Anna Maria Lane had virtually been forgotten for more than a century after her death until the discovery of the Virginia Pension records in 1928 by the editor of the Richmond Magazine, John Archer Carter. He also submitted an article to the DAR Magazine May 1928 entitled “A Virginian Heroine.” In 1978, E.M. Sanches-Saavedra pieced to together more information while compiling A Guide to Virginia Military Organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787. Despite this, most Americans are unaware of Anna Maria Lane and she had been forgotten during the bicentennial years. We hope to highlight Anna Maria Lane’s heroism for the upcoming semiquincentennial years.

Most of Anna Maria Lane’s history has been lost to time but the affidavit submitted by her husband John Lane, supporting his federal pension application (S38129) dated 1819 provides several clues. John was born in 1726 or 1727 and enlisted in Continental army in 1776. His company served in a company commanded by Captain Lucas 4th Regiment, commanded by Colonel Willis in the brigade under General Israel Putnam assigned to the Connecticut line. Lane remained in the Continental Army for three years serving in the battles of White Planes (28 October 1776), Trenton (26 December 1776), Princeton (3 January 1777), Germantown (4 October 1777) and Savannah (9 October 1779). He was severely injured at Savannah and taken prisoner according to his pension affidavit.

Anna Maria Lane with little or no means of support may have just been one of the many camp followers offering services to the army as a cook, nurse, laundress or seamstress. However, she may have also disguised her sex and enlisted in her husband’s unit, a deception much like Deborah Sampson. Army life was not easy during the Revolution War, and many poor women chose this life to have refuge from starvation. In August 1777, General George Washington complained bitterly that the camp followers were a “clog upon every movement” and instructed his officers to prohibit all but essential women to remain with the troops.

John and Anna Maria Lane probably joined Washington’s army outside Philadelphia in September 1777, accompanying nine hundred reinforcements dispatched by General Putnam to aid the commander in chief. Following the British capture of Philadelphia on 26 September 1777, Washington decided to attack General William Howe’s British forces camped in the village of Germantown just northwest of the Pennsylvania capital. On the night of 3 October 1777, the Lanes along with four converging American units began a sixteen-mile march towards Germantown. Although Howe received some intelligence of an impending attack, he did little to prepare in advance. Then around 5:30 in the morning on 4 October, they arrived on the outskirts of Germantown. General John Sullivan's troops surprised Howe's and forced them back towards Germantown. Confusion started as the dense fog from the early morning hours and canon smoke blanketed the battlefield. Approximately 100 British soldiers took refuge in a large stone mansion also known as Cliveden or the Chew House that was owned by a Loyalist family. Sullivan wisely bypassed the structure and continued his advance over a mile, driving the British from a series of fenced yards in the town. General Nathanael Greene, who was delayed on the long march, opened his attack about an hour later and captured part of the British. With victory seemingly in sight, however, the American attack unraveled.

Sullivan's troops were running low on ammunition and came under a volley of friendly fire from Greene's men, who became disoriented in the fog. In addition, the militia columns failed to encircle Howe's flanks. Washington, on the advice of artillery commander Henry Knox, decided to attack the sturdy building rather than isolate it with a small force. For two hours a Continental brigade supported by cannons unsuccessfully tried to storm the mansion and suffered heavy losses. This action diverted troops from Sullivan's main advance and also from Greene's, as some of his soldiers joined the assault. Other American troops retreated when they heard the heavy firing towards the rear, fearing that they were encircled. Such distractions allowed Howe time to organize a counterattack with fresh troops.

Anna Maria Lane performed “extraordinary military services” at Germantown on behalf of the American cause and received a wound that left her lame for life. We do not know if she enlisted in the Continental Line weeks or months before Germantown, or if it was on the eve of the battle to don “soldier’s garb.” Was Anna Maria Lane one of those who made a valiant charge when others retreated? We may never know what extraordinary services she provided because it was never recorded within the Virginia General Assembly petition for pension in 1808.

A year after Germantown, John Lane participated in the battle of Savannah, Georgia on 9 October 1779 where he was severely wounded and captured. According to his pension John was released in an “exchange” and found his way back to Virginia where he re-enlisted for the duration of the war under Major John Nelson’s regiment of the Virginia Light Dragoons. In April of 1781, Major Nelson complained to Governor Thomas Jefferson that his men had not been paid for over a year and that many of them were “without a shirt or breeches”. John Lane remained in service until the end of the war when he was honorably discharged in Hampton, Virginia by Major John Nelson.

On 16 July 1783 John Lane enlisted in the Virginia state guard at Richmond. He must have concealed the fact that he was seven years older than the fifty-year age limit. The Lanes must have been desperate for the mere $6.66 quarterly income. Records prove that Anna Maria and one of their children drew daily rations along with the troops. Then in 1791, when the number of state guardsmen was reduced due to economic measures, John Lane was one of three veterans allowed to remain despite his age.

