BEST OF (#63 OF 516) THE AMERICAN ARMY OF TWO : THE DAUGHTERS OF A LIGHTHOUSE KEEPER TURN AWAY A BRITISH WARSHIP DURING THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast

Jon Hagadorn

Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 25 April 2025

⏱️ 28 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

This long-lost American tale tells the true story of two young girls, Abigail and Rebecca Bates, the daughters of a lighthouse keeper in Scituate, Massachusetts, who turn back a British warship during the War of 1812. Early in September, 1814, a British warship was sighted offshore preparing to launch barges toward the lighthouse, barges containing troops bent upon ransacking the town. Simeon Bates, the lighthouse keeper, was away, leaving his wife, two very young boys, and his two daughters, Abigail and Rebecca. They spotted the ship, and knowing their was not enough time to warn the town, got out a fife and drum that they had learned how to play that summer, and, hidden from sight of the ship, started playing "Yankee Doodle", loudly enough that the sound carried across the water to the ship and the barges. The ship had waited until high tide so it could slip over the sand bar and into the harbor, but upon hearing "Yankee Doodle" made the assumption that there were colonial troops present, troops that might have a cannon, and the ship was not within easy range of cannon fire. it was too great a risk to take-and the troops returned to the ship. The origin of the song "Yankee Doodle" is told here. Special thanks to Tim Abbott for his blog www.greensleeves.typepad.com, where we found this story and others. Our website, with both of our shows, 1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries and 1001 Classic Short Stories & Tales, is at www.1001storiespodcast.com. Facebook www.facebook.com/1001Heroes Support our show and keep the family friendly shows coming at www.patreon.com/1001Heroes.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	There are few things we like to do here at 1001, more than finding and telling historical stories that few people have heard of.
0:08.2	So when we came across this great story at Tim Abbott's blog, we couldn't wait to dig in.
0:14.2	This long-lost American tale titled The American Army of Two tells the story of two sisters,
0:20.6	the daughters of a lighthouse keeper in Massachusetts,
0:23.3	who, during the war of 1812, used their daring and imagination to turn back a British ship which was about to unload troops onto their shore.
0:32.5	A courageous act for sure, because British troops back then didn't take kindly to Americans resisting occupation.
0:40.3	Welcome to 1001 classic short stories and tales. This is your host, John Hagadorn, and this is our story.
0:48.3	...and this is our story. We found the inspiration for this story at the blog of Tim Abbott, who has lots of great stories to tell at www.greensleeves.
1:17.1	Dotipad.com.
1:20.1	Typepad spelled T-Y-P-E-P-A-D.
1:23.7	You can find this link in our show notes as well.
1:26.8	1001 Classic Short Stories Podcast is audio entertainment for the whole family, and you can
1:32.3	find us at iTunes and other podcatcher sites, as well as at our website, www.11storiespodcast.com.
1:41.7	Our classic short stories link is in the upper right corner there.
1:45.0	We also encourage you to add anything more you know about our stories to our Facebook page at facebook.com forward slash 1001 Heroes, H-E-R-O-E-S.
1:57.2	And now the legend of Rebecca and Abigail Bates, the American Army of two.
2:02.8	The War of 1812 lasted nearly three years and was fought in four different theaters,
2:08.1	the ocean's shipping lanes, along the American coast, on the Western American frontier,
2:13.8	and on America's Gulf Coast.
2:16.1	The War of 1812 had its heroes like Andrew Jackson,
2:20.0	who assembled a handful of inexperienced volunteers consisting of
2:23.6	Free Blacks, Tennessee and Kentucky Rifleman, and Louisiana Militia,
	...

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