Mary "Molly" Hays

Mary "Molly" Hays (HM3N0)

Location: Manalapan Township, NJ 07726 Monmouth County
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Country: United States of America
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N 40° 16.856', W 74° 19.012'

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Inscription
"You girls should have been with me at the battle of Monmouth and learned how to load a cannon." - Mary Hays Mcaary to Susan Hackendorn, c. 1830

As the temperature approached 100 degrees, and gunners collapsed from heat exhaustion, a plucky Irish water carrier stepped forward to help work Captain Francis Proctor's cannon. Memories of her heroism evolved into myth of "Molly Pitcher."

When the British infantry pursued General Scott's Continentals across the Sutfin farm, they were stopped by a barrage of canister and grapeshot. Most of the Continental artillery then switched to other targets, leaving Captain Proctor to bombard the battalion of Royal Highlanders pinned down in Derick Sutfin's cider orchard.

Private Joseph Martin, described watching, as " A woman?attended with her husband at the piece the whole time. While in the act of reaching a cartridge and having one of her feet as far before the other as she could step, a cannon shot from the enemy passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with apparent unconcern, she?continued her occupation."

The woman was Mary Hays, wife of William Hays, Gunner, Captain Francis Proctor's company of the Pennsylvania or 4th Continental Artillery Regiment. After the war, the Hayses settled in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, where, after outliving two husbands Molly died in 1832.
Details
HM NumberHM3N0
Tags
Placed ByDepartment of Environmental Protection
Marker ConditionNo reports yet
Date Added Saturday, September 13th, 2014 at 12:31pm PDT -07:00
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Locationbig map
UTM (WGS84 Datum)18T E 558072 N 4459162
Decimal Degrees40.28093333, -74.31686667
Degrees and Decimal MinutesN 40° 16.856', W 74° 19.012'
Degrees, Minutes and Seconds40° 16' 51.36" N, 74° 19' 0.72" W
Driving DirectionsGoogle Maps
Area Code(s)732, 848, 908
Closest Postal AddressAt or near 21 History Hike (Monmouth Battlefield), Manalapan Township NJ 07726, US
Alternative Maps Google Maps, MapQuest, Bing Maps, Yahoo Maps, MSR Maps, OpenCycleMap, MyTopo Maps, OpenStreetMap

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