A Pensioned Soldier

Margaret Cochran Corbin followed her soldier husband John  into battle. Women often followed their husbands and provided their services as cooks as seemstresses to the army. Margaret, however, was in the heat of the battle. In November of 1776, at the age of 25, she and John were at Fort Washington, which was under attack by4,000  Hessian and British troops.  John and another soldier were stationed at a cannon, one of only two the fort had. When the other man was killed, John immediately took over and his wife slipped in as assistant, firing the cannon while John loaded shot. But then John was hit and killed  and Margaret was left with a decision and no time to mourn. She stepped in and continued firing the cannon until grape shot tore at her left shoulder, chest, and now useless jaw. Upon seeing her fall, other soldiers carried her to the rear and bandaged up her wounds.  Though the British went on to win the battle, they allowed the soldiers to be ferried to Fort Lee, where Margaret was nursed. Her arm never fully recovered and she  was left to get by with the use of only one arm. In 1779, the Continental Congress agreed to pay her a pension, which is an active soldier’s half-pay. It was the first time a woman was paid a pension and recognized for the service she rendered and the wounds inflicted.  In 1926, the Daughters of the American Revolution wanted to awaken the memories of  Margaret’s bravery in soldiering. They were able to exhume her body from a remote grave and transfer it to West Point, where she was laid to rest next to other soldiers at the Old Cadet Chapel, where she belonged.