Self-reliance is the only road to true freedom, and being one's own person is its ultimate reward.
Patricia Sampson
Deborah Sampson Gannett, also known as Deborah Samson or Deborah Sampson, was a Massachusetts woman who disguised herself as a man in order to serve in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Born in Plympton, Massachusetts, she served under the name Robert Shirtliff – sometimes spelled Shurtleff or Shirtleff. She was in uniform for 17 months before her sex was discovered in 1783 when she required medical treatment after contracting a fever in Philadelphia.