Sarah Buchanan

Sarah Ridley Buchanan ( Ridley; December 1773 – November 23, 1831) was an American settler in Tennessee. Credited with helping to defend Buchanan's Station during an attempted raid by Native Americans in 1792, Buchanan was called "the greatest heroine of the West" by writer Elizabeth F. Ellet. As stories about Buchanan's bravery spread, accounts of her life were sometimes embellished with fictional elements. A widower in his thirties, John's first wife Mary (née Kennedy), had died in childbirth. Arnow wrote that Mrs. Buchanan could "pick up, and shoulder a two and one-half bushel sack of corn, or 150 pounds." She was said to have sung loudly to be heard above the gunfire, "More balls, more balls, fight like men, I'll give you more balls." Major Buchanan later wrote about his wife, "Mrs. Buchanan has killed buffalo and deer, and cannot now plead innocence of aim and intent to kill an Indian."

A century later, historian Elizabeth Ellet dedicated a chapter in The Eminent and Heroic Women of America to Sarah Ridley Buchanan, and wrote, "The fame of this gallant defence went abroad, and the young wife of Major Buchanan was celebrated as the greatest heroine of the West." The story of Sally Buchanan was told in History of Middle Tennessee by Stanley Horn, Tales of Perils and Adventures of Tennessee Pioneers by Octavia Bond, and Seedtime on the Cumberland and Flowering of the Cumberland by Harriette Arnow.