Molly Pitcher
As Portrayed by Kim Hanley
“Molly Pitcher,” born Mary Ludwig and married to William Hays, is best known for participating in the Battle of Monmouth. Hers is the story of a colonial woman whose financial circumstances were too dire to permit her to remain home while her husband fought in the Revolutionary War. Molly’s choice was between staying at home cooking and cleaning for others (if she could find such paid work) in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, or going with her husband and cooking and cleaning for him on or near the battlefield. Molly was one of many women who followed the army, performing valuable services that lifted the morale of the soldiers, as well as keeping them clean and fed.
Molly Pitcher reminds us what life was like during the Revolutionary War for women with limited financial resources. She is not a small, delicate creature, but a woman who did what she had to do. At the Battle of Monmouth, Molly’s husband fell in battle and Molly took his place. A shot passed between her legs, carrying away the lower portion of her skirts and Hanley’s Pitcher quips, “It’s a good thing it didn’t go any higher or it would have taken away something I really valued.” And then kept on working. Ms. Hanley shares this event with her audience, as well as creating an interactive day in Molly’s kitchen using 18th century kitchen implements to mimic articles of war. The experience is complete with campfire songs and dances .
Kim Hanley, is an actor, singer, costumer and dancer. She trained and danced from an early age with the School of American Ballet and the Eglevsky Ballet in New York, as well as with the visiting Bolshoi Ballet and Stuttgart Ballet. She credits her dance background and in-depth high school acting courses, including daily vocal labs and onstage work, for her ability to rise to any occasion when performing. Kim has extensive performance experience in musical theatre, and children’s theatre. In addition to her performance background, Ms. Hanley is an accomplished costumer whose specialty is historical fashion
Kim began interpreting Abigail Adams with AHT from 1997 and now has added Betsy Ross, Molly Pitcher, Alice Roosevelt, Grace Coolidge, Annie Oakley, Harriet Beecher Stowe, and Mary Pickersgill (the star spangled banner’s seamstress) to her retinue. Ms. Hanley has appeared at the White House Visitors Center, National Archives, National Portrait Gallery, for the Smithsonian Institution’s Teaching American History Workshops and at many other well recognized venues.
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