Who is Lydia Darragh?

Question

I know she was known as a "fighting quaker", but I don't really know anything else. HELP!!

Answer 1

Lydia Darragh Biography (1729–89)

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Nurse and midwife, born in Ireland. She married William Darragh (1753) and they emigrated to Philadelphia where she became known as a skillful nurse and midwife. During the American Revolution, she became a ‘Fighting Quaker’ who rejected her sect's extreme pacifism. In 1777 she left Philadelphia and warned the American army leaders of a coming surprise attack by the British. She was suspended from the Quakers' Meeting in Philadelphia in 1783, but was reconciled to them by the time of her death.

Answer 2

Lydia Darragh was a Quaker matron who lived in Philadelphia during the British occupation of the city during the Revolutionary War.

Her home was commandeered by the British, and she overheard plans for an attack on Valley Forge.

The following day, she secured a pass to leave the city and get flour at a mill in what was then a separate village named Frankford (now a part of Philadelphia), about five miles away. She made the trip on foot, and during the winter.

At a tavern that was known as a clearinghouse for intelligence, she revealed the plot to a Continental agent who made sure that the message was conveyed to George Washington, and thus prevented the surprise attack.

Lydia got her flour and walked the five miles back to Philadelphia.