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Estimate: $ 800 - $ 1,200
Gannett, Deborah Sampson (1760-1827) The Universal Asylum and Columbian Magazine.
Philadelphia: Printed by William Young, February, 1792.
Octavo, containing, among other articles, an account of Gannett's petition for pay she was denied while fighting as a man in the American Revolution, with other material of interest, including a lengthy printed article by Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton, disbound, 8 x 5 in.
ESTC P5459; Evans 24949.
"January 19, Boston. A petition was presented [to the House of Representatives] by a Mrs. Deborah Gannett, who served with reputation as a soldier three years in the army of the United States and received an honorable discharge therefrom. This extraordinary woman enlisted as a male by the name of Robert Shirtliff; and as such did her duty without a stain on her virtue or honor. She only prays, in her petition, for the payment of her arrears; but submits the circumstances of her services to the consideration of the legislature." (cf. pages 142-143).
Gannett was wounded in battle, and unwilling to allow a doctor to remove two bullets from her leg, for fear her gender would be revealed, dug one out herself (penknife & sewing needle), while the other stayed lodged in her thigh for the rest of her life. Paul Revere wrote on her behalf requesting a proper military pension in 1804. Congress approved the request and put Gannett on the pension roll in 1805.
