PATRIOTS IN PETTICOATS

It is doubtful that Sybil Ludington, the ""female Paul Revere,"" rode in petticoats as she rallied Putnam County men to warn of the British presence in Danbury; we know ""Mad Anne"" Bailey wore buckskin leggings and packed a rifle to recruit soldiers to fight the Indians and British in Virginia. But then there was Penelope Barker who held a boycott tea party--probably in the somehow pejorative ""petticoats."" There are some familiar names--Margaret Corbin, Nancy Hart, Tempe Wick, Deborah Sampson--among others who undoubtedly deserve some attention. However, in these brief profiles, each introduced by muddy clumps of dialogue (""'You cowards!' she accused"") the women seem to be all of a cotton candy piece when quite obviously some were tough as nails and wily as swamp adders. One plus--at the close of each mini-biography there is a list of extant artifacts and monuments with directions for access. (In the case of museums, hours of admission are given.) In light of such an excellent entry as De Pauw's The Founding Mothers or even the lesser Heroines of '76 by Antaglia (both 1975), give this no more than a bicentennial minute.