Deborah Sampson Gannett, (sculpture).

Deborah Sampson Gannett, (sculpture).

Stubbs, Lu, 1925- , sculptor.

Trelenberg, Gisela, landscape architect.

Falcione, Elisa, landscape architect.

Paul King Foundry, founder.

Deborah Sampson Gannett, (sculpture).

Deborah Sampson, (sculpture).

Deborah Sampson Memorial Statue, (sculpture).

1989. Copyrighted 1989. Dedicated Nov. 11, 1989.

Sculpture: bronze; Base: bronze and concrete.

Sculpture: approx. 78 x 24 x 15 in.; Base: approx. Diam. 36 in.

(Back of base:) (copyright symbol)/Lu Stubbs 1989 (Front of base:) Deborah Sampson Gannett 1760-1827 signed

Portrait of Deborah Sampson (later Gannett), portrayed standing wearing a dress with a simple bodice and gathered skirt to the ankles, the coat of a Revolutionary War soldier draped over her proper right shoulder. Her proper right hand holds a powder horn, and her proper left hand holds a tricornered hat. A rifle rests on the ground next to her proper left foot, held in place by her proper left thumb. Her hair is parted in the center and tied back with a ribbon in the style of a soldier. On her feet she wears simple buckle shoes. The sculpture stands on a short, round bronze base, mounted on concrete.

Portrait female -- Sampson, Deborah -- Full length

Occupation -- Military -- Soldier

Occupation -- Education -- Teacher

Occupation -- Service -- Servant

Occupation -- Writer -- Diarist

Outdoor Sculpture -- Massachusetts -- Sharon

Administered by Town of Sharon, Board of Selectmen, 90 South Main Street, Town Hall, Sharon, Massachusetts 02067

Located Sharon Public Library, 11 North Main Street, In front, Sharon, Massachusetts

The sculpture commemorates Deborah Sampson (1760-1827), the only uniformed woman to serve in the Revolutionary War. Born in Plymouth (or Plympton) Massachusetts, she spent much of her childhood indentured as a servant to a farm family in Middleborough, where she obtained an education and became a teacher. At about age twenty, when the ten sons of the farm family went to war, she stitched a man's military uniform, changed her name to "Robert Shurtleff," and enlisted in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment. Sampson actively fought in several battles, serving in disguise, her sex only discovered by a physician when she was wounded at Tarrytown, New York. She received an honorable discharge by George Washington in 1783. Later, she suffered from war wounds, and Paul Revere suggested that she receive a Massachusetts pension. She then fought for, and was granted, the first federal pension ever given a woman. After her discharge, she married Benjamin Gannett, a Sharon, Massachusetts farmer, and they raised three children in a farmhouse on East Street. To help with family finances, she lectured about her war experiences, keeping a diary during this period. When she died, her husband was awarded her "widow's pension." In 1982, Sampson was proclaimed Massachusetts State Heroine.

The sculpture cost $40,000 and was erected through fund raising by The Deborah Sampson Statue Committee, with $1,000 from the Sharon Historical Society, and a $10,000 grant from the Gannett Foundation (founded by a descendant of Deborah Sampson Gannett). The artist conceived of the sculpture in 1988 and completed a one-half size plaster model to enlist local support for a committee to erect a memorial. She drew upon research and studied photographs of Sampson's relatives to create her likeness, depicting her in a dress rather than her customary man's military uniform in order to clarify that she was a woman. The dress on the figure is copied from a dress once owned by Deborah Sampson. The artist intended for the sculpture to viewed from all sides, and touched. The sculpture was dedicated on Veterans Day, Nov. 11, 1989. The landscape design is by Gisela Terelenberg and Elisa Falcione, members of the Sharon Garden Club. When the ramrod of the sculpture was broken off, the decision was made not to replace it due to vulnerability, and the artist filed and colored it to blend in.

For related reading see Marty Carlock's "A Guide to Public Art in Boston: From Newburyport to Plymouth," Boston: Harvard Common Press, 1993, revised ed., pg. 223-224. IAS files contain: dedication brochure, with list of contributors; eleven articles from The Sharon Advocate, Oct. 27, 1988 to May 31, 1990; The Patriot Ledger: June 26, 1989, Nov. 13, 1989, pg. 1, Nov. 13, 1989, pg. 8; The Boston Herald, May 24, 1989; brochure entitled "Chronicle of a Sculpture, A Slide Lecture by Lu Stubbs;" a Proclamation from The Commonwealth of Massachusetts, declaring May 23, 1989 as Deborah Sampson Day.

Save Outdoor Sculpture, Massachusetts survey, 1994.

The Patriot Ledger, Nov. 13, 1989.

The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.

Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012

Control Number:

Horizon Information Portal 3.25_9382

Powered by SirsiDynix

About | © 2020 Smithsonian | Terms of Use | Privacy | Contact

SIRIS - Smithsonian Institution Research Information System