Jemima Warner

Jemima Warner was a camp follower with the Continental Army in the early days of the American Revolutionary War and, according to the Women's Memorial in Washington D.C., she is the first American “military woman killed in action."[1][2][3]

Biography

Nothing is known about Jemima's early childhood, but she probably lived in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania before joining the army when she was seventeen. Her husband, James Warner, was a private in Captain Matthew Smith's company of Colonel William Thompson's 1st Pennsylvania Regiment, and she accompanied him on Colonel Benedict Arnold's expedition to Quebec through the Maine wilderness in the fall of 1775.[4][5][6]

On November 1, 1775, her husband fell ill, and Jemima stayed with him while the rest of the battalion continued without them.[7] After James died, Jemima buried him with leaves and journeyed some 20 miles through the wilderness alone to catch up with the rest of the battalion. Many soldiers were surprised to see her emerge from the wilderness days (or even weeks[8][9]) later, carrying her husband's rifle.[10][11]

During the invasion of Quebec, Jemima was commissioned by General Richard Montgomery to deliver a letter containing his conditions of surrender to Governor Guy Carleton, but she was refused admittance into the city. On her second attempt, however, she dressed more formally and was allowed in, but Governor Carleton tore up the letter, imprisoned her, and drummed her out of the city the next day.[12][13]

Though two women, Jemima Warner and Susannah Grier (wife of Sergeant Joseph Grier of Captain William Hendrick's company), are mentioned by name in John Joseph Henry's journal of the expedition through the Maine wilderness, neither of them is mentioned by name in soldiers’ journals during the invasion of Quebec. There are reports of four women on the American side killed during the siege, one by grapeshot in December 1775,[14][15] one by burning in December 1775,[16] one shot accidentally by an American soldier in April 1776,[17] and one by lightning in June 1776.[18][19] It is often assumed that Jemima Warner was the one killed by grapeshot while standing with the rest of the American soldiers.[20]

References
  1. "Resources–Historical Frequently Asked Questions". Women's Memorial. Retrieved 24 March 2020.
  2. Mills, Joel (12 November 2015). "A Day to Honor All Veterans". Lewiston Morning Tribune (ID).
  3. York, Mark A. (2012). Patriot on the Kennebec: Major Reuben Colburn, Benedict Arnold and the March to Quebec, 1775. Charleston: The History Press. ISBN 978-1-61423-837-9.
  4. Frank, Lisa Tendrich (2013). An Encyclopedia of American Women at War: From the Home Front to the Battlefields, Volume 1. Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 593. ISBN 978-1-59884-443-6.
  5. Henry, John Joseph (1812). An Accurate and Interesting Account of the Hardships and Sufferings of That Band of Heroes, Who Traversed the Wilderness in the Campaign Against Quebec in 1775. Lancaster, PA: William Greer. pp. 65.
  6. York (2012)
  7. Alt, Betty Sowers; Stone, Bonnie Domrose (1991). Campfollowing: A History of the Military Wife. New York: Praeger Publishers. p. 15. ISBN 0-275-93721-6.
  8. Desjardin, Thomas A (2007). Through a Howling Wilderness: Benedict Arnold's March to Quebec, 1775. New York: Macmillan. p. 153. ISBN 978-0-312-33905-0.
  9. Thayer, Simeon; Stone, Edwin Martin (1867). The invasion of Canada in 1775: Including the Journal of Captain Simeon Thayer, Describing the Perils and Sufferings of the Army under Colonel Benedict Arnold, in Its March through the Wilderness to Quebec; with Notes and Appendix. Providence: Knowles, Anthony & Co. p. 21.
  10. Lefkowitz, Arthur S. (2008). Benedict Arnold's Army: The 1775 American Invasion of Canada During the Revolutionary War. El Dorado Hills, CA: Savas Beatie. p. 170. ISBN 978-1-61121-003-3.
  11. Stocking, Abner (1810). An Interesting Journal of Abner Stocking of Chatham, Connecticut, Detailing the Distressing Events of the Expedition against Quebec, Under the Command of Col. Arnold in the Year 1775. Catskill, NY: Eagle Office. pp. 21.
  12. Frank (2013), p. 594
  13. John Codman (1901). Henry S. Chapman (ed.). Arnold's expedition to Quebec. New York: The Macmillan Company. p. 189.
  14. Dearborn, Henry (1886). Journal of Captain Henry Dearborn in the Quebec Expedition, 1775. Cambridge: J. Wilson and Son. p. 16.
  15. Senter, Isaac (1846). The Journal of Isaac Senter: Physician and Surgeon to the Troops Detached from the American Army Encamped at Cambridge, Mass., on a Secret Expedition against Quebec, under the Command of Col. Benedict Arnold, in September, 1775. Philadelphia: Historical Society of Pennsylvania. p. 30.
  16. Senter (1846), p. 30
  17. Codman (1901), p. 327
  18. Melvin, James (1864). A Journal of the Expedition to Quebec, in the Year 1775, under the Command of Colonel Benedict Arnold. Philadelphia: Printed for the Franklin Club. p. 22.
  19. Thayer (1867), p. 42
  20. Frank (2013), p. 594
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