e said Deborah exhibited an
extraordinary instance of female heroism by discharging the duties of a
faithful, gallant soldier, and at the same time preserved the virtue and
chastity of her sex unsuspected and unblemished, and was discharged from
the service with a fair and honourable character; therefore,

"_Resolved_, that the treasurer of the Commonwealth be, and hereby is,
directed to issue his note to said Deborah for the sum of L34, bearing
interest from October 23, 1783."

Thus was the seal of authenticity set upon as extraordinary a story as
can be found in the annals of this country.

Deborah Sampson was born in Plympton, Plymouth County, December 17,
1760, of a family descended from Governor Bradford. She had many
brothers who enlisted for service early in the war, and it was their
example, according to some accounts, which inspired her unusual course.

If one may judge from the hints thrown out in the "Female Review," a
quaint little pamphlet probably written by Deborah herself, and
published in 1797, however, it was the ardent wooing of a too
importunate lover which drove the girl to her extraordinary undertaking.
Two copies of this "Review" are now treasured in the Boston Public
Library.

In the first chapters, the author discourses upon female education and
the like, and then, after a sympathetic analysis of the educational
aspirations of the heroine (referred to throughout the book as "our
illustrious fair"), and a peroration on the lady's religious beliefs,
describes in Miss Sampson's own words a curious dream she once had.

The young woman experienced this psychic visitation, the author of the
"Review" would have us believe, a short time before taking her final
step toward the army. In the dream, a serpent bade her "arise, stand on
your feet, gird yourself, and prepare to encounter your enemy." This,
according to the chronicler's interpretation, was one underlying cause
of Deborah's subsequent decision to enlist as a soldier.

Yet her mother's wish that she should marry a man for whom she felt no
love is also suggested as a cause, and there is a hint, too, that the
death in the battle of Long Island, New York, of a man to whom she was
attached, gave the final impulse to her plan. At any rate, it was the
night that she heard the news of this man's death that she started on
her perilous undertaking.

"Having put in readiness the materials she had judged requisite," writes
her chronicler, "she reti