On this day in 1782, a young woman is missing. Did her neighbors suspect where Deborah Samson (or Sampson) was? After all, she’d already been kicked out of her church for dressing like a man and attempting to enlist in the Continental Army. “The Church consider’d the case of Deborah Sampson . . . who last Spring was accused of dressing in men’s clothes,” her church’s September 3rd record states, “and enlisting as a Soldier in the Army . . . and for some time before behaved

On this day in 1773, Phillis Wheatley becomes the first black American to have a book of poetry published. Very little is known about Phillis Wheatley’s early life—not even her name at birth. She was born somewhere in Africa before falling victim to the slave trade: As a young girl, she was apparently kidnapped and taken to Boston. By the time the ship arrived in the colonies, the slave trader had decided that Phillis was sickly and frail. He sold her for a “trifle” to a re

On this day in 1916, two women approach the end of a remarkable motorcycle ride across the United States. The Van Buren sisters had undertaken the ride, hoping to prove that women could ably serve as military dispatch riders. Augusta “Gussie” Van Buren and Adeline “Addie” Van Buren were also descendants of the 8th President of the United States, Martin Van Buren. The women began their ride at Sheepshead Bay, New York, on July 4, 1916. More than 5,000 miles and nearly two mo

On this day in 1860, the woman known as Annie Oakley is born. That wasn’t her real name, of course. The famous sharpshooter’s name at birth was Phoebe Ann Mosey. Annie was nothing if not talented. “At 30 paces she could split a playing card held edge-on,” one commentator notes, “she hit dimes tossed into the air, she shot cigarettes from her husband’s lips, and, a playing card being thrown into the air, she riddled it before it touched the ground.” She could even fire ove

On this day in 1943, the Women Airforce Service Pilots is formed. The WASPs would assist the U.S. Army Air Forces during World War II, but these women were not officially a part of the military. They were civilians. “There were no GI benefits, no fringe benefits, and no dress parades,” former WASP Deanie Parrish would later say, “just the satisfaction of knowing they had done their duty and they had completed their mission.” The WASPs might never have existed but for the effo

On this day in 1943, a young woman enlists in the Women’s Army Corps. Twenty-two-year-old Maybelle Rutland would go on to serve in the 6888th Central Postal Directory Battalion during World War II. The “SixTripleEight,” as the battalion came to be known, was the only all-black, all-female Army unit to serve overseas during the war. Yet when those 855 women boarded the French ocean liner SS Ile de France on February 3, 1945, they had no idea what their mission was to be.

On this day in 1893, a professor stands atop Pikes Peak in Colorado. She is struck by the beauty around her and is inspired to write a poem. Her poem is later set to music. Today, we all know that song as “America the Beautiful.” It nearly became America’s national anthem. The professor was Katharine Lee Bates, daughter of a minister and teacher. Her father unfortunately passed away when she was young, but her mother managed to send Bates to Wellesley College anyway. Bates la

On this day in 1987, a former Navy nurse passes away. Jane Louise “Candy” Kendeigh is best known for her service during World War II. She was the first Navy flight nurse to land in an active Pacific combat zone during World War II. She’d just been wrapping up nursing school when the Japanese attacked at Pearl Harbor. She was soon volunteering for the brand-new School of Air Evacuation, ultimately graduating with its first class. That training was no picnic, covering every

On this day in 1996, a heroine passes away. Cordelia “Betty” Cook Fillmore is best known for her service in the U.S. Army: She was the first American woman to be awarded both the Bronze Star Medal and the Purple Heart. The Kentucky native had served in World War II as a combat nurse, leaving behind her new husband to do it. She’d married Army officer Capt. Harold E. Fillmore just one short month before being deployed. The two would not see each other for 21 months! They were

At about this time in 1943, a Marine arrives at Camp Lejeune. You may know Bea Arthur for her Hollywood success and roles on Maude and The Golden Girls, but did you know she was also a Marine during World War II? She wasn’t Bea Arthur back then. When she applied to the Marine Corps Women’s Reserve, her name was Bernice Frankel. She’d applied just five days after the Marines announced the creation of the Women’s Reserve on February 13, 1943. “I was supposed to start work y

