Margaret Corbin

Margaret Corbin

Margaret (née Cochran) Corbin (November 12, 1751 – January 16, 1800) was a woman who fought in the American Revolutionary War. On November 16, 1776, she and her husband, John Corbin, both from Philadelphia, along with some 600 American soldiers, were defending Fort Washington in northern Manhattan from 4,000 attacking Hessian troops under British command. John and Margaret crewed one of two cannons the defenders possessed. When her husband fell, Margaret took his place at his cannon and continued firing until she, herself, was seriously wounded. She later became the first woman in U.S. history to receive a pension from Congress for military service.

Margaret Cochran was born in West Pennsylvania on November 12, 1751 in what is now Franklin County. Her parents were Robert Cochran, a Scots-Irish immigrant, and his wife, Sarah. In 1756, when Margaret was five years old, her parents were attacked by Native Americans. Her father was killed, and her mother was kidnapped, never to be seen again — Margaret and her brother, John, escaped the raid because they were not at home. Margaret lived with her uncle for the rest of her childhood.

In 1772, at the age of 21, Margaret married a Virginia farmer named John Corbin.