Molly Pitcher - Legend and Evidence

Legend and Evidence

The deeds in the story of Molly Pitcher are generally attributed to Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley. Molly was a common nickname for women named Mary in the Revolutionary time period. Biographical information about her has been gathered by descendent-historians, including her cultural heritage, given name, probable year of birth, marriages, progeny, census and tax records, etc., suggesting a reasonably reliable account of her life. Nonetheless, independent review of these documents and the conclusions suggested by the family still needs to be done by professional historians; some details of her life and evidence of the story of her heroic deeds remain sparse.

Mary Ludwig was born to a German family in Pennsylvania. There is some dispute over her actual birth dates. A marker in the cemetery where she is buried lists her birth date as October 13, 1744. Mary had a moderate sized family including Mary and her older brother Johann Martin, and their parents, Maria Margaretha and Hans Georg Ludwick, who was a butcher. It is likely that she never attended school or learned to read, as education was not considered necessary for young girls during this time.

In Bucks County, Pennsylvania, Mary met William Hays, a barber. They were married in about 1777. It has often been mistakenly reported that Mary's first husband was named John. However, Continental Army records show that William Hays was an artilleryman at the Battle of Monmouth in 1778. (Mary's next husband was named John McCauley). On July 12, 1774, in a meeting in the Presbyterian Church in Carlisle, Dr. William Irvine organized a town boycott of British goods as a protest of the British Tea Act. William Hays' name appears on a list of people who were charged with enforcing the boycott.