Anna Maria Lane (circa 1755-1810) was the first documented female soldier from Virginia to fight in the American Revolutionary War with the Continental Army.

Anna Maria Lane (circa 1755-1810) was the first documented female soldier from Virginia to fight in the American Revolutionary War with the Continental Army. She disguised herself as a man and accompanied her husband on the battlefield, and she was later awarded a pension for her bravery during the Battle of Germantown.

𝐄𝐚𝐫𝐥𝐲 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞

Little is known about Anna Maria Lane's childhood, though she is thought to be from New Hampshire. She married John Lane in 1776.

𝐖𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞

Lane and her husband John enlisted in the Continental Army in 1776, initially serving under General Israel Putnam. Although some women accompanied the soldiers as camp followers to assist as cooks, nurses, or laundresses during the American Revolution, Lane was the only documented woman in Virginia to dress as a man and fight on the battlefield. Historians speculate that because Revolutionary soldiers didn't bathe very often and slept in their uniforms, it was probably not difficult for Lane to pass as a man. "There are no physicals when one enters the Army in the 18th century," historian Joyce Henry explained. "One must have front teeth and an operating thumb and forefinger so one can reach in." Grab a cartridge, tear the paper off, and successfully load your musket."

Lane and her husband were involved in battles in New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Georgia. They fought alongside George Washington in the Battle of Germantown, near Philadelphia, on October 3, 1777, where Anna Maria was severely wounded. Because George Washington issued an edict prohibiting women "camp followers" from accompanying men to the battlefield just before the Battle of Germantown, some historians believe Anna Maria did not want to receive treatment for her wound for fear of being discovered.

Despite her injuries, Anna Maria fought alongside her husband when he rejoined the Virginia Light Dragoons. In 1779, she was with him when he was wounded during the Siege of Savannah. They were both in service until 1781.

𝐋𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞

After the war ended in 1783, the Lanes relocated to Virginia. For a time, John Lane worked at the state arsenal in Point of Fork, Fluvanna County. In 1801 the couple relocated to Richmond, Virginia, where he joined the Public Guard. They lived in the Public Guard barracks with their three children, receiving daily rations.[8] Anna Maria volunteered at the military hospital in Richmond. There, she met Dr. John H. Foushee, who requested that Governor James Monroe and the Council of State authorise a small stipend for her nursing work.

Anna Maria Lane had apparently left the hospital by late 1804 because her name was no longer on the list of nurses in the council journal. After Lane's husband and several other men were discharged from the public guard due to disability in 1808, Governor William H. Cabell petitioned the General Assembly to grant pensions to disabled male soldiers and a few women. Cabell mentioned Anna Maria Lane specifically, writing that she was "very infirm, having been disabled by a severe wound received while fighting as a common soldier in one of our Revolutionary battles, from which she has never recovered, and may never recover." According to her pension, Anna Maria Lane was given $100 a year for life in recognition of her "extraordinary military services at the Battle of Germantown, in the garb, and with the courage of a soldier" during the Revolutionary War.

𝐃𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐜𝐲

Lane passed away on June 13, 1810. When her husband John died is unknown. Her pension records were discovered by the editor of the Richmond Magazine, who wrote an article about her in the 1920s, and she became of interest to historians. The Virginia Sons of the American Revolution honoured Anna Maria Lane in 1997 by sponsoring a descriptive marker near the Bell Tower in Capitol Square in Richmond, VA, which was erected by the Department of Historic Resources.