Deborah Sampson

Deborah Sampson Gannett, also known as Deborah Samson or Deborah Sampson, was a Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in Plympton, Massachusetts, she served under the name Robert Shirtliff – sometimes spelled Shurtleff or Shirtleff. She was in uniform for 17 months before her sex was discovered in 1783 when she required medical treatment after contracting a fever in Philadelphia.