The Democrat-Gazette reported this morning that U.S. Sen. John Boozman had joined others in Congress to  improve VA services to female veterans. Good on them particularly given the honoree.

The measure is known as the Deborah Sampson Act and is named after a Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man so that she could fight against the British in the Revolutionary War.

My question stems from the current legislative fixation with a certain subject: Where did Sampson go to the bathroom? I hope the senator has gotten to the bottom of how Sampson snuck into men’s facilities unnoticed. It perhaps could be useful in the current debate and soothe concerns of some about transgender people

Advertisement

Was America’s first female soldier LGBT?

As it happens, the subject has been written about and it inspired a novel by a transgender descendant.

A Boston Globe account of the novelist includes this reference to Sampson:

Advertisement

In “Revolutionary,” when a fellow soldier tells the disguised Deborah she seems “contemplative, a bit more mild than the others,” Myers imagines her surprise: The words “weren’t insulting, exactly, but she had never before been called mild — quite the contrary, in fact. Perhaps she’d discovered the corollary of her transformation: a cantankerous woman equaled a mild man.”

Deborah Sampson ultimately married and had three children, after living as a man for a time after the war. (Myers spells his ancestor’s name Samson, as she did during her lifetime, he says; subsequent generations of the family have spelled it Sampson.) Her friend Paul Revere petitioned on her behalf for a military pension, as her male counterparts received. The town of Sharon, where Sampson died at age 66 in 1827, has several landmarks named for her.

50 years of fearless reporting and still going strong

Be a part of something bigger and join the fight for truth by subscribing or donating to the Arkansas Times. For 50 years, our progressive, alternative newspaper in Little Rock has been tackling powerful forces through our tough, determined, and feisty journalism. With over 63,000 Facebook followers, 58,000 Twitter followers, 35,000 Arkansas blog followers, and 70,000 email subscribers, it's clear that our readers value our commitment to great journalism. But we need your help to do even more. By subscribing or donating – as little as $1 –, you'll not only have access to all of our articles, but you'll also be supporting our efforts to hire more writers and expand our coverage. Take a stand with the Arkansas Times and make a difference with your subscription or donation today.

Previous article Hey, Walmart, where’s the love for Arkansas? Next article Can we get a witness? Arkansas seeks volunteers to watch eight executions, while death penalty opponents continue their fight