Marshall Rumbaugh sculpture group
Lydia Darragh: Heroine of Whitemarsh
Marshall Rumbaugh (b. 1948)
2022
carved and painted lindenwood
Ht. 19 ½”, W. 30”, D. 5 ½”
Signed and dated “Marshall D. Rumbaugh 2022”
$12,000
Artist Statement:
Lydia Darragh was an Irish Quaker who moved to America in the 1750’s. Although a pacifist, she secretly supported the American side during the Revolution. In the fall of 1777, after several defeats, Washington’s army was camped in Whitemarsh. In December of that year, Lydia overheard British officers, who were meeting in her Philadelphia home (the Benjamin Loxley house), discuss plans for a surprise attack to annihilate the Continental Army. Determined to warn Washington, she passed beyond the British lines where she met Colonel Elias Boudinot and slipped in his hand a needle book containing details of the planned attack. When the British marched out of Philadelphia to Whitemarsh, they found the Continental Army arrayed for battle and occupying the high ground. After a few minor skirmishes and realizing they had lost the element of surprise, the British turned around and marched back to Philadelphia.