User:Meganmsweeney13/Deborah Sampson

Lead
Deborah Sampson Gannett, otherwise known as Deborah Samson or Deborah Sampson, was born on December 17th, 1760 in Plympton, Massachusetts. She disguised herself as a man, and served in the Continental Army under the name Robert Shirtliff - sometimes spelled Shurtleff or Shirtleff - and fought in the American Revolutionary War. She is one of very few women who fought long-term in the American cause for independence, and is the only woman to have received military pay and a pension after her service. She fought in the war for 17 months before her gender identity was revealed when she contracted a fever in Philadelphia in 1783. After her real identity was made known to higher ups, she was honorably discharged later that year at West Point. After her honorable discharge, Sampson continued to live under the name of Robert Shirtliff until she met and married her husband, Benjamin Gannet, in Massachusetts. New reports in the twenty-first century have often speculated Sampson's gender identity, and argued that she is one of the first trans-people to serve in the American military. She went on and travelled throughout New England to speak about her experiences in the American Revolution in 1802. After her lecture tour, she died in Sharon, Massachusetts in 1827. She was sixty-six years old.

Gender Speculation
Deborah Sampson Gannett is now considered to be one of the first trans-people to have served in the United States Military. Jen Manion offers insight to this argument in her work, Female Husbands, A Trans History. It is important to note that Sampson transed-gender to enter the Continental Army, and formed a new identity as Robert Shirtliff. This new identity was created before they even enlisted in the military, as Sampson was excommunicated from the First Baptist Church of Middleborough in September of 1782, right before she joined the American cause for independence. In Herman Mann's biography of Sampson, he says the excommunication was a result of her dressing like a man, and was behaving in an 'unchristian-like' manner. Manion takes note of the fact that before Sampson married their husband Benjamin, they continued to live under their chosen name and identity of Robert Shirtliff. People still speculate whether or not Sampson/Shirtliff's identity is queer or transgender, but members of the LGBTQ+ community, along with many historians, consider Sampson/Shirtliff to be a part of the LGBTQ+ community.