Deborah Sampson Travel Bug KEY

To hang out near New Jersey so folks can use it to get into the A Hide for My 3rd Son cache.

In 1782, a young Robert Shurtliff of Uxbridge, Massachusetts was mustered into service with the Fourth Massachuetts Regiment.  The only problem?  Robert Shurtliff was dead.  The person signing up to serve was actually his sister, Deborah Sampson, who at age 20 had disguised herself as a man to serve in the war.  

She ended up doing the dangerous work of scouting around West Point, NY, where she participated in and even led raids on Tory homes while the British stayed mostly bottled up in Manhattan.  During one of these, she was wonded in the head and the thigh.  She let herself be treated for her head wound, then snuck out of the medical tent and dug a bullet out of her own leg with a penknife and a sewing needle, knowing she'd be discovered if she let the doctor treat it.  A second bullet was too deep for her to remove, and she walked with a limp from it for the rest of her life.  She went on to serve in Philadelphia, but was struck down with a fever.  While unconcious, a doctor discovered her secret.  Remarkably, he kept that secret.  She was given an honorable discharge from the army after the Treaty of Paris.  She later became the only woman to recieve a full soldier's pension for her service during the war, which was awarded by the State of Massachusetts.  She went on get married, have children, and live a fairly normal life of farmer's wife... except for when she would give lectures about her service in the war.

As an odd end note, after she passed away in 1827, her husband applied for a pension as the spouse of a veteran.  After careful consideration, this was granted by the committee, although only after he died.

This travel bug is the KEY to opening the A Hide for My 3^rd Son cache.  Please keep it in the general New Jersey area so that folks can find it to open up that cache.