When one thinks about George Washington they probably think of the general that led America to victory in the Revolutionary War or the first president of the United States. What they may not think about is someone with a sometimes complicated relationship with his mother. 

Though they may fall by the wayside of textbooks, without the efforts American women made toward the Revolution, the Continental Army would have been in dire straits indeed. Luckily, the women of Maryland and Virginia met the challenges of supply shortages, low morale, and lack of funds with determination and patriotism.

Charles Carroll of Carrollton, a wealthy Maryland statesman was the last surviving signer – and only Catholic signer – of the Declaration of Independence. He lived to age 95, passing away on November 14, 1832. After the deaths of John Adams and Thomas Jefferson in 1826, Carroll became the final living link to the founding generation. His death marked the end of an era when the nation's birth could still be recalled by one of its original framers.