Margaret Cochran Corbin, The First Woman Soldier To Receive An American Military Pension
Picking up where her husband, who had been killed in battle, left off, Corbin showed her bravery during the American Revolution
It wasn’t until Harry Truman signed the 1948 Women’s Armed Services Integration Act into law that women had an official place in the American military, but in truth they had been a steady presence for many years before that. This is evidenced by the fact that the first woman to receive a military pension from the United States was Margaret Cochran Corbin for her service during the American Revolution.
Born in 1751 in Pennsylvania, Margaret was the daughter of Irish immigrants. She lost both of her parents when she was only 5, as her father was killed in an attack by a local Native American group, and her mother was taken away by them; her ultimate fate never being determined. It was only because Margaret and her brother were not with their parents were they able to survive themselves. She spent the remainder of her childhood living with an uncle before marrying John Corbin, who was a farmer from Virginia, in 1772.
The couple moved to Pennsylvania to put down roots as tensions between the colonists and England continued to intensify…
