Rosy the Riveter, strong, iconic figure, symbolic of women who worked countless hours on military armaments for American men fighting on World War II’s battlefields, had a true to life predecessor; one hundred and sixty-eight years earlier. In 1775, Elizabeth Hager, known as “Handy Betsy” or “Betsy the Blacksmith,” stood at her forge and repaired hundreds of old, ancient muskets brought to her by militiamen preparing for the expected military confrontation with England. Prior to the opening shots of the war, she had already gained a reputation as an adept blacksmith. After she supposedly refitted and reassembled hundreds of firelocks, she became known throughout the Boston region as an expert on any gun or musket to be had.
Her brow is wet with honest sweat, She earns whate’er she can, And looks the whole world in the face, For she owes not any man
An editorial nod to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s “The Village Blacksmith”
Early Life
Elizabeth Hager (1750 or 1755 – July 12, 1843), was born in or near Boston, Massachusetts (some accounts state Framingham). Little has been recorded of her early life. She was orphaned at the age of nine and shortly after, became a ‘bound girl’; such children were offered to families as a servant to earn her keep. This would indicate that her family had been poor. We know that she was bound to a farm family. Such children were required to remain with the family until they became of age or in the case of many women, were married. In return for her work, the family saw that she was properly clothed, fed, tended to when ill, and saw to her moral and religious education. In doing so, Betsy acquired an array of skills atypical for women at the time. She was never educated beyond basic reading and writing; however, Betsy would show early on a unique skill for all things mechanical.
Betsy developed into a strong young woman and while on the farm, displayed an ability in the use and construction of tools and farm machinery. For example, an expert weaver, she was able to set up and repair her own loom. Her farm family must have provided the opportunity for her to develop her workmanship skills in wood and metal for by the time she was a young adult, she had gained a local reputation for her ability to repair anything mechanical.
Young Adult and Revolution
By 1775, it is recorded that Betsy worked for a blacksmith and farmer named Samuel Leverett. As to Leverett’s farm, it can only be ascertained that it was in the Concord, Massachusetts region. A check of town records of that period has not confirmed the name Samuel Laverett. However, this is not conclusive that he did not exist as often records would not include the entire community. Since she was still living with and working for one of her bound families, this lends evidence to a later birth of 1755, as she would have been nineteen or twenty; an age whereas most bound children either married or set off on their own.
Typically, legends have their basis in truth. In Betsy’s case, there is no reason not to believe the stories of her abilities as a blacksmith. That as tensions between Whig patriots and the British increased, she aided Samuel Leverett in repairing and reconditioning townspeople’s old matchlock and flintlock muskets. Few colonials owned or had working muskets – why the Founding Fathers were so desperate to purchase and stockpile arms. Standard beliefs that all colonials owned muskets is a myth invented by late 19th century gun manufacturers. By the time Americans found themselves marching towards war, there was no longer a Native American threat (unless one lived along the wildness to the west). There was no need either to hunt, as most were farmers whose meat was adequately supplied by livestock. Muskets and rifles were expensive so why purchase a weapon you would rarely, if ever, need. Most of those who remained in the militias and who had fought in the French and Indian War, if they had not sold off their muskets, they retained firelocks that were in desperate repair or did not work at all. Therefore, a blacksmith who had knowledge in armament repair was invaluable.
As more and more people brought their ancient relics to him, Leverett had set up a small arms room adjoining his forge to recondition them serviceable. Betsy became his ‘right-hand-man’, aiding in grinding, filing, polishing, and assembling pieces of fire arms as fast as Leavitt could turn out. It was said that the pair reassembled hundreds of firelocks to the point that Betsy knew the apparatus and workings of any gun or musket.
Nursing the Wounded and Where Legend is Myth
Reportedly, among Hager’s extensive knowledge of maintaining a home and how to properly work a farm, was her understanding of homegrown medicines; the herbs, roots, and flowers of the country. She often was called upon to minister the sick. Shortly after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, April 19, 1775, Betsy and many women of the community were quick to rush to the long and winding field of battle that stretched from Concord to Menotomy (Arlington). She and others attended the wounded; both colonial and British.
We come to one aspect of Betsy’s participation in events that spring day that has been romanticized, having no factual basis. The story goes that while attending to the wounded, she noticed six brass cannon had been spiked and left by the retreating British. It was standard practice that prior to abandoning artillery, the cannon would be spiked; often a metal plug was pounded into the touch hole so they could not be fired. Upon examination, she became certain that they could be repaired. She rushed to tell Leverett who inspected the cannon and agreed. They were brought to the Leverett’s smithy and over the next six weeks, working day and night, they were repaired. The cannon were then used during the Siege of Boston that lasted nearly a year, from April, 19, 1775 until March 17, 1776, when the British abandoned Boston. This could not have happened.
