THE FEMMES FATALES OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

According to David Hackett-Fischer, on Christmas Eve 1776, a beautiful young widow entertained Colonel Carl von Donop for almost a full twenty-four hours, stalling the progress of his battalion. While the proud and arrogant Hessian enjoyed the widow’s favors and his men twiddled their thumbs, Washington defeated the British at Trenton. There is reason to believe that the beautiful young widow was Betsy Ross. The Widow Ross was twenty-five, a sweet spot for many women when the beauty of youth also carries the experience of the world. I imagine the widow, in addition to intelligence, charm, and cunning, must have possessed the ability to think strategically and the courage to risk her reputation. The beautiful widow who may have been Betsy Ross should be honored for her contribution to our War of Independence, but I am at a loss of exactly how to honor her. The sewing of the American flag was a myth that came about a hundred years later, but perhaps that will do.

Major John Andre called the sixteen-year-old Peggy Shippen the most beautiful woman in the colonies. Peggy Shippen was warm, uncommonly bright, preferring conversations about art, literature, and the merits or demerits of the present rebellion to less serious topics. Peggy was also firmly on the side of the King and Parliament.

Benedict Arnold, perhaps the only true military genius in the Revolutionary War, was not a ladies’ man. He wasn’t handsome. He did not have that magnetic charm that serve Lotharios so well. His first marriage, despite great efforts on his part, had been bleak and loveless. By the time Arnold met Peggy, he had become a true hero. (I believe the naval battle of Valcour Island, in which a bunch of beginner ragtag sailors stopped the British navy, was the most brilliant action of the war.) This hero yearned for a close connection with a woman. Suddenly finding the beautiful, sympathetic, intelligent Peggy attracted to him must have been heady indeed. Love or country was his choice. I’m not proud to say it would be a hard decision for me. By the way, Peggy stood by Arnold and his memory her whole life, providing for an illegitimate son and reducing her expenses to a pittance to pay off his debts after he died.

When Arnold learned that his treason had been uncovered, he needed his Peggy to delay Washington and his aides. She rose to the occasion, engaging in a memorable mad scene, tearing off her clothes and raving, giving her husband time to escape. Although I deplore his treason, I can’t help finding unpatriotic entertainment in the scene of our Founding Fathers—George Washington, Alexander Hamilton, and James Monroe—who were gentlemen but who were also men, trying to figure out what to do with the beautiful raving half-nude Mrs. Arnold. Her husband did escape. He did do damage to the cause, but farmer Washington was better than the brilliant Arnold and the rest of the British command at the long game.

Dr. Joseph Warren, one of the leaders of the Sons of Liberty in Boston, had a confidential source close to the British high command headed by General Gage, who alerted him to the British troop movement against Lexington and Concord. (The author of the Wikipedia article, who must have a sense of humor, used the words “well-connected”) Could it have been Margaret Kemble Gage, the general’s American wife? All the other suspects have been eliminated. After the evacuation of Boston, he hardly spoke to her.

Joshua Loring acquired the plum position of commissary of American prisoners because his wife was General Howe’s mistress. Loring’s lack of jealousy was more than balanced out by an excess of cruelty. He was a war criminal who rose to the level of a mass murderer. He confiscated the food meant for the prisoners and sold it on the open market, greatly enriching himself. He was personally responsible for the starvation of over ten thousand (low estimate) prisoners. The condemnation of history always seems to me to be too little and too late, but he deserves it. 

His wife, on the other hand, likely helped the cause. Mrs. Loring probably did not set out to be a femme fatale. She was just interested in the glamorous life—a girls-just-want-to-have-fun sort of girl. Was the pleasurable distraction of Mrs. Loring in part responsible for Howe’s notorious slowness in responding to crises? The loyalist judge Thomas Jones opined, “as Cleopatra of old did lost Mark Antony the world, so did this illustrious courtezan lose Sir William Howe the honour, the laurels, and the glory of putting to an end to one of the most obstinate rebellions that ever existed.” In  Revolutionary Ladies, Philip Young comments, “American arms owes a heavy debt to the success of hers.”