Anna Young Smith was raised in Philadelphia by her aunt Elizabeth Fergusson after her mother died giving birth. Anna drew inspiration from her aunt, who was also a writer, but her work went beyond the typical themes women writers normally focused on, such as love, courtship, and grief. Instead, Anna’s strong opinions on women’s rights and politics were her topics. Perhaps this is why some of her works, including “An Elegy to the Memory of the American Volunteers Who Fell in the Engagement between the Massachusetts-Bay Militia, and the British Troops, April 19, 1775,” were published only after her death. This poem is written from the perspective of a Patriot, or supporter of American independence, and reflects the division within the colonies before the Revolutionary War. Smith died when she was only twenty-four years old, possibly during childbirth, although the exact cause has been disputed.