Vila Wolf's Dyslexic Folklorist Ranting

January 25, 1776: John Adams witnesses Henry Knox’s “Noble Train of Artillery” pass through Framingham, Massachusetts, on the way from Fort Ticonderoga, New York, to the siege of Boston.

1776. Jany. 25. Thursday. Founders Online, National Archives (http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Adams/01-02-02-0006-0001 [last update: 2014-12-01]). Source: The Adams Papers, Diary and Autobiography of John Adams, vol. 2, 1771–1781, ed. L. H. Butterfield. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1961, pp. 226–228.

235 years ago on June 28, 1778, Molly Pitcher, the legendary heroine of the American Revolution, is said to have participated in the Battle of Monmouth.  This is a copy of the engraving by J.C. Armytage after Alonzo Chappel.  

But who was Molly Pitcher?  See Will the Real Molly Pitcher Please Stand Up?  via the National Archives’ Prologue Magazine.

Vespertilio spectrum (now Vampyrum spectrum) - The Spectral Bat

Also known as the false vampire bat and Linnaeus’ vampire bat, the spectral bat may not bite humans like the common vampire bat (Desmodus rotundus), but small animals and large insects have much more to fear from this stealthy hunter.

True vampire bats (Desmodus sp.) hunt by opening a small wound in an animal while it sleeps, with razor sharp teeth that don’t even wake the victim. It laps up the blood, and flies away undetected. The fact that the animals are almost always unharmed by this encounter makes true vampire bats the only parasitic mammals.

Spectral bats, on the other hand, are absolute hunters. They do not drink blood like true vampire bats, and often hunt much like owls, stealthily patrolling the edges of forests at night, and swooping down to attack and consume large insects, small mammals, reptiles, and even other bats (whose distress calls can attract many spectral bats from miles around).

The spectral bat is much larger than the true vampire bats, and has large ears and decent sight. It hunts by using its large canine teeth to puncture either the cervical arteries or the brain-case of small vertebrates, or sever the head of insects. Like the true vampires, spectral bats are nocturnal, and live in the Americas. However, they’re not as ubiquitous, being confined mostly to the northwest quadrant of South America, and living almost exclusively in forested regions. 

Images:

Flickr via Wikimedia Commons

Die Säugthiere in Abbildungen nach der Natur.  Johann Christian Daniel von Schreber, 1775.

The name Molly Pitcher may have originated as a nickname for any woman who carried water to men on the battlefield during the Revolutionary War.  Today the name Molly Pitcher evokes the image of a folk hero who manned a cannon after her husband was struck down.  

Some historians regard Molly Pitcher as a folktale or a composite of several women. However, the life of Mary Ludwig Hays is widely considered to be the origin of the story.  Margaret Corbin is an alternate candidate for Molly Pitcher.

Born to German immigrant parents in Pennsylvania, Mary Ludwig married a barber named William Hays who eventually became an artilleryman in the Continental Army.  Mary traveled with him as a “camp girl” providing water on the battlefield and wintering at Valley Forge.

Mary served as a water carrier during the Battle of Monmouth where temperatures broke 100 F (37 C).  William eventually collapsed, either from heat stroke or a battle injury.  After her husband was carried from the battlefield, Mary swabbed and loaded the cannon herself.  At one point, a British cannon ball is said to have shot between her legs, ripping her skirt.  Her skillful and heroic work led to commendation (or possible symbolic promotion to sergeant) from General George Washington.  In her old age, Mary was awarded an annual pension of $40 for her heroism by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania.  Today, Friends of Monmouth Battlefield offers programming relating to Molly Pitcher and the lives of camp women.

Margaret Corbin was also the wife of a Pennsylvania artilleryman.  Unlike Mary Ludwig Hays, Margaret is said to have generally taken on the role of solider, dressing in a military uniform without disguising her gender. When her husband John was killed at the Battle of Fort Washington, Margaret took his place firing the canon and was eventually wounded. Captured by the British and released, she was assigned to the corps of invalids at West Point to perform guard duty. Listed on the discharge rolls for April 1783, Margaret Corbin was treated as a soldier by the military.  She was later granted a pension by Congress, making her the first American woman to receive a military pension for her own service.

Revolutionary War Cocked Hat, 1776-1780. Via the New York Historical Society.

You know, for the ubiquity of the black cocked hat in our history, there really aren’t that many that still exist today.  The gorgeous silk cockade is icing on the cake!