On this day in 1919, American aviatrix Ruth Law breaks an altitude record. It was just one of many records that she’d break. Indeed, Law was so well-known during her day that reporters used to call her Angel Ruth or Queen of the Aces. And yet most Americans today have never heard of this daring pioneer. Law bought her first airplane from Orville Wright in 1912. She hoped he’d teach her to fly, but he refused to do it. He thought women were not mechanically inclined. Law was

On this day in 1731, future First Lady Martha Washington is born. History has relegated Martha to a simple label: George’s wife. What a shame! Martha was a vivacious, bright, capable woman with her own story to tell. “She is both famous as the first First Lady and completely unknown,” her biographer Patricia Brady concludes. The future Mrs. Washington’s given name at birth was Martha Dandridge—but her family called her “Patsy.” The Dandridges were modestly successful plantati

On this day in 1951, the first “Engineeress” in the Coast Guard passes away. Myrtle Hazard was the first woman to serve in the Coast Guard—and the only woman to serve during World War I. It was perhaps an unexpected path for the young mother to take? When the United States entered World War I, Myrtle was living in Baltimore with her husband, parents, and three-year-old son. She saw an ad for the Y.M.C.A.’s Wireless and Commercial Telegraphy School. The ads promised “Goo

On this day in 1766, a little-known Revolutionary War heroine is born in South Carolina. At the age of 15, Dicey Langston would make a Paul Revere-like dash in the middle of the night. Revere was fortunate to have a horse: Dicey had only her feet! She also had the swift currents of a local river standing between her and her destination. Dicey made her run even though she’d already been admonished to quit passing intelligence on to Patriot groups. Her father was getting worr

On this day in 1908, a new chapter begins for the United States Navy as a new Nurse Corps is authorized. Twenty pioneering women would soon be selected as the Corps’ first nurses. Together, they came to be known as the “Sacred Twenty.” The idea of Navy nurses had been slow to take hold. “The strongest resistance came from within the Navy itself,” historian Susan H. Godson explains. “Many older senior medical officers had never worked with women nurses . . . . They could o

On this day in 2014, a former Army nurse passes away. Lille Margaret Steinmetz Magette was among those who heroically served in military hospitals during World War II. These women didn’t experience a particularly dramatic battle, earning a place in history books. Instead, they simply served, making sacrifices day after day. The accumulation of their contributions was vital to victory. Lille was just your prototypical American girl, born and raised in small town Missouri.

On this day in 1967, the first female Marine assigned to duty in a combat zone lands overseas. Barbara Dulinsky had volunteered for the mission, despite its inherent dangers. It wasn’t just any combat zone, you see. MSgt. Dulinsky had volunteered to go to Vietnam. Dulinsky had then been serving in the Marine Corps for nearly two decades. She’d advanced steadily through the ranks until she was a Senior Drill Instructor for female Marines at Parris Island, South Carolina.

On this day in 1839, Sybil Ludington Ogden, the so-called female Paul Revere, passes away. You know about Revere’s ride, but you may not have heard of Sybil’s. She made it in April 1777, when she was only 16 years old. She rode more than twice as far as Revere did—and through rockier roads and more sparsely settled country! Her goal? To tell the men in her father’s regiment that the British had raided the town of Danbury, Connecticut. The regiment, then on leave, was needed

On this day in 1781, Americans lose the Battle of Cowan’s Ford. They also suffer a devastating incident at nearby Torrence’s Tavern. It was a low point for the Patriot cause. Nevertheless, you’ll love the patriotic heroine who makes an appearance at the end of the story! At this point in the Revolution, British forces led by General Charles Cornwallis were working to establish a base in the South. Cornwallis was then opposed by General Nathanael Greene, commander of the sou

On this day in 1943, Mrs. Ruth C. Streeter is commissioned as a Major in the United States Marine Corps. She would serve as the first director of the newly formed Marine Corps Women’s Reserve. Women served in every branch of our military during World War II, but the Marine Corps went a step further: These women didn’t merely serve in some sort of auxiliary service, as women in the Navy, Army, or Coast Guard did. They were full-fledged Marines. The Commandant of the Marine Cor