Two women trudged alongside the American soldiers through 350 miles of uninhabited primeval wilderness in Maine, following a faulty map of an unmarked route to Quebec. The terrain with its hills and deep ravines, the rivers, rapids and ponds with their bogs and marshes, and the forest with its fallen trees and rotting debris were obstacles that would have challenged the best of woodsmen. It was late in the year, and it would snow before their trek was over. When the marshes and bogs froze, the soldiers broke the surface ice with their gun butts as they waded through the water. Food provisions ran low, then finally ran out, and starvation became a real possibility. Some of the tired, discouraged soldiers sat down by the side of the path so exhausted and weak that they could not take another step, and died there along the trail. Yet the two women endured that terrible march to Quebec in 1775, which was made in the unsuccessful attempt to win Canada in order to make it the fourteenth colony. Tragically both women were killed during the siege of Quebec. The suffering they endured alongside the soldiers on that frightful expedition, and their deaths at the siege of Quebec, qualify them for a place in the front row of heroines of the American Revolutionary War.
The two women are genuine, but overlooked, heroines. Not only is their heroism not honored, they are not even remembered. The purpose of this article is not to enter the discussion of who Molly Pitcher was but rather this paper is put forward as an advocacy of making room for Susannah Grier and Jemima Warner in the pantheon of heroines of the Revolutionary War. There are no stone memorials, or statues, or heroic paintings, or even a plaque to commemorate their heroism. History books ignore them, and even schoolbook histories fail to acknowledge Susannah Grier and Jemima Warner. In their native south central Pennsylvania, they remain unknown and unrecognized. It's likely that most readers never heard of them, possibly because the later dishonored Benedict Arnold was the leader of that unsuccessful fateful expedition and because the women never returned.
Captain William Hendricks, however, is deservedly commemorated by a Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission roadside marker on Market Street in Camp Hill for his participation in the expedition. Susannah Grier was married to Sergeant Joseph Grier in Hendricks' company of riflemen recruited in Cumberland County. Jemima Warner was married to Private James Warner in Captain Mathew Smith's company recruited in present day Dauphin County. The Colonel of the battalion to which the companies belonged was William Thompson of Carlisle, recognized with a plaque at his grave site in Carlisle's Old Graveyard on South Street.
After the British army occupied Boston in 1775 and Lexington became a household word, militia from New England rushed to the area and hills around Boston to prevent the British from moving inland. Most people remember the Battle of Bunker (Breed's) Hill as the major conflict of that effort. The militia were patriots but undisciplined by the standards of a regular army. Many were untrained, officers were elected and obeyed when the men agreed with the order, men often left the ranks to go home when they felt they were needed to take care of their farms, and each state had its own hierarchy of officers. The Continental Congress appointed George Washington to be the commanding general over all of the militia and soldiers because of the need for a unified command.
It also became apparent that long term dependable soldiers directly responsible to General Washington and Congress were needed. When General Washington arrived at Cambridge, he did not know how many men were in the army or how many were ready for active service or for how long. Consequently Congress on 14 June 1775 directed the raising of ten rifle companies- six of them from Pennsylvania with the officers appointed by Congress. This was the beginning of the Continental Line, regiments raised by the Continental Congress for long term service. Recruitment in Pennsylvania was so successful that six companies were quickly raised, then expanded to eight and eventually to nine, which were combined into a battalion or regiment under Colonel Thompson of Carlisle. From south central Pennsylvania, Captain William Hendricks of East Pennsboro, Cumberland County raised a company, as did Captain Mathew Smith of Paxtang, Lancaster, (now Dauphin County). Captain James Chambers from upper Cumberland,(present day Franklin County), recruited another; Captain Michael Doudle recruited in present day Adams County, and Captain Robert Cluggage recruited in Bedford County. In addition companies were raised in Northumberland, Norrhamption, Lancaster, and Berks counties. A Virginia rifle company was also under the command of the famous Captain Daniel Morgan.
Our Commonwealth possesses no richer treasure than the fair fame of her children. In the revolutions of empires, the present institutions of our land may perish, and new ones, perhaps more perfect, may arise; but the glory of our national existence cannot pass away, so long as the names of those who, in it, enlarged the boundaries of knowledge, gave tone to its morals, framed its laws, or fought its battles, ate remembered with gratitude.