before, she had been with her husband
in Fort Clinton when it was attacked by a very large force of the
British. After a vigorous defense, the Americans found that it was
impossible to defend the fort, and a retreat was ordered. As the
soldiers were rushing out of the rear of the fort, Molly's husband
turned away from his gun, threw down his match,--a piece of rope soaked
in combustible substances, and slowly burning at one end, which was used
in those days for discharging cannon,--and ran for his life. Molly
prepared to follow him; but as she saw the glowing match on the ground,
and knew that her husband's gun was loaded, she could not resist the
desire to take one more crack at the enemy. So she stopped for an
instant, picked up the match, touched off the gun, and dashed away after
her husband. The cannon which then blazed out in the face of the
advancing British was the last gun which the Americans fired in Fort
Clinton.

Molly did not meet with the reward which was accorded so many other
Jersey women who were of benefit to their State and country. She died
not long after the close of the war; and if she had known that she was
to be famous as one of the heroes of the Revolution, there is no doubt
that she would have hoped that people would be careful to remember that
it was a man's service that she did to the country, and not a woman's.

But Captain Molly was not the only Jersey woman who was willing to act a
man's part in the War for Independence. Among those of whom there is
historical mention was Mrs. Jinnie Waglum, who lived near Trenton. At
the time when Washington was arranging to march upon Princeton, she was
visiting her friend, whose husband was the landlord of The True American
Inn, just out of Trenton; and this tavern was Washington's headquarters
at the time. In this way Mrs. Jinnie heard of the intended advance; and
she also heard that there was no one in the American forces who knew the
country well enough to conduct the army from Trenton to Princeton by any
route except the highways, on which the advance would be observed by the
enemy.

She therefore sent word to Washington that she would guide the army if
he wished, and that there was no one who knew the country better than
she did. Washington was a man who had sense enough to avail himself of
good service whenever it was offered; and when he had made inquiries
about Mrs. Waglum, he was perfectly willing to put his army under her
guidance, and ver