Anna Maria Lane

[2][3] Although some women accompanied the soldiers as camp followers during the American Revolution to help out as cooks, nurses or laundresses, Lane was the only documented woman in Virginia to dress as a man and fight on the battlefield.[4][5] "As far as enlistment, there are no physicals when one enters the Army in the 18th century," said historian Joyce Henry, "One must have front teeth and an operating thumb and forefinger so one may be able to reach in, grab a cartridge, tear off the paper, and be able to successfully load your musket.[6] Just before the Battle of Germantown, George Washington had issued an edict which forbade women "camp followers" from accompanying men to the battlefield, so some historians have suggested that Anna Maria did not want to receive treatment for her wound for fear of being discovered."[10] Her pension notes that Anna Maria Lane was given $100 a year for life in recognition of the fact that she, "in the Revolutionary War, performed extraordinary military services at the Battle of Germantown, in the garb, and with the courage of a soldier.[5] In 1997, the Virginia Sons of the American Revolution honored Anna Maria Lane by sponsoring a descriptive marker in Richmond, VA near the Bell Tower in Capitol Square, erected by the Department of Historic Resources.