:20:43,000 Speaker 1: mother died. As had been the case in Deborah's own childhood, 331 00:20:43,320 --> 00:20:46,280 Speaker 1: the family struggled financially, which is one of the reasons 332 00:20:46,320 --> 00:20:48,840 Speaker 1: she worked so hard to get the benefits that she 333 00:20:48,960 --> 00:20:52,760 Speaker 1: was entitled to as a veteran. This started with petitioning 334 00:20:52,800 --> 00:20:57,120 Speaker 1: the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for backpay in seventeen ninety two. 335 00:20:57,280 --> 00:20:59,119 Speaker 1: She was awarded thirty four pounds. 336 00:21:00,080 --> 00:21:03,400 Speaker 2: Over the course of seventeen ninety seven and seventeen ninety eight, 337 00:21:03,480 --> 00:21:07,000 Speaker 2: Gannett applied for a pension under the Invalid Pension Act 338 00:21:07,000 --> 00:21:11,320 Speaker 2: of seventeen ninety three. It's not clear why four years 339 00:21:11,359 --> 00:21:13,960 Speaker 2: passed between when the law was passed and when she 340 00:21:14,160 --> 00:21:17,520 Speaker 2: submitted an application. But this process could be really onerous, 341 00:21:18,000 --> 00:21:19,639 Speaker 2: so we said earlier, there was a lot of stuff 342 00:21:19,680 --> 00:21:22,879 Speaker 2: that you had to document. Sometimes that documentation was really 343 00:21:22,920 --> 00:21:25,840 Speaker 2: hard to track down or didn't exist. It's possible she 344 00:21:25,880 --> 00:21:28,440 Speaker 2: had trouble finding a lawyer who was willing to help 345 00:21:28,440 --> 00:21:31,960 Speaker 2: her with it. Herman Mann's biography of her was almost 346 00:21:32,000 --> 00:21:36,479 Speaker 2: certainly written to support this pension application, As we said earlier, 347 00:21:36,520 --> 00:21:39,400 Speaker 2: It was published in seventeen ninety seven, and its full 348 00:21:39,480 --> 00:21:43,800 Speaker 2: title was The Female Review or Memoirs of an American 349 00:21:43,840 --> 00:21:48,720 Speaker 2: young Lady whose life and character are peculiarly distinguished being 350 00:21:48,760 --> 00:21:51,640 Speaker 2: a Continental soldier for nearly three years in the Late 351 00:21:51,680 --> 00:21:55,320 Speaker 2: American War, during which time she performed the duties of 352 00:21:55,359 --> 00:21:59,360 Speaker 2: every department into which she was called with punctual exactness, 353 00:21:59,560 --> 00:22:04,320 Speaker 2: fidel and honor, and preserved her chastity inviolate by the 354 00:22:04,320 --> 00:22:08,280 Speaker 2: most artful concealment of her sex, with an appendix containing 355 00:22:08,359 --> 00:22:13,280 Speaker 2: characteristic traits by different hands, her taste for economy, principles 356 00:22:13,320 --> 00:22:15,040 Speaker 2: of domestic education, etc. 357 00:22:16,160 --> 00:22:18,880 Speaker 1: I do love the long title. I do too, they're 358 00:22:18,920 --> 00:22:19,560 Speaker 1: so funny. 359 00:22:20,800 --> 00:22:24,880 Speaker 2: This book is so romanticized, and it has so much 360 00:22:25,000 --> 00:22:27,600 Speaker 2: in common with other books in print at the time, 361 00:22:28,800 --> 00:22:32,080 Speaker 2: not just the one we mentioned earlier, there were multiple others. 362 00:22:32,400 --> 00:22:34,919 Speaker 2: There are some critics today that have described it not 363 00:22:35,160 --> 00:22:38,400 Speaker 2: as a biography or a memoir, but as a novel. 364 00:22:39,320 --> 00:22:41,600 Speaker 2: Seems like Man himself might have even thought of it 365 00:22:41,640 --> 00:22:44,480 Speaker 2: this way too, and he later talked about it having 366 00:22:44,560 --> 00:22:47,159 Speaker 2: just been rushed into print without enough time to do 367 00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,879 Speaker 2: a good job with it. Some parts of it are 368 00:22:50,000 --> 00:22:53,919 Speaker 2: questionable but not totally impossible, like the vivid dream that 369 00:22:53,960 --> 00:22:57,040 Speaker 2: we mentioned and the sneaking a way to remove a 370 00:22:57,160 --> 00:23:00,879 Speaker 2: musket ball. Also in that category are things like a 371 00:23:00,960 --> 00:23:05,080 Speaker 2: romantic interlude involving a young woman from Baltimore who falls 372 00:23:05,080 --> 00:23:07,480 Speaker 2: in love with this patient known as Robert Shirtliffe at 373 00:23:07,480 --> 00:23:10,760 Speaker 2: a military hospital in Philadelphia, who she, of course, believes 374 00:23:10,800 --> 00:23:11,320 Speaker 2: to be a man. 375 00:23:12,720 --> 00:23:15,040 Speaker 1: There's so many dramatic and thrilling tales. 