This is a timeline of women in warfare in the United States before 1900.This list includes women who served in the United States Armed Forces in various roles. It also includes women who have been Warriors and fighters in other types of conflicts that have taken place in the United States. This list should also encompass women who served in support roles during military and other conflicts in the United States before the twentieth century.
18th century
1750s
1755
Nancy Ward, Nan'yhi (Cherokee) received the title of Beloved Woman after fighting in the Battle of Taliwa.
1770s
1775
March: Prudence Wright organized a militia of women in Pepperell, Massachusetts. The militia went on to capture two spies.
1776
November: Margaret Corbin was wounded fighting next to her husband during the attack of Fort Washington. She eventually earned a military pension for her service.
1777
April: Sibyl Ludington rode to alert New York militia that the British were burning Danbury; these accounts, originating from the Ludington family, are questioned by modern scholars.
1778
Mary Hays aided Revolutionary soldiers in the Battle of Monmouth, bringing water and later being known as "Molly Pitcher."
1780s
1780
Esther DeBert Reed raised money for the war effort.
1782
Deborah Sampson disguised herself as a man and fought under the name, Robert Shurtliff in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment.
19th century
Ojibwa Chief Earth Woman accompanied men on the warpath after claiming to have gained powers from a dream. Gouyen, an Apache woman, assassinated a Comanche chief who killed her husband in battle. She later fought beside other Apaches in a battle against a party of miners. Pawnee woman Old Lady Grieves The Enemy changed the course of a battle with the Ponca and Sioux by attacking the enemy, thus shaming the men into fighting when they were in retreat. Late 19th century: Lozen and Dahteste acted as compatriots to Geronimo in his rebellion against the United States.
1810s
1811
The U.S. Navy included women nurses at its hospitals for the first time in its history. 1812 During the War of 1812 Mary Marshall and Mary Allen worked as nurses for U.S. Commodore Stephen Decatur on the United States. 1819 Manono II, fought along with her husband Keaoua Kekuaokalani, in the Battle of Kuamoo, where both perished in defense of the kapu system.
1830s
Women were first officially assigned as keepers in the Lighthouse Service of the U.S. Coast Guard beginning in the 1830s. Previously, many wives and daughters of keepers had served as keepers when their husbands or fathers became ill. Women continued as lighthouse keepers until 1947.
1830
Pine Leaf of the Crow tribe was recorded as having counted coup. 1836 The Warner Sisters came to Constitution Island. For a half century, Susan and Anna Warner wrote popular novels and taught Sunday School to West Point cadets. Susan wrote a Wide Wide World, one of the nation's best sellers, in the 1850s. Anna wrote the words to the children's verse "Jesus Loves Me." They later donated the island to the United States Military Academy in 1908. The remains of both sisters were interred in the West Point cemetery.
1840s
1842
Kuilix, a female warrior of the Pend d'Oreilles headed a group of warriors which rescued another group from the Blackfeet. Women of both the Pend d'Oreilles and the related Flathead tribe actively participated in warfare, entering battles and dancing in war dances. 1846 Mexican War (1846–1848): Elizabeth Newcom enlisted under the name Bill Newcom in the Missouri Volunteer Infantry. She served briefly before being discovered and discharged. Sarah Borginnes was hailed as the "Heroine of Fort Brown" following her actions during the Siege of Fort Texas. She went on to operate a series of inns providing food, lodging, liquor, and prostitutes to Zachary Taylor's troops. Kuilix participated in a fight against the Crow.
1850s
Woman Chief (Crow) was the third-leading warrior among a group of Crow lodges.
