Sally St. Clair or St. Clare (died 1782) was an American woman from South Carolina who disguised herself as a man and joined the

Continental Army The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies (the Thirteen Colonies) in the Revolutionary-era United States. It was formed by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War, and was establis ...

. Her true gender was not discovered by her fellow soldiers until after she was killed in battle during the

Siege of Savannah The siege of Savannah or the Second Battle of Savannah was an encounter of the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783) in 1779. The year before, the city of Savannah, Georgia, had been captured by a British expeditionary corps under Lieutenan ...

in 1782. Little is known about St. Clair. She is variously described as a Creole woman, a woman of color, and a woman of African and French descent. By some accounts she joined the army to be with her lover, sergeant William Jaspar from

Francis Marion Brigadier-General Francis Marion ( 1732 – February 27, 1795), also known as the Swamp Fox, was an American military officer, planter and politician who served during the French and Indian War and the Revolutionary War. During the Ameri ...

's Brigade, and was killed saving his life. She may have served as a gunner. Several sources claim she was killed during the Battle of Savannah in 1778. "Romantic Victorians" such as

George Pope Morris George Pope Morris (October 10, 1802 – July 6, 1864) was an American editor, poet, and songwriter. Life and work With Nathaniel Parker Willis, he co-founded the daily '' New York Evening Mirror''Sova, Dawn B. ''Edgar Allan Poe: A to Z''. New Y ...

claimed that even her lover did not recognize her until after she was killed and her body was prepared for burial. Morris's poem about St. Clair begins: In the ranks of Marion's band, Through morass and wooded land, Over beach of yellow sand, Mountain, plain and valley; A southern maid, in all her pride, March'd gayly at her lover's side, In such disguise That e'en his eyes Did not discover Sally. Morris describes St. Clair as a "beautiful, dark-eyed Creole girl" with "long, jetty ringlets," and claims that she died of a lance thrust aimed at her lover, Sergeant Jasper. He goes on to say that "there was not a dry eye in the corps when Sally St. Clair was laid in her grave, near the River Santee, in a green shady nook that looked as if it had been stolen out of Paradise." Warren Wildwood tells her story in similarly picturesque terms in ''Thrilling Adventures Among the Early Settlers'' (1866). A commentary in a 1906 South Carolina historical society article detailing a 1784 land grant given to Sgt. Jasper's heir William Jasper, says the reading of the land grant information "is recommended to the consideration of those people who believe that silly story about a girl named Sinclair who in man's attire followed Jasper into service because of her love for him and was killed in an action on the Santee."

References

1782 deaths Year of death uncertain Women in 18th-century warfare Female wartime cross-dressers Female United States Army personnel Women in the American Revolution Continental Army soldiers People of South Carolina in the American Revolution African-American female military personnel African-American United States Army personnel {{Women-hist-stub

See also

References