376 00:23:15,359 --> 00:23:18,120 Speaker 2: Yeah, there are a lot of them, and the several 377 00:23:18,160 --> 00:23:21,080 Speaker 2: people have traced and this also, same dramatic tale is 378 00:23:21,119 --> 00:23:23,600 Speaker 2: in this other book that was in circulation at the time. 379 00:23:24,160 --> 00:23:27,720 Speaker 2: There are parts of this writing that are flatly untrue, 380 00:23:28,000 --> 00:23:31,119 Speaker 2: Like Man claims Deborah Samson Gennett was at the Battle 381 00:23:31,160 --> 00:23:35,359 Speaker 2: of Yorktown, which was over long before she enlisted. There's 382 00:23:35,400 --> 00:23:38,040 Speaker 2: also an account of rescuing a white woman who was 383 00:23:38,119 --> 00:23:41,960 Speaker 2: held captive by Indigenous people and marrying her, but putting 384 00:23:42,040 --> 00:23:45,280 Speaker 2: off consummating the marriage until it could be properly solemnized 385 00:23:45,280 --> 00:23:48,359 Speaker 2: in the city. In the words of Man's book quote, 386 00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:51,400 Speaker 2: on their return to Philadelphia, they purchased her a suit 387 00:23:51,440 --> 00:23:56,040 Speaker 2: of clothes, but she, unable to express her gratitude, received 388 00:23:56,040 --> 00:23:59,040 Speaker 2: them on her knees, and was doubtless glad to relinquish 389 00:23:59,119 --> 00:24:01,680 Speaker 2: her sham marriage and to be sent to her uncle, 390 00:24:01,720 --> 00:24:05,159 Speaker 2: who she said lived in James City. This is almost 391 00:24:05,160 --> 00:24:10,480 Speaker 2: certainly just completely fabricated. Mann commissioned a portrait of Ganet 392 00:24:10,520 --> 00:24:14,080 Speaker 2: by folk artist Joseph Stone, which became the basis for 393 00:24:14,160 --> 00:24:18,000 Speaker 2: the engraving for the book's frontispiece. This portrait still exists 394 00:24:18,000 --> 00:24:20,879 Speaker 2: in the collection of the Rhode Island Historical Society today. 395 00:24:21,440 --> 00:24:24,040 Speaker 2: It shows her in a feminine white dress, with long 396 00:24:24,200 --> 00:24:28,040 Speaker 2: brown hair that curls softly around her cheeks and her shoulders, 397 00:24:28,560 --> 00:24:31,679 Speaker 2: blue eyes, fair skin with rosy cheeks, and a pretty 398 00:24:31,720 --> 00:24:35,840 Speaker 2: prominent jaw. It's framed with some patriotic embellishments, like an 399 00:24:35,880 --> 00:24:38,920 Speaker 2: eagle bearing a shield that's decorated with stars and stripes. 400 00:24:39,640 --> 00:24:42,560 Speaker 2: Man was not the only writer trying to support Deborah 401 00:24:42,560 --> 00:24:47,199 Speaker 2: Sampson Gannett's pension efforts. Shortly after she filed her paperwork, 402 00:24:47,320 --> 00:24:50,800 Speaker 2: poet Philip Freneau published A Soldier should be made of 403 00:24:50,800 --> 00:24:54,000 Speaker 2: Sterner Stuff on Deborah Gannett, and that was published in 404 00:24:54,040 --> 00:24:55,760 Speaker 2: a publication called The time Piece. 405 00:24:56,520 --> 00:25:00,960 Speaker 1: Although Ganette pursued this pension she was entitled to for months, 406 00:25:00,960 --> 00:25:04,399 Speaker 1: her petition for it wound up stalled in Congress. She 407 00:25:04,520 --> 00:25:07,160 Speaker 1: tried applying again a few years later, and in eighteen 408 00:25:07,200 --> 00:25:09,760 Speaker 1: oh two she went on a speaking tour to raise 409 00:25:09,800 --> 00:25:12,720 Speaker 1: money and to try to gather support. She went all 410 00:25:12,760 --> 00:25:15,040 Speaker 1: around New England and New York and was billed as 411 00:25:15,080 --> 00:25:19,000 Speaker 1: the American Heroine. She worked with Herman Mann again on 412 00:25:19,040 --> 00:25:21,080 Speaker 1: the text of the address that she would give on 413 00:25:21,160 --> 00:25:24,359 Speaker 1: this tour. Some historians have concluded that this was not 414 00:25:24,440 --> 00:25:27,399 Speaker 1: a collaboration between the two of them, but he just 415 00:25:27,480 --> 00:25:30,879 Speaker 1: wrote it for her. She would speak while wearing a dress, 416 00:25:30,960 --> 00:25:33,240 Speaker 1: and then she would go off stage and change into 417 00:25:33,280 --> 00:25:35,720 Speaker 1: her soldier's uniform and then come back and do