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INFORMATION ON MOLLY PITCHER

I. From "Carlisle, Old and New," pp1417.

It is a remarkable coincidence that at practically the same time, about the beginning of 1769, two persons should  have taken up their residence in Carlisle who were destined to become the most famous citizens we have ever had. They were absolutely unlike in every respect. One was James Wilson, a brilliant and highly educated Scotsman, who came in to practice law at the age of twenty-six; the other was Mary Ludwig, afterward renowned as "Molly Pitcher", who arrived from New Jersey as a domestic servant at the age of fourteen. The former, forceful, learned and ambitious, became distinguished because of his great ability and the important service he rendered to his adopted country; the latter, because of a mere incident which would have passed without notice if the actor had been a man. In 1776, at the age of thirty-three years, Wilson was one of the immortals who signed the Declaration of Independence; two years later Mary Ludwig, twenty-three years of age, gained undying fame at the battle of Monmouth (New Jersey) by carrying water to a thirsty soldiers in a pitcher, whence her sobriquet of Molly Pitcher, and also by acting as a gunner in a battery. She is representated [[1]] in bronze, on the base of the battlefield monument at Monmouth, in the act of charging a cannon.

   Today the remains of Wilson lie in the graveyard of Christ Church, Philadelphia, in they were reinterred [[2]] by the side of his wife on November 22, 1906, with great ceremonial, having been brought from North Carolina for that purpose by a grateful people. The remains of humble Molly Pitcher rest in the old graveyard in Carlisle, where they were originally buried, the spot being marked by a graveyard which was erected by the citizens of this county on July 4, 1876, and by a cannon and flagstaff which were placed there with impressing exercises on June 28, 1905, by the Patriotic Order of Sons of America. Peace to the ashes of both.

2. From "This is Carlisle" 99.20, L.E. and M.E. Flower (1944)

   Molly Pitcher, Carlisle's heroine of Monmouth, was living in the family of General Irvine when she left to join her husband John Hays, with the Revolutionary troops in New Jersey. When he was wounded at 

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Monmouth, she fired his gun and did even more outstanding service by carrying water to the wounded on the hottest June day of that year. In full view of the British, but unmindful of her own danger, she filled and refilled a pitcher, out of which the wounded drank. Molly Pitcher, the wounded and dying called, and so came her name. Her husband was an invalid following the battle, and after his death, she married a comrade named McKelly. This marriage was unhappy and did not long continue. Molly Pitcher was hired by the county for work about the courthouse and in the last years of her life received a pension from the Pennsylvania legislature. She is buried in the Old Graveyard, and her finest memorial was erected in 1976 with town ceremonies. Her last and stately memorial was erected by the state of Pennsylvania in 1916 and shows her life size, as she held a gun. The face was sculptured from a composite photograph of five of her great-grandchildren.

3. Inscriptions on the monuments in the "Old Graveyard", Carlisle, Pa.

Old Monument, north of New Monument
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Molly McCauley
Renowned in history as
Molly Pitcher
The heroine of Monmouth
Died January 1832
Age 79 years
Erected by the citizens
of Cumberland County
July 4, 1876
   
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    -   | New Monument | (south side)

Bronze Relief of Battle of Monmouth. Molly serving the cannon | Molly Pitcher Molly McCauley (McKelly) Mary Ludwig | Bronze Relief of Molly giving water to wounded

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Born : Oct. 13, 1744
Died : Jan. 22, 1832

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--Record & Commission      Seal of Penna.
West -- Story and Poem
Bronze plaque, East

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Mary Ludwig ("molly Pitcher")
Daughter of John Ludwig

Born October 13, 1744. Died January 22, 1832. Married John Hays, 1768. John Hays enlisted 12-1-1755 in Procter's First Penna. Artillery. Re-enlisted January 1, 1777. Sergeant John Hays was wounded at the Battle of Monmouth, June 28, 1778. Mary Ludwig Hays (Molly Pitcher) returned to Carlisle, Pa. with her wounded husband and

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