When the Point of Fork, Virginia guard was disbanded in 1801, the General Assembly of Virginia created a new public guard that consisted of sixty- eight soldiers responsible for protecting all public property in Richmond. John Lane who was now seventy-five enlisted. The Lanes moved to Richmond where John continued to work in the new Public Guard. Richmond historian Samuel Mordecai writes of the old quarters located at the present day Bell Tower in Richmond that, "The grounds immediately around it were bedecked with the shirts of the soldiers and the chemises of their wives, which flaunted on clothes- lines, and pigs, poultry and children enlivened the scene." One can't help but think that this picture might resemble life for Anna as a camp follower.

In January 1802, Anna Maria Lane also volunteered to assist the city physicians. It was here a physician by the name of John H. Foushee, petitioned Governor James Monroe asking for a small allowance. Foushee stated, “As the old woman is lame, and has discovered a disposition to assist the sick as far as she is able, I think it would be well to make her some moderate compensation, but not as will establish her as a permanent nurse.” Anna Maria Lane received £1 a month through September 1804, when she apparently ceased working most likely because of her own deteriorating health.

John Lane’s physical condition also deteriorated and by March 1807 he became too infirm for guard duty. On January 28, 1808, the Virginia Governor William Cabell sent a letter to the Speaker of the House, Hugh Nelson, that calls for granting of pensions to several servicemen and women, one of them being Anna Maria Lane. In Cabell’s letter, he provided a brief explanation of the services of each man and woman, in an attempt to persuade the Speaker to fulfill the request on behalf of several veterans and their families, including the Lanes. Cabell’s letter reads as follows: “They have been worn out in public service; now without property or money and their age and infirmities rendering them unable to procure, either they must be sent forth to beg or starve, unless the humanity of this Legislature shall interfere — Their names are John Hays, William Hopkins, & John Lane—The wife of the last Anna Maria Lane is also very infirm having been disabled by a severe wound which she received while fighting, as a common soldier, in one of our Revolutionary battles, from which she has never recovered, and perhaps never will recover.” Shortly after Cabell’s request, both John and Anna received a pension. John received the typical $40 a year while Anna received $100 a year, which was 2 ½ times the amount of her male counterparts. One may never know what part Anna Maria Lane truly played but it is known she participated as a soldier, and was wounded during the Battle of Germantown, that left lame. Anna Maria must not have been any ordinary camp follower and her story must have impressed the assembly to be awarded a pension of this magnitude. This woman surely must have done something heroic to be awarded a pension that was 2 ½ times the amount of the other pensioners. One may never know the real story.

Anna Maria Lane accompanied her husband John to the Capitol in Richmond during the spring and summer of 1808 to collect their pensions, which was dispersed quarterly. Among the pension records that survive is her mark, made in lieu of a signature, found among the records in the auditor’s office. This signifies most likely she was most likely uneducated and illiterate. She continued to collect this pension another two years until her death 13 June 1810.

Unable to survive without his wife's pension, John Lane eventually resided in the Richmond City Poorhouse. Records in his pension reveal that he requested a few of his quarterly disbursements to be given to his daughter Sarah. On 5 July 1819, his federal pension application S38129 mentions that he was 93 years old. John Lane survived four more years and he died 14 July1823.

Little is known about women’s military roles in the Revolutionary War, not because they did not participate but rather few documents survive to support their activities or that the evidence has been overlooked. We would like to make Anna Maria Lane a name that is well known for her “extraordinary military services” rendered during the Revolutionary War. Most of all, we would like to pay homage to Anna Maria Lane for the upcoming semiquincentennial celebration hoping to locate her descendants.

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6. Selected records from Revolutionary War Pension files. Database and images from http://fold3.com Retrieved July 15, 2020, Citing NARA microfilm publication M804. Washington, D.C.: National Archives and Records Administration, 1974.
7. History.com Editors. (2009, November 09). Battle of Germantown. Retrieved 15 July 2020, from https://www.history.com/topics/american-revolution/battle-of-germantown
8. Carter, John Archer. “A Virginia Heroine.” Daughters of the American Revolution Magazine 62, no. 5 (1928) 289-292.
9. Find a Grave, database and images accessed 14 November 2020, memorial page for Anna Maria Lane (1755–13 Jun 1810), Find a Grave Memorial no. 195050579; Maintained by Kathy Jennings Brown (contributor 47272624) Burial Details Unknown.
10. Find a Grave, database and images accessed 14 November 2020, memorial page for John Lane (1723–1823), Find a Grave Memorial no. 57163122, citing Shockoe Hill Cemetery, Richmond, Richmond City, Virginia, USA ; Maintained by Victor E. Everhart, PhD (contributor 47774451) .
11. Acts Passed at a General Assembly of the Commonwealth of Virginia. (1808). United States: (n.p.). An Act placing on the list of Pensioners certain Persons therein named (General Assembly of Virginia; Feb. 6, 1808) 97 pg 81.
12. Library of Virginia. Retrieved 15 July 2020 from https://edu.lva.virginia.gov/ online_classroom/shaping_the_constitution/doc/lane
13. Ward, Harry M. “For Virginia and For Independence: Twenty-eight Revolutionary War Soldiers from the Old Dominion.” Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company Inc., 2011, 139-142