Our nation marks the 250th anniversary of independence this year. We must recall not only the Founding Fathers – the patriots who pledged their lives, fortunes and sacred honor – but especially the victims.
Abigail Palmer, along with Elizabeth and Sarah Cain, were three of the many victims of sexual abuse. Abigail was 13 years old and living in New Jersey in December 1776 when five British soldiers entered her family’s home. Elizabeth and Sarah Cain, also teenagers, were present. The men threatened the young women. Abigail was repeatedly gang-raped over three days. Elizabeth, 15, faced being “shot in the head” by these men. She was raped alongside Abigail. Sarah Cain had a bayonet pressed against her chest when one of the soldiers swore to run the blade "through her heart." All three adolescents were then taken to the British command, where they suffered two additional days of repeated sexual abuse by numerous soldiers.
Thomas Jefferson was aware of British and Hessian forces committing sexual assaults when he composed the Declaration of Independence. In the same month these teenagers were violated, Thomas Paine composed “The American Crisis” and acknowledged the widespread problem with the phrase “turned our homes into barracks and bawdy-houses for Hessians.” Three months later, in March 1777, George Washington directly cited other brutal sexual assaults committed against colonial women in a letter.
With the current Epstein controversy, a 13-year-old victim awaits justice today. Will rape victims receive fairness, or will perpetrators elude punishment? “These are the times that try men’s souls.”
Joe Hubbard
Aztec