military 418 00:25:35,840 --> 00:25:39,640 Speaker 1: drills like presenting her arms. We don't really know how 419 00:25:39,720 --> 00:25:42,639 Speaker 1: much Genet stuck to the prepared remarks that man worked on, 420 00:25:42,800 --> 00:25:45,560 Speaker 1: but we do have a print version of it. It 421 00:25:45,600 --> 00:25:49,960 Speaker 1: begins quote not unlike the example of the patriot and philanthropists, 422 00:25:50,040 --> 00:25:53,520 Speaker 1: though perhaps perfectly so. In effect, do I awake from 423 00:25:53,600 --> 00:25:57,520 Speaker 1: the tranquil slumbers of retirement to active public scenes of 424 00:25:57,560 --> 00:26:01,760 Speaker 1: life like those which now surround me. That genius, which 425 00:26:01,800 --> 00:26:04,720 Speaker 1: is the prompter of curiosity, and that spirit, which is 426 00:26:04,760 --> 00:26:09,119 Speaker 1: the support of enterprise, early drove or rather allured me 427 00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:13,240 Speaker 1: from the corner of humble obscurity. Their cheering aspect has 428 00:26:13,320 --> 00:26:15,920 Speaker 1: again prevented a torpid rest. 429 00:26:16,680 --> 00:26:18,959 Speaker 2: If you found that to be a whole lot of 430 00:26:19,000 --> 00:26:24,440 Speaker 2: words that essentially said nothing, was very stilted. 431 00:26:25,119 --> 00:26:26,600 Speaker 1: I have mad news me. 432 00:26:26,800 --> 00:26:30,280 Speaker 2: The whole thing is like this, and it's a lot 433 00:26:30,320 --> 00:26:34,680 Speaker 2: more about patriotic ideals than about any real specifics from 434 00:26:34,680 --> 00:26:38,800 Speaker 2: her life or her time in the army, which makes 435 00:26:38,840 --> 00:26:42,159 Speaker 2: for maybe bad copy, but probably worked really well to 436 00:26:42,400 --> 00:26:46,680 Speaker 2: drum up crowds to support her. Gannett kept a journal 437 00:26:46,800 --> 00:26:49,560 Speaker 2: during her tour, and this journal reveals that it was 438 00:26:49,960 --> 00:26:53,240 Speaker 2: really kind of a difficult time. She was traveling alone 439 00:26:53,440 --> 00:26:55,600 Speaker 2: and she was sick a lot. There are lots of 440 00:26:55,640 --> 00:26:59,280 Speaker 2: descriptions of toothaches and a pain in her face and 441 00:26:59,359 --> 00:27:02,600 Speaker 2: at one point what she described as dysentery, and she 442 00:27:02,640 --> 00:27:06,560 Speaker 2: also just really missed her children. Deborah Samson Connett was 443 00:27:06,680 --> 00:27:10,560 Speaker 2: finally awarded a pension as a disabled veteran on March 444 00:27:10,600 --> 00:27:14,560 Speaker 2: eleventh of eighteen oh five, after some prominent people spoke 445 00:27:14,640 --> 00:27:17,520 Speaker 2: up on her behalf, one of them being Paul Revere. 446 00:27:18,400 --> 00:27:21,080 Speaker 2: Her pension started at four dollars a month, and then 447 00:27:21,119 --> 00:27:24,159 Speaker 2: she applied for and was granted increases in that amount 448 00:27:24,160 --> 00:27:28,600 Speaker 2: in eighteen sixteen and eighteen nineteen. Sometimes she's described as 449 00:27:28,600 --> 00:27:31,679 Speaker 2: the first woman in American history to receive a military 450 00:27:31,760 --> 00:27:35,000 Speaker 2: pension or the first woman to be wounded while fighting 451 00:27:35,000 --> 00:27:37,879 Speaker 2: for the United States, but neither of these is true. 452 00:27:38,560 --> 00:27:41,639 Speaker 2: One earlier example is Margaret Cochrane Corbin, who became a 453 00:27:41,720 --> 00:27:45,200 Speaker 2: camp follower after her husband John joined the Pennsylvania military. 454 00:27:45,920 --> 00:27:48,520 Speaker 2: Margaret was helping her husband load his cannon at the 455 00:27:48,520 --> 00:27:52,560 Speaker 2: Battle of Fort Washington on November sixteenth, seventeen seventy six, 456 00:27:52,640 --> 00:27:55,679 Speaker 2: and when he was killed, she took his place. She 457 00:27:55,920 --> 00:27:58,280 Speaker 2: was then seriously wounded as well, and she became a 458 00:27:58,320 --> 00:28:02,400 Speaker 2: prisoner of war after the battle, the Continental Congress awarded 459 00:28:02,440 --> 00:28:06,480 Speaker 2: her a lifetime pension on July sixth, seventeen seventy nine, 460 00:28:06,600 --> 00:28:10,600 Speaker 2: although at half the amount that men received. In her 461 00:28:10,760 --> 00:28:14,280 Speaker 2: later years, Deborah Samson Gannett seems to have wanted her 462 00:28:14,280 --> 00:28:16,720 Speaker 2: family to know about and to remember her time as 463 00:28:16,760 --> 00:28:20,159 Speaker 2: a soldier, but she really stepped away from the public spotlight. 