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    Molly Letter

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    naqvimurtaza123
    Mary Ludwig Hays, also known as Molly Pitcher, writes a letter to Abigail Adams to share her experience during the Battle of Monmouth and how it inspired her. She describes how her husband William died from injuries sustained during the battle. Despite norms of the time, Mary took over William's duties operating a cannon when he collapsed from heat exhaustion. This moment of becoming her own person rather than just a wife stayed with her. She saw Abigail Adams as a female inspiration and hopes to continue corresponding to support women's rights and equality.

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    Molly Letter

    Uploaded by

    naqvimurtaza123
    29 views1 page
    Mary Ludwig Hays, also known as Molly Pitcher, writes a letter to Abigail Adams to share her experience during the Battle of Monmouth and how it inspired her. She describes how her husband William died from injuries sustained during the battle. Despite norms of the time, Mary took over William's duties operating a cannon when he collapsed from heat exhaustion. This moment of becoming her own person rather than just a wife stayed with her. She saw Abigail Adams as a female inspiration and hopes to continue corresponding to support women's rights and equality.

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    MollyLetter

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    Mary Ludwig Hays, also known as Molly Pitcher, writes a letter to Abigail Adams to share her experience during the Battle of Monmouth and how it inspired her. She describes how her husband William died from injuries sustained during the battle. Despite norms of the time, Mary took over William's duties operating a cannon when he collapsed from heat exhaustion. This moment of becoming her own person rather than just a wife stayed with her. She saw Abigail Adams as a female inspiration and hopes to continue corresponding to support women's rights and equality.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    29 views1 page

    Molly Letter

    Uploaded by

    naqvimurtaza123
    Mary Ludwig Hays, also known as Molly Pitcher, writes a letter to Abigail Adams to share her experience during the Battle of Monmouth and how it inspired her. She describes how her husband William died from injuries sustained during the battle. Despite norms of the time, Mary took over William's duties operating a cannon when he collapsed from heat exhaustion. This moment of becoming her own person rather than just a wife stayed with her. She saw Abigail Adams as a female inspiration and hopes to continue corresponding to support women's rights and equality.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    You are on page 1of 1

    Dear Mrs.

    Adams,

    I’m writing this letter to you from a position of immense grief. My husband and
    lifelong partner, Will, passed away three weeks ago from his wounds. At this point in time, I
    feel truly alone, He fought in the war, yet lost the battle against his injuries. We were so
    close, so intertwined, that I followed him as he got drafted. You might know me as Molly
    Pitcher, though my real name is Mary Ludwig Hays. I fought in the battle of Monmouth,
    where my dear Will collapsed as the heat seeped into his very body. In that moment, I was
    terrified, as all my life I was taught to follow my husband, to support him, but how could I
    support him in the middle of a battle, where shots fly and men die? Immediately, I knew I had
    to take his position, as he was on one of the artillery pieces. This moment In time was when I
    truly became my own person, when I became Molly Pitcher, not Mary, the wife of William.
    Losing him just now helped me arrive to the conclusion that I need to be my own person.

    I’m addressing you about this because I hold you as a female inspiration for myself. I
    read about you in the paper, how you’ve been the first woman to stand up for female rights in
    the colonies, and I am truly inspired by you. I simply cannot put into words the feeling of
    elation I felt being my own person and working the cannon. My husband, Will, served in the
    Continental Army in the 4th Pennsylvania Artillery. On June 28, 1778, the heat was
    unbearable. I reckon an equivalent amount of men were dying from heat exhaustion as they
    were from bullets. It was a mess, I knew I had to help the wounded and the dehydrated, it was
    my obligation as a woman to aide these ailing men. I could hear gunshots all around, the
    sound of bodies thudding and falling to the ground, the smell of a hot summer day. Despite
    that all, I kept my calm and ran back and forth fetching water from a nearby spring to help the
    thirsty and aide the sick. I sat down for a moment, it felt as if my lungs had given up. I
    needed some air, and that’s when I saw him. My dear William, wounded on the floor. This is
    the first time in my life that under grief, I did not give up and follow the procedure that
    women were supposed to follow. I trusted my instinct and acted on what I believed was right.
    I took my husband’s position in cooling and firing the cannon that he was assigned to. I felt
    so empowered, so strong. In that moment, I wasn’t William Hay’s wife. I wasn’t a woman in
    the war camps who just came along with her husband. I was an American, I was Mary
    Ludwig, and I was proud of it.

    This feeling of empowerment made me realise exactly what you were talking about.
    Our equality, our rights to be treated equal, our power and our suffrage should be granted to
    us. We, as women, are just as capable of making the same decisions that men do, of
    undertaking the same professions that men take, and of indulging in the same privileges that
    men indulge in. I ask that you continue your cause and constantly persist, even within the
    face of resistance. If I, a simple woman born near New Jersey, can be capable of such heroics
    in war, then any and every woman can and should be given that opportunity. Thank you for
    all the work that you have done up till now and I hope that you take this letter to heart and
    that we can benefit from a regular correspondence.

    Kind Regards,
    Mary Ludwig Hays

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