The Memoir of a Female Soldier: Deborah Sampson’s American Revolution
Young Robert Shurtlieff does credit to the Continental Army. Acquitting himself well as a soldier, he is eventually invited to join the staff of General John Paterson. But Robert has a secret: he is in reality Deborah Sampson, the most famous of a number of women who took up arms for the American cause.
Nelson’s novel picks up Sampson’s story in 1805, when Sampson, her male persona long since discarded, is fighting to be awarded a well-deserved (and much-needed) pension, wrestling with the question of whether she should correct some of the misstatements put out by her biographer, and recalling her soldiering days. Both the present and the past strands of the story are compelling, and Sampson is an appealing heroine, whether she’s trying to repel the advances of amorous young ladies, grumbling about the frivolities of the younger generation, or struggling with her family’s small farm. I enjoyed this novel thoroughly.
Sadly, Nelson did not live to see her work in print: according to her husband, who published it after her death, it was written in the 1970s and put aside after efforts to find a publisher failed. The Memoir of a Female Soldier is a reminder that there are some gems to be found in the slush pile.