464 00:28:20,960 --> 00:28:24,679 Speaker 2: While her military service was described as exemplary, the idea 465 00:28:24,720 --> 00:28:29,000 Speaker 2: of cross dressing was still really scandalous, and any association 466 00:28:29,160 --> 00:28:32,600 Speaker 2: with the military could be seen as very suspicious for women. 467 00:28:33,200 --> 00:28:37,119 Speaker 2: There were thousands of women camp followers during the war, 468 00:28:37,240 --> 00:28:39,960 Speaker 2: and even though a lot of them were doing absolutely 469 00:28:40,000 --> 00:28:43,560 Speaker 2: necessary work like cooking and mending and caring for the sick, 470 00:28:44,240 --> 00:28:46,920 Speaker 2: they were viewed with a lot of derision and suspicion, 471 00:28:47,400 --> 00:28:50,640 Speaker 2: and this all fed into a lot of really salacious 472 00:28:50,760 --> 00:28:54,920 Speaker 2: rumors that she seems to have found genuinely upsetting. Debra 473 00:28:55,040 --> 00:28:58,480 Speaker 2: Samson Gannett died on April twenty ninth, eighteen twenty seven, 474 00:28:58,520 --> 00:29:01,800 Speaker 2: at the age of sixty six. At the time, herman 475 00:29:01,880 --> 00:29:04,480 Speaker 2: Mann was working on a revised version of her memoir, 476 00:29:04,680 --> 00:29:07,160 Speaker 2: one that was written in first person, in which she 477 00:29:07,200 --> 00:29:10,160 Speaker 2: had given him permission to print only after her death. 478 00:29:11,120 --> 00:29:14,720 Speaker 2: Man got almost two hundred subscribers to fund this revised work, 479 00:29:15,400 --> 00:29:18,880 Speaker 2: but he also died before getting it published. His son 480 00:29:18,960 --> 00:29:21,520 Speaker 2: took up the project and made all kinds of revisions, 481 00:29:21,560 --> 00:29:25,600 Speaker 2: but then he died as well. Overall, these revisions made 482 00:29:25,600 --> 00:29:30,440 Speaker 2: the book more sensationalized and definitely not more accurate. Benjamin 483 00:29:30,440 --> 00:29:34,240 Speaker 2: Gannett petitioned the government for a survivor's pension, one that 484 00:29:34,360 --> 00:29:37,000 Speaker 2: typically would have been paid to a widow after the 485 00:29:37,040 --> 00:29:41,880 Speaker 2: death of her veteran husband. Congress authorized this on July seventh, 486 00:29:41,920 --> 00:29:45,360 Speaker 2: eighteen thirty eight, with a committee noting that the Revolution 487 00:29:45,560 --> 00:29:50,640 Speaker 2: had quote furnished no other similar example of female heroism, fidelity, 488 00:29:50,680 --> 00:29:54,920 Speaker 2: and courage. Benjamin Ginnett actually died about eighteen months before 489 00:29:54,920 --> 00:29:57,920 Speaker 2: Congress finalized this payment, so in the end it went 490 00:29:58,000 --> 00:29:59,600 Speaker 2: to his attorney and his heirs. 491 00:30:00,480 --> 00:30:04,240 Speaker 1: John A. Venon printed a new version of Hermanmann's biography 492 00:30:04,280 --> 00:30:08,320 Speaker 1: of Deborah Sampson Ganet in eighteen sixty six. It included 493 00:30:08,520 --> 00:30:11,960 Speaker 1: lots of annotations and corrections, as well as new information. 494 00:30:12,800 --> 00:30:15,640 Speaker 1: There were also lots of dime novels and other stories 495 00:30:15,680 --> 00:30:17,600 Speaker 1: about her printed in the nineteenth century. 496 00:30:18,560 --> 00:30:21,680 Speaker 2: During World War II, a liberty ship was named the 497 00:30:21,760 --> 00:30:25,880 Speaker 2: SS Deborah Gannett. In nineteen eighty three, Governor Michael Ducaucus 498 00:30:26,080 --> 00:30:29,880 Speaker 2: signed legislation naming Deborah Sampson the official heroine of the 499 00:30:29,920 --> 00:30:33,840 Speaker 2: Commonwealth of Massachusetts, with May twenty third being designated as 500 00:30:33,920 --> 00:30:38,000 Speaker 2: Deborah Sampson Day. A life sized statue of her was 501 00:30:38,120 --> 00:30:41,640 Speaker 2: unveiled at the Sharon, Massachusetts Public Library on Veterans Day 502 00:30:41,720 --> 00:30:42,760 Speaker 2: nineteen eighty nine. 503 00:30:43,640 --> 00:30:47,000 Speaker 1: In the late twenty teens, legislation known as the Deborah 504 00:30:47,000 --> 00:30:50,600 Speaker 1: Sampson Act was introduced to in Congress a number of times, 