The British force dispatched to confiscate and destroy any patriot arms and ammunition at Concord, led by Lt. Colonel Francis Smith and Major John Pitcairn, did not bring cannon. Among the armaments they sought in Concord were four brass cannon that had been previously stolen from the British armory. The British were unable to find the cannon as word arrived in time for the militia to move them. American ‘rebels’ hounded the British during their retreat back to Boston, firing at them from behind stone walls and trees. British commanding General Thomas Gage had anticipated that Smith’s expedition might require reinforcements and sent Brigadier Hugh Percy with a brigade to meet the retreating troops. Percy brought cannon and fired upon the Americans during his rescue of Smith’s men. All of Percy’s cannon returned to Boston. The four (and not six) brass cannon at Concord would later form part of the artillery during the Siege of Boston.
Throughout the war, Betsy continued to help repair firearms. So too she made ammunition cartridges. It is related that on one occasion, when she ran out of flannel to wrap the charges, she cut up and used her own underclothing. She was always ready to visit the sick, especially among the families of soldiers, improving upon her skill with the use of herbs and roots.
Gallery of Female Blacksmiths over the Ages
Marriage and Moved to Pennsylvania
Betsy married John Pratt (September 29, 1765-April 16, 1851) on July 22, 1787 in Newton, Massachusetts. Framingham, Massachusetts records list John as the son of Simon and Mercy and was born there. Though some accounts state that John was a minuteman during the war, by the time minuteman militias were dissolved, John would have been ten years old; therefore, this account, like repairing the cannon after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, is pure fiction. They had four children: Mercy (1787-1884), Joseph (1793-1875), John (1802-1881), and Lewis (1808-1884); all living to old age.
According to Henry Bradsby’s History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania (1891), the Pratt family moved from Massachusetts to Burlington township, Pennsylvania in 1816 and settled on the G. A. Johnson farm. Betsy continued to minister the sick and was respected throughout the community for her knowledge of medicinal herbs. While Betsy lived in Pennsylvania, she would have been 61 years of age when moving there in 1816, there is no mention of her as a blacksmith.
Death
Both Betsy and John lived full lives; Betsy 88 and John, 86. Betsy died on July 12, 1843 and is buried at the Vroman Hill Cemetery in West Burlington, Bradford County, Pennsylvania. John died eight years later, on April 16, 1851, and is buried beside Betsy. His gravestone lists his age as 90; however, according to Framingham, Massachusetts records, he was born in 1765, which would put his age at death of 86 years.
Possible Sources of Hager’s Mythical Cannon and Misinformation
Harry Clinton Green and Mary Wolcott Green, when seeking stories for The Pioneer Mothers of America, included Betsy in their second volume. The Greens never gave their sources for this chapter on Hager. Critics believe the Greens tended to smooth out contradictions in their sources, instead of acknowledging reasons for doubts; shading their presentations as fact. Among proven myths: That minuteman John Pratt marched during the Lexington Alarm, carrying a gun that Samuel Leverett and Betsy Hagar had repaired (at the time John would have been nine years old and far below the age requirement of a minuteman). That while Betsy was caring for the wounded after the Battle of Lexington and Concord, she spotted the six spiked British cannon (British commander Lt. Colonel Smith did not bring cannon that day). That Betsy and John married shortly after the close of the war (they married four years after the war).
Henry C. Bradsby’s History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania (1891) appears more accurate than the Greens’ accounts; however, buying into and elaborating fully the legend of Betsy finding the abandoned cannon after the Battle of Lexington and Concord and repairing them. He mistakenly lists the marriage of John and Betsy in 1813, stating it was during the Shay rebellion. The Shay rebellion was in 1787, the actual year John and Betsy married.
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RESOURCE
Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Hager Pratt. Find a Grave.
Farrington, Eloise. “How Betsy Hager Became the First Girl Munitions Maker in America.” The Evening News” September 24, 1918, Harrisburg, PA.
“Female Blacksmiths in History.” Working the Flame.
Kalman, Bobbie. The Blacksmith. 2002: Crabtree Publishing, New York, NY.
Mays, Dorothy A. Women in Early America: Struggle, Survival, and Freedom in a New World. 2004: ABC-CLIO Publisher, Santa Barbara, CA.
Nebraska State Society, Daughters of the American Revolution. “Betsy Hager Chapter.”
Snodgrass, Mary Ellen. American Colonial Women and their Art. 2018: Bowman and Littlefield, New York, NY.
Thorne, Charlotte. “Elizabeth ‘Betsy’ Hager Pratt” Prizi.