He also says the widow of General Hamilton told him she had often seen 'Captain Molly,' as she was called, and described her as a red-haired, freckle-faced young Irish woman, with a handsome piercing eye." "Papa, did she wear a man's hat ?" asked Grace.
"Yes, and also an artilleryman's coat over her woman's petticoats.

She had done a brave deed about nine months before the battle of Monmouth, when Fort Clinton was taken by the British.

She was there with her husband when the fort was attacked, and when the Americans retreated from the fort, and the enemy were scaling the ramparts, her husband dropped his match and fled, but Molly picked it up and fired the gun, then scampered off after him.

That was the last gun fired in the fort by the Americans." "And this battle of Monmouth was a great victory for us--for the Americans, I mean ?" Walter said inquiringly.
"Yes, in spite of the shameful retreat of Lee and the unaccountable detention of Morgan and his brave riflemen, who were within sound of the fearful tumult of the battle and eager to take part in it, Morgan striding to and fro in an agony of suspense, and desire to participate in the struggle, yet unaccountably detained where he was." "And that was some of that traitor Lee's doings, I suspect," exclaimed Lulu hotly.

"Wasn't it, papa ?" "My dear child, I do not know," returned the captain, "but it seems altogether probable that if Morgan could have fallen, with his fresh troops, upon the weary ones of Sir Henry Clinton, toward the close of the day, the result might have been such a surrender as Burgoyne was forced to make at Saratoga.
"But as it was, while Washington and his weary troops slept that night, the general looking forward to certain victory in the morning, when he could again attack his country's foes with his own troops strengthened and refreshed by sleep, Sir Henry and his army stole silently away and hurried toward Sandy Hook." "Did Washington chase him ?" asked Walter.
"No," said the captain; "when he considered the start the British had, the weariness of his own troops, the excessive heat of the weather, and the deep sandy country, with but little water to be had, he thought it wiser not to make the attempt." "Papa, was it near here that the British shot Mrs.Caldwell ?" asked Lulu.
"No; that occurred in a place called Connecticut Farms, about four miles northwest of Elizabethtown, to which they--the Caldwells--had removed for greater safety.
"It was in June, 1780.