Masquerade: The Life and Times of Deborah Sampson, Continental Soldier

by Alfred F. Young

In Masquerade , Alfred F. Young scrapes through layers of fiction and myth to uncover the story of Deborah Sampson, a Massachusetts woman who passed as a man and fought as a soldier for seventeen months toward the end of the American Revolution.

Deborah Sampson was not the only woman to pose as a male and fight in the war, but she was certainly one of the most successful and celebrated. She managed to fight in combat and earn the respect of her officers and peers, and in later years she toured the country lecturing about her experiences and was partially successful in obtaining veterans’ benefits. Her full story, however, was buried underneath exaggeration and myth (some of which she may have created herself), becoming another sort of masquerade. Young takes the reader with him through his painstaking efforts to reveal the real Deborah Sampson in a work of history that is as spellbinding as the best detective fiction.

Genres: History, Biography, American Revolution, American History, Nonfiction, War, American Revolutionary War

432 pages, Paperback

First published February 10, 2004

About the author

Alfred F. "Al" Young was a pioneering American historian known for reshaping the study of the American Revolution by centering it on the lives and experiences of ordinary people. Born in New York City in 1925, Young’s early academic influences at Queens College and Columbia University helped develop his focus on working-class history. He earned his PhD from Northwestern University in 1958 and later taught for 25 years at Northern Illinois University, where he became a leading voice in social and political history.
Young’s landmark work, The Democratic Republicans of New York, earned the Jamestown Prize and established his reputation. He was a staunch advocate for academic freedom during the Vietnam War era, defending scholars facing political retaliation. After retiring from teaching, he expanded his scholarship at Chicago’s Newberry Library, authoring influential works like The Shoemaker and the Tea Party and Masquerade, which explored lesser-known Revolutionary figures.
In 2004, Young helped found Labor: Studies in Working-Class History of the Americas, further solidifying his legacy. He died in 2012 at the age of 87, remembered for his deep commitment to elevating the voices of everyday people in historical narratives.

Reviews

[Danie · Rating 4 out of 5]

That was a lot of facts smooshed into only 300 or so pages (as an aside I'm not sure I've ever read a book, even a historical non-fiction one, with so many notes in the back).

The book was about Deborah Samson Gannett of Massachusetts, on of the most well known women to disguise themselves as a man and join the Continental Army. Not the only one, but one of the most successful. And, this book, unlike a lot of the other works about her, this was about her entire life, birth to death, not just one part, like her speaking tour, or her time in the army.

On the whole it was a good book, though a bit wordy. I really love that the author found out that, using Deborah's spelling her her diary during her speaking tour and a few of her letters that she may have had quite the Mass. accent. (Pahk the Cah, will ya, of course, they didn't have cars yet, so that may be a bad example of the accent, hers was more like she spelled audience with an o... etc.)

But, I didn't love it all. Even though here and there the author sort of barely allows that Deborah may have flirted with or had a relationship with a woman or two, he repeatedly states that it's totally and utterly 'improbable'. But, that's heteronormative HIStory for you. Although, to be fair to this author, Deborah Samson's original biographer Herman Mann was even worse, wildly vacillating between depicting Deborah in more 'animal love' (not platonic love) situations with women to 'lalalalala' she couldn't even physically have sex with another woman 'lalalala'.

Maybe she was straight, maybe she wasn't, but while in his final chapter the author gives sixteen paragraphs to whether or not she was a person of color, he only gives five to whether or not she had any same sex relationships. More HIStory.

So, a good book, sure, and the author obviously put a ton of research into it, but not a great book.

[Kt · Rating 5 out of 5]

4.65

[Victoria · Rating 3 out of 5]

The story of Deborah Sam(p)son's life as a soldier in the American Revolution was a valuable insight on what life decisions women of little means had before them. Deborah being a poor, but industrious masqueraded as a man twice, that historians know of, to try and get money from the bounty to sustain herself for a short period of time. I was frustrated by how much conjecture there was from the author on the motives of Deborah and the person who authored two books about her life, Mr. Mann. There are only fragments of information that have been pieced together around the framework of historical evidence put together about the time period. The author, Alfred F. Young, did a thorough job gathering and recording as much information of the era and it is reflected in the end notes. I did appreciate his taking on several of the myths, or conjecture of Deborah's character that has been pulled into different groups to make their cause a more historically valid one.
Overall, I was impressed by the author's explanation that Deborah Sam(p)son was a non-conformist that went into the army and became a conformist. She was a conservative breaking the mold and speaking in theaters to the public when women weren't supposed to do that. Her life story helps us be more compassionate to those who want to do their best even though the lot they are born into doesn't always allow for the opportunities to do better. Deborah was one to try and prove herself to a society that had artificial boundaries that a mere switch of clothing shielded her gender. There is an idiom that "Clothes make the man" and Deborah proved that to be true.

