America’s first female soldier, Deborah Sampson tells the story of America’s birth. She was the descendant of those who sailed the Mayflower, Myles Standish and William Bradford. Growing up in a destitute family in Plympton, Massachusetts, Deborah was inspired by her maternal grandmother, Bathsheba Bradford, abandoned by her father, neglected by her morose mother, separated from her starving siblings, and finally sold into indentured servitude. Her rise from her disastrous childhood, her decision to masquerade as a man, her fervor to fight for her liberty, is the story of America.

In this audiobook, a fictionalized lecture and interview from 1802 and 1805, you hear from Deborah herself. What drove her to disguise herself as a man and fight for her freedom? What did she do during our War for Independence? Who taught her to be the woman she became?

Anne Pasquale brings history to life as she presents Deborah’s lecture tour from 1802-1803 – her thrilling display of the Manual Exercise; her tales of her family’s fall from prominence; her struggles as a poor young girl; her shame and her determination. We learn of the fruits of her labors – her friendship with Paul Revere; her recognition, and grudging respect, from a newly fledged nation; her name, recorded in our nation’s capital, as the first woman to fight and suffer wounds in battle as a soldier in the Army of the United States of America.