Speaker Saturday: Women Going to War
Join the Fort Pitt Museum to explore the experiences of women during the Revolutionary-era.
In this presentation, Dr. Holly A. Mayer examines the often overlooked roles women played during the American Revolution.
Focusing on Margaret Corbin, a Pennsylvania native who fought at Fort Washington, Dr. Mayer will explore how Corbin’s wartime heroism earned her recognition, but not always respect, in the years that followed.
Through Corbin’s story, this program will examine the broader roles of women who traveled with and supported the Continental Army, as well as the challenges faced by disabled veterans after the war.
Discover how these women have been remembered, and how their contributions continue to shape our understanding of the Revolutionary era.
The program is included with regular admission and will take place in the Fort Pitt Auditorium on the museum’s first floor.
About the Speaker
Dr. Holly A. Mayer, Professor Emerita of History at Duquesne University, was the 2021- 2022 Charles Boal Ewing Chair in Military History at the United States Military Academy, West Point, and the Harold K. Johnson Chair at the U.S. Army War College in 2016-2017. She was also Duquesne’s Interim Associate Provost for Academic Affairs in 2017-2019, and earlier served in the U.S. Army Reserve. Her primary scholarly interests include social, political, and military issues in eighteenth-century North America. Mayer has published “Congress’s Own: A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union” (2021), “Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution” (1996), and, as editor, “Women Waging War in the American Revolution” (2022). Mayer also wrote numerous essays and co-edited “For the Record: A Documentary History of America” (multiple editions).