OPINION:
When it comes to men and America’s independence, many of the ancestors’ names and storied lives can roll easily off the tongue.
John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were two of our first three presidents, and they died frenemies just hours apart on July 4, 1826.
Maryland’s Charles Carroll, the wealthiest man in the colonies, was a Roman Catholic, a staunch believer in religious freedom and a signer of the Declaration of Independence.
Honor also should be paid to women, and the taverns that served the hard cider and craft beer that quenched the men’s thirst.
You’ve heard of Betsy Ross, right? The seamstress wife who stitched the first red-white-and-blue flag after the Revolutionary War? Well, Ross wasn’t sewing solo.
Meet Rebecca Minot Prescott Sherman (1742-1813), who stitched herself into American history. The Massachusetts-born second wife of Roger Sherman and herself a patriot, she pursued ways to support the colonists’ fight and found one in helping construct the first official flag of the United States.
Indeed, Ross family legend blurs the line between myth and facts, including the undocumented tale that Ross persuaded George Washington to use a five-pointed instead of six-pointed star in the design.
One fact, though, is as razor-straight as the flag’s red and white stripes: Ross allowed Rebecca Sherman the privilege of sewing on three of the U.S. flag’s stars. That work and association led to Rebecca being chosen to make the first official flag of the state of Connecticut.
The Shermans were notable for other reasons. Roger Sherman was the only Founding Father who signed all four great state documents — the Continental Association, the Declaration of Independence, the Articles of the Confederation and the U.S. Constitution.
Now meet Mammy Kate, an African owned by Irish-American Stephen Heard in Georgia. A veteran of the French and Indian War, Heard, his father and brother moved from Virginia, and Heard served under Washington. Captured by the British, Heard found a lifesaver in Mammy Kate.
Learning Heard was imprisoned and set to be executed, she established a relationship with the British officers by serving as their laundress. The day before Heard’s execution, Kate, carrying her usual laundry basket, tended to the officers and the sentry, then made her way to Heard with the usual basketload. Kate, who was at least 6 feet tall, simply put the diminutive Heard under the dirty laundry and strolled off. She and Heard than ran to a site where Kate had hidden two Arabian horses. Kate hopped on Lightfoot, one of Heard’s horses, and Heard rode Silverheels, which had been stolen from the barricade’s stables.
Kate spent the rest of her days with the family of Heard, who, ever grateful, granted Kate her freedom from slavery, a four-room home and the deed to a plot of land.
So, as America celebrates the Declaration of Independence, don’t forget about the women and the roles they too played against the bloodied odds.
Happy July 4!
⦁ Deborah Simmons can be contacted at dsimmons@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.