A biography about Mary Ludwig Hays McCauly

 

Mary Ludwig Hays McCauly

A patriot named Mary Ludwig Hays was born on October 13, 1754 in Trenton, NJ. She was born 

to two German immigrants named Maria Margaretha Ludwick and John George Ludwick. She 

had one sibling named Johann Martin. Six years before the American Revolution, Mary got 

married to William Hays on July 24, 1769 at the age of 13! Eight years after they got married 

and two years into the war in 1777 her husband who was a barber stopped working and went to 

Valley Forge in Pennsylvania to fight in George  Washington’s colonial army. When he went off to 

fight Mary went with him she stayed with him and helped the soldiers.

In the war she stayed with husband to help. On June 28, 1778 only a year after her husband joined

the army the group got engaged in the Battle of Monmouth Courthouse. At the battle Mary helped

the soldiers by washing and mending the soldiers uniforms, cooking, nursing and taking care of the 

soldiers, and most importantly she fetched water for soldiers on the battlefield. Because she was 

mostly fetching water for the soldiers she earned the nickname Molly Pitcher. She got the first 

name of Molly because a common nickname for Mary at the time was Molly and she got the 

name Pitcher for all the pitchers of water she carried. In the battle her husband who manned a 

cannon got shot until that time Molly had been caring for the soldiers but once she saw her 

husband fall she immediately took his place at the cannon. She ended up manning that cannon 

till the battle ended. I  can also tell that she is courageous because(found in the book Fight For 

Freedom.) one soldier recalled: “while  in the act of reaching for a cartridge a cannon from the 

other enemy shot passed directly between her legs without doing any other damage than carrying 

away all the lower part of her petticoat. Looking at it with no apparent concern she continued 

fighting”. During the battle she also earned the rank of sergeant. The Americans won the battle 

and till the end Mary manned her post.

After the war Molly and her husband went back to Carlise, Pennsylvania where her husband died 

several years later. Molly  also got an annual  pension and was awarded the annuity medal for 

her services. Once her husband pressed away she married John McCauly in 1793. She worked as a 

general servant and lived with her new husband. She died on January 22 1832 and was buried at
the Carlise Old Graveyard. The place where she was buried was marked with a statue of her and a 

cannon. She is buried under the name of Molly McCauly