A Female Review

Deborah Sampson’s story had multiple authors.

In The Female Review, newspaper publisher Herman Mann cast her as a folk hero: “Though destitute of many advantages of education, she happened to fix on many genuine principles.” Mann’s biography also contained embellishments. In one account, he claimed her ears were “deadened from the thundering of the invasion of Yorktown,” yet the Siege of Yorktown took place one year before Sampson enlisted in 1782. Sampson used public speeches, largely drafted by Mann, to address her unconventional actions.