May, 2003; Page 4
HISTORY NOTES
By David Barrow
“CAPTAIN MOLLY”
November 1776
General Washington knew that the newly named Fort Washington on the Manhattan side of the Hudson couldn’t hold. Yet he had let Nathaniel Green talk him into defending it, at least until the main army could withdraw. As the mercenary Hessians and their British overseers advanced up the Dobbs Ferry and New Rochelle Roads they brought their own artillery to deal with the first obstacle; the cannons of the outlying redoubt called Ft. Tyron. Manning a nine-pounder inside that fort was the Virginian John Corbin. His wife Margaret (nicknamed “Molly” by the gunners) had accompanied her husband into the field – a common occurrence in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Slowly but inevitably Ft. Tyron was out-gunned. The close proximity meant that the enemy could load with deadly grapeshot, turning their cannons into giant shotguns firing clusters of metal balls with each shot. Soon most of the gun crew was killed or wounded, so Molly raced forward to help her husband service the gun. Another round of grape sprayed the emplacement, and John Corbin himself lay dying. Now the gun was Molly’s alone. Amid the smoke, screams and horror she tried desperately to remember the drill she’d seen John endlessly repeat:
SWAB…LOAD…SIGHT…PRIME…FIRE!
SWAB…LOAD…SIGHT…PRIME…FIRE!
Still the redcoats came on. Finally grape tore into Molly’s face and chest, shattered her left arm, and the gun fell silent.
Molly was captured, and then returned to the Americans. In 1779 both the Continental Congress and the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania granted her a military pension. She spent her later years in what is now Highland Falls, wearing a tattered artillery coat and reveling in the nickname “Captain Molly.” In 1924 her grave was relocated to West Point, beneath a bronze plaque telling her story.
Today female cadets can take advantage of the Margaret Corbin Forum, an organization designed to help women adjust to the vicissitudes of military life. The forum often stresses that a young lady doesn’t have to “become a man” in order to exhibit quality leadership.
“Captain Molly’ was the first American woman to be wounded in combat, and to receive a pension as a result. Her modern sisters in arms face increased risk of combat exposure, as the nature of the present conflict requires. In the War on Terror “frontline” and “rear echelon” are very elastic terms. Helicopter crews and even supply units can instantly become the object of enemy fire. Just ask Pfc. Jessica Lynch. Then there are those hazardous duties for which women are particularly well suited. Interaction with, and interrogation of Islamic females, for example, is more likely to be successful, and less likely to cause offense, if handled by women soldiers and Marines.
Our women warriors also send an important message to those parts of the world where attitudes towards women differ from ours. The more astute in those societies will realize that our power to project overwhelming force any time and place of our choosing is generated by the engine of freedom. Treating women as chattel property is obviously incompatible with such freedom. “Captain Molly” would have applauded such a message.
USMA SPONSOR PROGRAM
This program is designed exclusively to provide Fourth Class cadets the opportunity to join in an informal relationship with an academy staff or faculty member’s family. A primary goal of this program is to assist Fourth Class Cadets (plebes) in realizing that the Army life style involves families, homes, and an environment not all that different from what they knew as civilians just a few months earlier. The program provides Fourth Class Cadets an opportunity to relax and to occasionally take a breather from the many demands of being a Plebe. It provides the sponsor and his or her family the chance to assist the Plebe in their development by exposing the cadet to Army traditions, customs, and courtesies associated with visiting a senior faculty member's quarters. Sponsors are role models and Plebes learn tremendously about the Academy and the Army by their participation in this program.
A key factor in the success of this program is having families from the West Point community volunteer to sponsor New Cadets. Each family is asked to sponsor at least two, but not more than six Fourth Class Cadets. The principal benefit of the program is that it introduces Fourth Class Cadets from the Class of 2007 to the Army family life style.
A new cadet and their families’ first experience with this program in action may be during Beast when the new cadets utilize their host families’ invitation to call home. Many parents rarely hear of these unsung heroes of the West Point Family. Most of the time they provide a break away from the rigors of academics and duties, by inviting the cadets into their homes to watch TV or for a meal, quietly supporting and providing insight into real military life. Then there are the times when due to some unforeseen emergency they step up to become surrogate parents and save the day.
Every cadet’s experience is different, some have limited contact with their sponsors, other cadets become part of their sponsor’s family, and there is every experience in between. The families that are involved in this program are truly examples of the generous and caring nature that we want to foster in our cadets and we can’t thank them enough for being there for the cadets.