21. Margaret Corbin earned a pension for her service to the Continental Army
In autumn, 1776, George Washington and his Continental Army retreated steadily from the debacle of their defeats in New York. Washington hoped to reach the safety of Pennsylvania before winter set in, ending the campaigning season. As he withdrew, a series of garrisoned fortifications fell to the British pursuit. At one, Fort Washington, John Corbin and his wife, Margaret, fought side-by-side. Margaret, a former camp follower, took over her husband’s cannon after he fell, killed by British fire. Shortly after, she herself suffered severe wounds, to the body and her left arm. Taken prisoner by the victorious British, and exchanged her after her wounds healed somewhat, she left the army. Margaret never again had the use of her left arm.
The Continental Congress granted Margaret a pension, though at half the rate which would have been granted to a wounded male veteran. She remarried, though became widowed again in less than a year. Margaret spent the majority of the remaining war around West Point. She also spent the rest of her life in that region. Corbin was the first woman to receive financial support for a service-related disability in the United States. She died in 1800, in Highland Falls, New York. Initially buried in a simple grave, in 1926 her remains were reinterred at West Point, accorded full military honors by the United States. At least it was so believed at the time. In 2017, archaeological research revealed that the remains moved had not been Corbin’s. Who is buried under her marker at West Point is unknown. So is the location of her grave.