[CJ Yates · Rating 3 out of 5]

I may be partial because I had to read this book for a class and not out of pure enjoyment but I didn't love it all that much. Obviously it was very well written and researched, but I was sad that there wasn't more information on her. Like for some reason every record with her name in it was basically wiped from existence? IDK, they aren't fooling me because I could definitely come up with some conspiracies about that- already plotting them now

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. Super thorough research, really solidly argued attempts to construct information that we don't have direct sources about, but the writing style wasn't for me, and there were some tone and language choices that I found off putting. I don't think men should never write biographies of women or anything like that, but much of the book does feel clearly impacted by the author's experience of gender, and while he does a lot of analysis of why other people present Deborah Sampson's story in the way they do, it doesn't feel like he's similarly critical of his own bias. He presents some of his decisions about what evidence he takes seriously and what evidence he doesn't believe as more "objective" that I think they really are.
Shout out also to the anonymous stranger who at some point in the past extensively annotated the library copy of this that I checked out- your analysis was great and improved my reading experience.

[Pancha]

It's interesting enough. But the book smells funny and I just don't want to deal with it right now.

[Ben Bergonzi · Rating 3 out of 5]

Immensely well-researched and well-informed, this biography by a leading historian, slightly suffers through the rigour of its own method. So many printed sources about Sampson are unreliable and here, at some length, they are proved to be so. The unanswered question when reading anything about Sampson (and her English progenitor Hannah Snell) is, if these women were such feminist icons as we now believe, why did they allow their histories to be so fantastically embroidered by the men who published their life stories? I suppose the answer must be that the 18th century mind had a looser grasp of the boundary between fact and fiction - at a time when both the novel and narrative history were in their infancy. Though I was a little disappointed and felt that Sampson only came fitfully to life, this is still an essential book for anyone interested in 18th century female transvestism.

[Gregory · Rating 4 out of 5]

Story of Deborah Sampson who masqueraded as a male to serve in the Continental Army during the last year of the American Revolution. Young does his best to reconstruct her life from the limited sources, including a sensationalized and highly fictionalized biography written by one of Sampson's contemporaries. He is judicious and reasoned in his analysis and conclusions. He compares Sampsons claims to what can be determined by the record and finds some discrepancies, but believes that much of her story is highly credible. Young puts what she did in the context of times and the example of other women who masqueraded as males to serve as soldiers.

[Meeghan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read deeply some parts and skimmed others (this is for a research paper I'm writing about women during the American Revolution), but I still enjoyed this book. Young uses a plethora of sources to support his arguments and is able to fact check Herman Mann's partly fictional biography of Sampson. I highly recommend to anyone who is interest in Sampson or American or women's history.

[Lewis Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

While an important study of a woman who served as a soldier in the American Revolution, often the historical information is almost fictionalized relying on inaccurate histories of the past. Example, the description of the partisans of "no man's land" of Westchester County New York. The author even quotes Washington Irving's fictional account The Spy: A Tale of the Neutral Ground" (1831.)

[Graham Bradley · Rating 5 out of 5]

Should be considered the definitive book on Deborah Sampson. With all of the modern histrionics trying to claim her as a feminist, a lesbian, a "transgender" (lmao how) and even black (what??), Alfred Young puts together a very detailed examination and even repudiation of what we know.

[Laura Willyard · Rating 4 out of 5]

One of the better books I have read about Deborah Sampson.

[Madison Myers · Rating 5 out of 5]

I’m no fact-checker but this is seemingly the most in-depth and considers everything. Loved it.

