25-year-old Margaret Cochran Corbin was working as a nurse during the Battle

25-year-old Margaret Cochran Corbin was working as a nurse during the Battle of Fort Washington in 1776 when she saw her husband John killed while manning his artillery piece. Without hesitation Margaret stepped up and took over John's place, helping clean, load and fire the cannon. Even after being hit by 3 musket balls, Margaret continued working her gun. Only after a blast of grapeshot ripped through her chest, left arm and jaw was her gun silenced--the last of the American cannons to stop firing.

After being captured and paroled Margaret was assigned to the Invalid Regiment at West Point, where she was acknowledged as a hero and given a soldier's pay. In 1779 the Continental Congress granted her a life-time pension, making her the first American woman to receive a military pension and the first to be recognized as a veteran.

In 1926 Margaret's remains (or so it was thought) were exhumed and she was re-interred with full military honors at the United States Military Academy at West Point. In 2017 the grave was disturbed by construction equipment and it was determined that the remains buried there were not those of Margaret Corbin. The search for her grave continues. Nevertheless, the monument in her honor was rededicated, in recognition of her valor and her place as arguably America's first woman veteran.

Today is Margaret Corbin's birthday. She was born on November 12, 1751.

The image is from Don Troiani's painting "Margaret Corbin at the Battle of Fort Washington (Manhattan Island) 1776."