On this episode of Our American Stories, Deborah Sampson wanted to serve her country, but women were barred from joining the Continental Army. So in 1782, the Massachusetts woman put on men’s clothing, enlisted under the name Robert Shurtliff, and began a remarkable military career while trying to keep her true identity hidden.

Marilyn Gilbert Komechak, author of Deborah Sampson: The Girl Who Went to War, shares the story of how Sampson went from an indentured servant who taught herself to read and write to a soldier in George Washington’s army.

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