505 00:30:50,840 --> 00:30:53,440 Speaker 1: at one point passing the House but getting stalled in 506 00:30:53,480 --> 00:30:57,360 Speaker 1: the Senate. This legislation was meant to improve women's access 507 00:30:57,360 --> 00:30:59,800 Speaker 1: to care and benefits through the Department of Veterans off 508 00:30:59,800 --> 00:31:03,760 Speaker 1: Fair and to improve the quality of that care. The 509 00:31:03,800 --> 00:31:07,200 Speaker 1: bill's content was eventually folded into the Johnny Isaacson and 510 00:31:07,320 --> 00:31:11,240 Speaker 1: David p row MD Veterans Healthcare and Benefits Improvement Act 511 00:31:11,560 --> 00:31:14,760 Speaker 1: of twenty twenty, which was signed into law on January fifth, 512 00:31:14,800 --> 00:31:19,120 Speaker 1: twenty twenty one. In this Act, title five, Deborah Sampson 513 00:31:19,320 --> 00:31:23,320 Speaker 1: is subtitled Improving Access for Women Veterans to the Department 514 00:31:23,360 --> 00:31:27,680 Speaker 1: of Veterans Affairs before we get to listener mail. Something 515 00:31:27,720 --> 00:31:30,520 Speaker 1: came up during research on this that would normally probably 516 00:31:30,560 --> 00:31:33,240 Speaker 1: go into the Friday behind the scenes, but it seems 517 00:31:33,280 --> 00:31:35,600 Speaker 1: like enough listeners might have heard about it and be 518 00:31:35,720 --> 00:31:38,080 Speaker 1: wondering that I wanted to go ahead and talk about 519 00:31:38,120 --> 00:31:41,600 Speaker 1: it now. When I'm pulling together resources for episodes, one 520 00:31:41,600 --> 00:31:44,240 Speaker 1: of the places I look is Gail databases that I 521 00:31:44,280 --> 00:31:49,200 Speaker 1: have access to through the public library. Gail's first book 522 00:31:49,280 --> 00:31:52,080 Speaker 1: result when I searched for Deborah Samson is from the 523 00:31:52,160 --> 00:31:56,600 Speaker 1: nineteen ninety two book Notable Black American Women. I was 524 00:31:56,640 --> 00:31:59,560 Speaker 1: immediately confused, since none of the material that I had 525 00:31:59,560 --> 00:32:03,000 Speaker 1: gathered before that point suggested that Deborah Gaannette was black, 526 00:32:03,160 --> 00:32:06,000 Speaker 1: and the many references that I had seen too were 527 00:32:06,000 --> 00:32:11,240 Speaker 1: ancestors being aboard the Mayflower without mentioning any other ancestors 528 00:32:11,600 --> 00:32:15,280 Speaker 1: kind of implied that she was not. Sources from Gannette's 529 00:32:15,280 --> 00:32:19,440 Speaker 1: lifetime don't mention her race at all. It wasn't typical 530 00:32:19,560 --> 00:32:22,520 Speaker 1: for white writers to spell out another white person's race, 531 00:32:22,640 --> 00:32:25,400 Speaker 1: but noting the race of black people was routine in 532 00:32:25,480 --> 00:32:30,240 Speaker 1: everything from enlistment records to newspaper articles to personal journals. 533 00:32:30,920 --> 00:32:34,080 Speaker 1: The idea that Deborah Sampson was black seems to trace 534 00:32:34,120 --> 00:32:37,480 Speaker 1: back to William C. Nell's book Colored Patriots of the 535 00:32:37,520 --> 00:32:41,960 Speaker 1: American Revolution that was published in eighteen fifty five. This 536 00:32:42,080 --> 00:32:45,520 Speaker 1: book is noteworthy on its own William Coopernell was a 537 00:32:45,600 --> 00:32:49,280 Speaker 1: journalist an abolitionist. This was one of the first books 538 00:32:49,360 --> 00:32:52,800 Speaker 1: by a black person to document the contributions of other 539 00:32:53,000 --> 00:32:57,160 Speaker 1: black people to the American Revolution. Nell also wrote books 540 00:32:57,200 --> 00:32:59,960 Speaker 1: about black soldier's service in the War of eighteen twelve 541 00:33:00,160 --> 00:33:03,040 Speaker 1: and on Christmas addics in the Boston Massacre. He is 542 00:33:03,120 --> 00:33:06,000 Speaker 1: somebody who could be an episode subject of the show 543 00:33:06,000 --> 00:33:11,200 Speaker 1: One Day. Colored Patriots of the American Revolution references Lemuel Burr, 544 00:33:11,240 --> 00:33:15,480 Speaker 1: who was black and indigenous. Lemuell's grandfather, Samuel Burr, was 545 00:33:15,480 --> 00:33:19,080 Speaker 1: friends with Jeremy Jonah and both served in the Revolutionary War. 546 00:33:20,080 --> 00:33:23,360 Speaker 1: Burr was in Gannett's regiment and Jonah was in another 547 00:33:23,400 --> 00:33:27,040 Speaker 1: regiment that was also stationed in the Hudson Valley. To 548 00:33:27,240 --> 00:33:31,040 Speaker 1: quote the book quote, Lemuel Burr, grandson of Seymour, a 549 00:33:31,120 --> 00:33:35,800 Speaker 1: resident of Boston, often speaks of their reminiscences of Deborah Gannett. 