Women in the American Revolution

The American War for Independence began in 1775 and ended in 1783, but the actual fighting only took place in the last eight years of the conflict. The American colonies wanted to be free from the English crown, and after crying out that 'taxation without representation' was not a fair way to be managed, the people took steps to gain their freedom. The first battle of the American Revolutionary War was at Lexington and Concord. The war was fought in the thirteen American colonies, as well as in the Caribbean and Atlantic Oceans.

Women took several roles in this conflict. Women were the ones who were left to manage to home front after the men went to fight. Some of the women followed men to the battlefield, and functioned as nurses, laundresses, and cooks. The Revolutionary War also had women acting as spies. Women would be used to gather intelligence information on British troops. The American Revolutionary War also helped to facilitate the conversation on women's rights, having exposed women to a sense of individual freedom that they did not want to give up.