Women in the American Revolution played various roles depending on their social status, race and political views. Although women were barred from serving in the army or in the militias, they assisted the cause in crucial ways. Wives, girlfriends, daughters, and sisters of soldiers and officers joined their camps to perform important tasks. Martha Washington accompanied her husband, General George Washington, during much of the war. These camp followers, as they were called, cooked, cleaned, sewed, mended uniforms, tended to the ill and injured, and even herded farm animals, milked cows, and foraged for food.
Some women showed their dedication to the cause by putting their own lives in danger. There are documented cases of American women acting as spies. These women would enter the British camps and places of recreation so as to ferret out information they could pass on to the rebels. In the Battle of Monmouth, women—usually the wives or girlfriends of the American soldiers—delivered water to the troops to keep them cool in the heat.