550 00:33:37,000 --> 00:33:39,800 Speaker 1: Nell then prints the text of the General Court of 551 00:33:39,800 --> 00:33:44,600 Speaker 1: Massachusetts Resolution awarding Deborah Gannett thirty four pounds for services 552 00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:49,400 Speaker 1: in the Continental Army. Multiple historians have traced the idea 553 00:33:49,480 --> 00:33:53,400 Speaker 1: that Deborah Samson Gannett was black to this passage. People 554 00:33:53,480 --> 00:33:56,400 Speaker 1: interpreted her inclusion in this book as meaning that she 555 00:33:56,520 --> 00:33:59,680 Speaker 1: was black as well, although it's really not entirely clear 556 00:33:59,800 --> 00:34:03,160 Speaker 1: if this was Nell's intent or not. From there, it 557 00:34:03,160 --> 00:34:06,640 Speaker 1: made its way into other people's work. The earliest examples 558 00:34:06,640 --> 00:34:09,680 Speaker 1: of this are primarily from black writers and speakers who 559 00:34:09,680 --> 00:34:13,040 Speaker 1: were doing the important and necessary work of documenting and 560 00:34:13,080 --> 00:34:17,680 Speaker 1: publicizing black people's participation in the Revolutionary War. For example, 561 00:34:17,800 --> 00:34:21,240 Speaker 1: Lewis Hayden, who was enslaved from birth but liberated himself 562 00:34:21,280 --> 00:34:24,040 Speaker 1: and became a prominent part of the underground railroad before 563 00:34:24,080 --> 00:34:27,560 Speaker 1: the Civil War, gave an address during the US Centennial 564 00:34:27,640 --> 00:34:31,880 Speaker 1: in eighteen seventy six. He was speaking to the Colored Ladies' 565 00:34:31,920 --> 00:34:35,399 Speaker 1: Centennial Club in Boston, and he used Genet as an 566 00:34:35,400 --> 00:34:39,760 Speaker 1: example of black women's contributions to the war. The idea 567 00:34:39,800 --> 00:34:43,080 Speaker 1: that Debora Samson Gennet was black became more widespread during 568 00:34:43,080 --> 00:34:45,760 Speaker 1: the Civil Rights Movement, and it still comes up today, 569 00:34:46,040 --> 00:34:50,240 Speaker 1: primarily in sources that are focused specifically on Black people's 570 00:34:50,239 --> 00:34:53,880 Speaker 1: achievements like lists of facts for Black History Month and 571 00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:57,279 Speaker 1: that nineteen ninety two book that we mentioned. To be 572 00:34:57,360 --> 00:35:01,240 Speaker 1: totally clear, it is not impossible that Deborah Samson Gannett 573 00:35:01,360 --> 00:35:05,480 Speaker 1: had African ancestry somewhere in her family tree. She had 574 00:35:05,640 --> 00:35:10,759 Speaker 1: one grandmother and one great grandfather whose parents aren't clearly documented, 575 00:35:11,239 --> 00:35:13,400 Speaker 1: and of course it's also possible that one of her 576 00:35:13,440 --> 00:35:16,200 Speaker 1: ancestors had an affair of some sort that wouldn't be 577 00:35:16,640 --> 00:35:21,200 Speaker 1: reflected in things like birth and marriage records. But beyond that, 578 00:35:21,440 --> 00:35:25,399 Speaker 1: Deborah Samson Gannett's documented ancestors trace back to people who 579 00:35:25,480 --> 00:35:29,560 Speaker 1: emigrated from Europe during the seventeenth century, nearly all of 580 00:35:29,600 --> 00:35:33,879 Speaker 1: them from England during the Great Puritan Migration. It would 581 00:35:33,880 --> 00:35:35,600 Speaker 1: have been a scandal for any of them who have 582 00:35:35,680 --> 00:35:38,640 Speaker 1: had a child with someone of African descent, and there 583 00:35:38,680 --> 00:35:41,279 Speaker 1: just hasn't been anything found to suggest that that kind 584 00:35:41,280 --> 00:35:45,040 Speaker 1: of scandal happened. For folks who want more on Deborah 585 00:35:45,080 --> 00:35:47,719 Speaker 1: Samson Ganett, one of the more recent books about her 586 00:35:48,120 --> 00:35:51,400 Speaker 1: is titled Masquerade, The Life and Times of Deborah Samson 587 00:35:51,520 --> 00:35:55,600 Speaker 1: Continental Soldier. That's by Alfred F. Young. There's also a 588 00:35:55,640 --> 00:36:01,080 Speaker 1: recent novel titled Revolutionary by Alex Myers is a transgender man, 589 00:36:01,200 --> 00:36:05,200 Speaker 1: so he brings a really unique perspective to telling this story. Yeah. 590 00:36:06,400 --> 00:36:08,919 Speaker 2: This is the second time in recent memory that there's 591 00:36:08,920 --> 00:36:12,000 Speaker 2: been a novel that I started reading and did not finish. 