[Daeny · Rating 3 out of 5]

Yeah it was okay

[lin fdz · Rating 4 out of 5]

meeting at the sharon cemetery tn, bring your own ouija board, we asking deborah if she's a lesbian

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

I find myself wishing again for half stars, because this book deserves more than 3 stars, but I'm not sure it's quite fully a 4 star book.

Deborah Sampson has long been a hero of mine- as I child, I read and re-read The Secret Soldier: The Story of Deborah Sampson, so as an adult, I was frustrated to find out how little evidence actually exists about her time as a soldier in the Revolutionary War.

Alfred Young serves dual roles as historian and detective as he meticulously analyzes the sources we have on Deborah Sampson, and weighs accuracy and reliability. At times, this proves frustrating, as there are some long and deep digressions that hardly seem relevant to me (including time analyzing the Biblical meaning of the name Deborah, and how it may have influenced our heroine, or the time spent analyzing a single dream).

But I appreciate someone who did truly deep dive on the research and reliability of sources, especially after some recent histories I've read that had some moments of misinformation and serious research fail.

I also really appreciate the conclusion, looking at the historiography of Deborah Sampson, and the changing views on her over the years.

[Samuel Valentino · Rating 4 out of 5]

I came across Deborah Sampson's name in another book about the American Revolution, and wanted to find out more about her. I found the right book with this one! It's a very thorough biography, and the author takes pains to establish what was said about her as opposed to what actually happened.

The only downside is that her time spent in the Revolutionary War is the least reliably documented. So the part I was most interested in reading about was the one where the details were the most vague. But that isn't the fault of the author, but rather the sources. And if the record is sparse, I'm glad that the author didn't present it as less so, as much as I would have wished it were otherwise.

For the later part of her life, the book is much more informative, as there are much better records. I'd recommend this book as a great source for anyone wanting to learn more about Sampson.

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I wish there was an option for 3 and a half stars. The beginning and the end were great. The middle was a little sluggish, probably because her life after the war was fairly mundane and sad.
I really enjoyed how the author presented the various versions of the Deborah Sampson story and then gave his beliefs based on actual records and interviews. He brought her to life by using research, knowledge and logic. Colonial life, particularly in Massachusetts helped to explain what must have been her reasons for entering the army and how she was able to disguise herself. I really felt a connection to my own ancestors who were in this same area. I appreciated the author's ability to present colonial times with facts and analysis of our typical romantisized view.

[Ruth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow, just wow. Al Young manages to weave what may end up being the definitive biography fo the mysterious Ms. Sampson, who disguised herself as "Robert Shurtleff" and fought as a Continental Soldier in the American Revolution. totally readable for the non-historian, full of interesting bits on gender and the social history of the 18th century. It also does a nice job discussing how historians use evidence; it is very difficult to write history "from below," looking at oridnary people, because they leave fewer records behind than a Washington or Jefefrson does. Young shows the reader how he meets this challenge in creative and sometimes controversial ways.

[Mike · Rating 4 out of 5]

Deborah Sampson was not the only female who passed as a male and served in the Continental Army during the Revolutionay War, but her ruse was the most successful, and she bacame the most celebrated female soldier of the era. In this book, Young masterfully presents Sampson's story, peeling away the layers of mythology (many constructed by Sampson hersef) to reveal the truly remarkable life beneath. Young's engagement with the sources and deep knowledge of the historical and social context of Sampson's masquerade(s) make this a model of the historian's craft. I highly recommend it for anyone interested in the craft of history, or in Revolutionary America generally.

[Megan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been fascinated with Deborah Sampson, who dressed as a man and enlisted in the Continental Army, since I learned about her in a grade-school history class. This book provides more information about her life, her military career, and her motivations. It is well-written and interesting.

[Diane · Rating 5 out of 5]

Really enjoyed this book. Very helpful to a current research project of my own. I admire Mr. Young's diligence as a researcher in bringing Deborah Sampson Gannet to life. I enjoyed his writing style and voice.

[Ashley · Rating 1 out of 5]

It's a four hundred something page biography, and it's really boring.

[Elizabeth]

paperback not such good condition

omg

[Kathy Hale · Rating 2 out of 5]

An interesting book about a woman in the rEvolutionary War who disquied herself as a man in order to fight. She seemed very independent even before she did this.

[Jim · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting read. I was hoping for more narrative about the American Revolution, but it didn't happen.