Because her story has been told and retold throughout American history, the facts concerning her real name are blurred. It’s not clear whether her real name was Mary Hays McCauley or Mary Ludwig Hays McCauley. The name doesn’t really matter though. Because of her courageous acts during the American Revolution, she earned the nickname “Molly Pitcher”, and that name followed her to the end of her days on earth.
Mary was born on October 13, 1754. As the Irish girl grew up into womanhood, she never learned to read or write. But that didn’t slow down this spirited, rough speaking woman. Though she wasn’t a beautiful woman, Mary was a short, stout, hard worker, and she later married a man named William Hays.
Now, let’s fast forward Mary’s life to the year of 1778. Her husband, William, was a soldier in the First Pennsylvania Artillery fighting in the American Revolution; his rank was a Private. Not one to be left home where life was safer and relatively serene, Mary decided to accompany her husband into war. So she was right beside him as he fought valiantly fought at the Battle of Monmouth, though the bullets were flying heavily, blood was being spilled all around them, and the heat was oppressive. On the 28th day of June of that year, the temperature was said to have reached a hundred degrees. The day was so hot that the cannons had to be cooled down periodically with water. Not to mention that the soldiers’ throats were parched and full of dust.
Mary saw her need that day, so she started to carry pitcher after endless pitcher of cool, fresh water to relieve the soldiers’ thirst. The wounded soldiers began to call out “Molly Pitcher” as a way to let her know they needed water. And thus, her nickname was born.
Mary not only carried water, but she also nursed the wounded soldiers and even was said to have carried at least one wounded soldier off the battlefield and out of the range of the attacking British.
As the fighting lingered on, it is said that Mary returned from getting yet another cool pitcher of water from a well, only to find that her husband William had been wounded. Without thinking of her own safety, Mary saw that she now had another job to do. So she grabbed the rammer from her husband’s hands, and she manned the cannon herself.
According to one historical account, as Mary went about her duty as a gunner, a British bullet ripped through the bottom of her striped skirt. She glanced at the hole in her skirt with little concern, except for making a comment that she was lucky the bullet hadn’t passed through a little higher and carried away something else…
After the war ended, General George Washington was told of Mary Hay’s heroic actions during the war at Monmouth. So he issued a warrant to her as a noncommissioned officer. The General’s action added another nickname to the brave woman, and she was often known as “Sergeant Molly.”
After William Hays passed away in 1789, Molly married a man named George McCauley. Later, in the year of 1822, the Pennsylvania legislature awarded her the sum of forty dollars for her war duty. She was also awarded a pension of forty dollars a year for the remainder of her life.
Mary Hays McCauley, or “Molly Pitcher” as she is affectionately remembered, passed away on January 22, 1832. She was buried in Carlisle, Pennsylvania where a monument of honor marks her place of final rest.