592 00:36:12,040 --> 00:36:14,160 Speaker 2: In this case, it's because there is a rape in 593 00:36:14,200 --> 00:36:16,719 Speaker 2: the first chapter and I noped hard out of it 594 00:36:16,800 --> 00:36:20,120 Speaker 2: at that point. I was just not up for reading 595 00:36:20,120 --> 00:36:23,000 Speaker 2: a book that started out, uh with a rape over 596 00:36:23,040 --> 00:36:27,399 Speaker 2: the weekend. The no not rest will wait to spend 597 00:36:27,440 --> 00:36:31,720 Speaker 2: your time, no, which not say those aren't important stories, 598 00:36:31,840 --> 00:36:36,560 Speaker 2: which yeah, I mean, it's been extremely well reviewed. Yeah, 599 00:36:36,640 --> 00:36:40,840 Speaker 2: I just I was not prepared and did not continue reading. 600 00:36:41,000 --> 00:36:41,480 Speaker 1: There you go. 601 00:36:41,960 --> 00:36:44,360 Speaker 2: Uh do you have listener mail for us? I do 602 00:36:44,520 --> 00:36:48,280 Speaker 2: have listener mail. We have another round of incredibly belated 603 00:36:48,320 --> 00:36:51,680 Speaker 2: thank yous. As we mentioned in a prior listener mail segment, 604 00:36:51,760 --> 00:36:54,759 Speaker 2: our office is changing locations, so Holly and I have 605 00:36:54,920 --> 00:36:59,359 Speaker 2: each received boxes of things from the two years that 606 00:36:59,480 --> 00:37:02,080 Speaker 2: neither of us went to the office that now have 607 00:37:02,200 --> 00:37:04,920 Speaker 2: to be dealt with because the office is moving and 608 00:37:05,000 --> 00:37:07,240 Speaker 2: we cannot just leave a bunch of stuff behind. 609 00:37:07,560 --> 00:37:09,760 Speaker 1: That would be very rude, we could. 610 00:37:11,280 --> 00:37:16,080 Speaker 2: Yeah, So I have three short things from listeners and 611 00:37:16,440 --> 00:37:19,480 Speaker 2: this is when I say very belated. Some of these 612 00:37:19,520 --> 00:37:23,400 Speaker 2: had postmarks on them that were from late twenty nineteen 613 00:37:23,400 --> 00:37:27,640 Speaker 2: early twenty twenty, so Chris said, Dear Holly and Tracy, 614 00:37:27,719 --> 00:37:30,239 Speaker 2: I hope this finds you well. I love the podcast 615 00:37:30,320 --> 00:37:32,840 Speaker 2: and have listened for years during the pandemic. I have 616 00:37:33,040 --> 00:37:36,640 Speaker 2: had your voices with me while making masks and wanted 617 00:37:36,640 --> 00:37:40,000 Speaker 2: to send us some on for thanks smiley face Chris. 618 00:37:40,239 --> 00:37:45,040 Speaker 2: Chris sent some very nice cloth masks made with Voyage 619 00:37:45,080 --> 00:37:50,280 Speaker 2: Manuscript fabric Fabulous. My household is still using cloth masks 620 00:37:50,320 --> 00:37:56,120 Speaker 2: for things like dusting around the house, and when my 621 00:37:56,200 --> 00:37:59,120 Speaker 2: spouse changes the cat litter, he usually puts a mask 622 00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:02,200 Speaker 2: on so that he does not inhale all of the 623 00:38:02,200 --> 00:38:05,800 Speaker 2: cat litter on the planet. We also got one from Danielle. 624 00:38:05,880 --> 00:38:08,799 Speaker 2: Danielle says, greetings from Tacoma, Washington. I just wanted to 625 00:38:08,800 --> 00:38:11,880 Speaker 2: thank you for doing an episode on the Tacoma Narra's Bridge. 626 00:38:12,160 --> 00:38:15,040 Speaker 2: It's nice to learn about my local history, and especially 627 00:38:15,080 --> 00:38:18,200 Speaker 2: thank you for not leaving poor Tubby out. I knew 628 00:38:18,239 --> 00:38:20,640 Speaker 2: of him before, but he never gets mentioned here and 629 00:38:20,680 --> 00:38:21,920 Speaker 2: it always makes me sad. 630 00:38:22,000 --> 00:38:22,920 Speaker 1: I did not know. 631 00:38:22,840 --> 00:38:25,920 Speaker 2: About the legend of the King octopus and explain so 632 00:38:26,120 --> 00:38:30,319 Speaker 2: much about my favorite local art print included. I just 633 00:38:30,400 --> 00:38:34,920 Speaker 2: thought it was a cool octopus. Thanks again, Danielle. Danielle 634 00:38:34,960 --> 00:38:38,960 Speaker 2: sent this marvelous art print. I'm sorry if anyone can 635 00:38:39,000 --> 00:38:42,360 Speaker 2: hear lawn mower outside of my house that has started 636 00:38:42,360 --> 00:38:45,520 Speaker 2: happening just now. So Danielle sent this art print and 637 00:38:45,560 --> 00:38:48,239 Speaker 2: it is of an octopus like climbing up from the 638 00:38:48,280 --> 00:38:50,280 Speaker 2: water onto the Tacoma and Nearra's Bridge. 