9 Badasses Who Performed Surgery On Themselves

8. Removing Musket Fire - Deborah Sampson

You know Mulan? Well this is the 18th century equivalent right here.

Deborah Sampson was enlisted in the Fourth Massachusetts Regiment of the Continental Army in 1782 under the name of Robert Shutleff.

She had a strong, tall build that enabled her to pass for a man, but when she received some musket fire to the leg, she figured that a medical professional might just spot a few dead giveaways to her true gender should she strip off in front of them. This, as you may remember, is what led Disney's Mulan to be cast out into the snow in her undies.

So, she decided to take matters into her own hands and snuck out of hospital in the dead of night for a spot of self surgery. She managed to remove the musket shot (which, by the way, is about the size of a frigging prize marble) from her thigh using a pen knife and a regular old sewing kit. She then went back to her regiment and got into enough action to be injured again, but unfortunately couldn't reach for the pen knife in time and was rumbled as a lady.