Corbin, Margaret Cochran (1751-1800), became a heroine at the Battle of Fort Washington in 1776, during the American Revolution (1775-1783). She was born on Nov. 12, 1751, in Franklin County, Pennsylvania. In 1756, Indians killed her father and captured her mother. An uncle raised her.
In 1775, Margaret’s husband, John Corbin, enlisted in the Continental Army, and he served as a gunner in the Revolutionary War. Like many other soldiers’ wives at the time, Margaret joined her husband in camp to cook, wash, and do other chores for the troops. At Fort Washington, on the site of present-day New York City, John Corbin was killed. Margaret replaced him at his cannon and fought until she was seriously wounded.
Corbin’s wounds left her disabled. In 1779, the Continental Congress awarded her a military pension, making her one of the first women in the United States to receive such aid. Corbin died on Jan. 16, 1800. She is buried in the military cemetery at West Point, New York.
