Veterans Day Event to Honor Revolutionary Female Veteran This Saturday, 11/11
A special Veterans Day event in honor of Deborah Sampson, America’s first female veteran, will be held on Saturday, November 11, at 11:00 a.m. at the Washington Town Hall.
Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man and served for a year and a half in the Revolutionary War. She was wounded in combat and promoted as an aide to General John Paterson (from Lenox, MA). After her true gender was revealed she received an honorable discharge, the first woman ever to do so.
The Memoir of a Female Soldier is a novel by the late Jan Lewis Nelson of Washington based on extensive research about Deborah. It tells of Sampson’s life and military service, her struggle to gain the respect she was due, and her efforts to win the veteran’s pension she was long denied.
Prior to her passing in 2020, Jan Nelson served on the Washington Historical Commission and as an Administrative Assistant to the Select Board. Jan’s husband Steve Nelson will talk about the book and how it eventually came to be published nearly 50 years after it was written.
Books will be available for sale and signing. Warm spiced cider and Shire donuts will be served.
