who disguised herself as a man to fight in the war
Deborah Sampson Deborah Sampson Gannett (December 17, 1760 â€“ April 29, 1827), better known as Deborah Samson or Deborah Sampson, was a Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. She is one of a small number of women with a documented record of military combat experience in that war.[1] She served 17 months in the army under the name "Robert Shirtliff" (also spelled Shirtliffe or Shurtleff)[2][3] of Uxbridge, Massachusetts, was wounded in 1782, and was honorably discharged at West Point, New York in 1783.