639 00:38:50,920 --> 00:38:52,920 Speaker 1: It is great. Thank you so much, Danielle. 640 00:38:53,400 --> 00:38:56,439 Speaker 2: And then Grace wrote, dear Holly and Tracy, I hope 641 00:38:56,480 --> 00:38:58,879 Speaker 2: you both are well and being gentle with yourselves during 642 00:38:58,920 --> 00:39:03,080 Speaker 2: the stressful time. Just finished working on this anthology, Votes 643 00:39:03,080 --> 00:39:06,200 Speaker 2: for Women, which was in no small part inspired by 644 00:39:06,280 --> 00:39:08,920 Speaker 2: your awesome pod. Your pod keeps me full of awesome 645 00:39:08,960 --> 00:39:11,360 Speaker 2: ideas for all sorts of comics, and so there was 646 00:39:11,640 --> 00:39:14,279 Speaker 2: a book included that was called Votes for Women, a 647 00:39:14,280 --> 00:39:17,720 Speaker 2: comics anthology. In this said cheers Grace with a picture. 648 00:39:18,480 --> 00:39:21,239 Speaker 2: I'm assuming this is a self portrait of Grace. So 649 00:39:21,400 --> 00:39:24,440 Speaker 2: thank you so much, Grace. And one last thank you. 650 00:39:24,520 --> 00:39:27,239 Speaker 2: There was not a note included, but thanks to Alexandra 651 00:39:27,400 --> 00:39:33,600 Speaker 2: for sending the Subversive Ladies coloring book. I got two 652 00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:39,520 Speaker 2: gigantic boxes from the office. It included approximately thirty unsolicited 653 00:39:39,560 --> 00:39:42,960 Speaker 2: review copies of books sent by publicists. 654 00:39:42,320 --> 00:39:44,600 Speaker 1: And then these pieces of listener mail. 655 00:39:45,640 --> 00:39:50,279 Speaker 2: Thank you again to everybody who sent things. I am 656 00:39:50,320 --> 00:39:53,200 Speaker 2: so sorry that we did not say anything about it 657 00:39:53,239 --> 00:39:58,520 Speaker 2: for two entire years. In most cases, I'm sure there's 658 00:39:58,640 --> 00:40:02,080 Speaker 2: other stuff that will unnursed in the whole moving process. 659 00:40:03,640 --> 00:40:05,680 Speaker 2: If anybody has sent us stuff and is like, I 660 00:40:05,680 --> 00:40:09,120 Speaker 2: wonder why they never said anything, we may not have 661 00:40:09,239 --> 00:40:09,759 Speaker 2: gotten it. 662 00:40:09,880 --> 00:40:10,440 Speaker 1: We may have. 663 00:40:10,440 --> 00:40:12,600 Speaker 2: Gotten it, and we haven't gone through this stuff yet. 664 00:40:13,120 --> 00:40:17,160 Speaker 2: It's been I haven't opened all my boxes. Yeah, you've 665 00:40:17,200 --> 00:40:20,600 Speaker 2: got way more boxes than I got because your boxes 666 00:40:20,600 --> 00:40:22,680 Speaker 2: didn't have to go all the way to Massachusetts. 667 00:40:22,719 --> 00:40:27,200 Speaker 1: Correct. So thank you again everybody. 668 00:40:27,960 --> 00:40:30,239 Speaker 2: As I said previously, as we're in the middle of 669 00:40:30,280 --> 00:40:32,960 Speaker 2: this moving process, I think anything that would be sent 670 00:40:33,040 --> 00:40:35,000 Speaker 2: to our office at this moment might go into a 671 00:40:35,120 --> 00:40:42,399 Speaker 2: strange parallel universe. We're between addresses, but if you would 672 00:40:42,440 --> 00:40:44,920 Speaker 2: like to send us an email, we're at History Podcasts 673 00:40:44,960 --> 00:40:47,800 Speaker 2: at iHeartRadio dot com, and we're all over social media 674 00:40:47,800 --> 00:40:50,400 Speaker 2: at miss and History. That's re'll find our Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, 675 00:40:50,440 --> 00:40:53,160 Speaker 2: and Instagram, and you can subscribe to our show on 676 00:40:53,239 --> 00:40:57,920 Speaker 2: the iHeartRadio app, wherever else you like to get your podcasts. 677 00:41:01,760 --> 00:41:04,880 Speaker 2: Stuff you Missed in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 678 00:41:05,200 --> 00:41:09,799 Speaker 2: For more podcasts from iHeartRadio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, 679 00:41:09,920 --> 00:41:11,960 Speaker 2: or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.