These children in Pennsylvania had to wait 28 years before they were free. Another group whose ideas of freedom changed were women. After the start of the Revolutionary War, many already politically opinionated women were inspired by independence to defend their rights. Women like Esther Reed, Abigail Adams, and Mercy Otis Warren were activists in their families and communities. Deborah Sampson, Foner writes, disguised herself as a man to fight in the Continental Army in 1782 at the age of 21. She was a brave soldier and once took a bullet out of her leg so she wouldn't need to see a doctor, who would find out and reveal her identity. In her memoirs, Ann Carson described leaving her husband because he did not see her as an equal: “I felt like his equal… Therefore the mistreatment I received from him (but which many simple wives might consider good) I resented . She also describes how quickly the money he left her and their children was gone, and how she felt she couldn't wait for him to bring her the money. She bought her house and moved in