“The woman that was wounded with a Shell last Night was brought to bed in our S.W. Bomb proof of a Daughter. She and the child are likely to do well.” – Ensign Colbrath, August 22, 1777
In the midst of the siege of Fort Schuyler, as cannon fire rained down and chaos gripped the garrison, a woman gave birth.
Her name was likely Nancy McCarty, wife of Private Dennis McCarty of the 3rd New York Regiment. Most women had been ordered to evacuate before the British assault, but Nancy remained- probably too far along in her pregnancy to safely relocate. She was joined by at least one other woman, that historians believe may have stayed behind to serve as a midwife. Both women were wounded during the siege, which suggests that they were actively supporting the garrison. The shell that struck Nancy tore a fist-sized chunk from her thigh.
That night, in a bombproof shelter inside the fort, Nancy gave birth to a healthy baby girl. The details of this moment were largely forgotten until 2022, when historians pieced together the story through journal entries, pension records, and baptism archives.
We honor the often-overlooked strength of women like Nancy McCarty, whose bravery helped shape our nation’s beginnings, and the generations of women who have defended it ever since.
Pictured here is a woodcut of an armed female combatant from “A New Touch on the Times” circa 1779.
Sources:
Women of the Continental Army (U.S. National Park Service)
The McCarty Family & the Siege of 1777 (U.S. National Park Service)
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