Updated

Updated · CBS New York · Jul 4

DNA Identifies 1780 Camden Remains as John Pumphrey, 13-Year-Old Continental Soldier

Updated

Updated · CBS New York · Jul 4

DNA Identifies 1780 Camden Remains as John Pumphrey, 13-Year-Old Continental Soldier

Q: With one soldier named after 250 years, can technology now identify the other 13 remains found at the Camden battlefield?

Yes. The same forensic genetic genealogy that identified John Pumphrey can, in principle, identify the other 13 Camden battlefield remains, and that work is already underway. Pumphrey’s case showed that DNA from Revolutionary War remains can survive long enough to be useful. Researchers used multiple forms of DNA, biographical records and more than 20,000 ancestry matches to connect the remains known as 9B to living relatives. Experts in the field say modern SNP-based testing and investigative genetic genealogy are especially effective for old, degraded remains because they can find distant relatives rather than requiring a direct match. That does not mean the other identifications will be quick or guaranteed. Success depends on whether enough usable DNA can be recovered, whether relatives exist in searchable databases, and whether documentary records are strong enough to build family trees. The work is also costly and labor-intensive, with estimates of roughly $50,000 to $60,000 per person. Still, the evidence points to real potential. FHD Forensics, the team behind Pumphrey’s identification, has said it is continuing the Camden project and has begun work on additional remains. Researchers have indicated another case is already in progress. So the breakthrough is not a one-off. Technology now gives investigators a credible path to naming more of the Camden dead, but each case will require money, time, surviving DNA and genealogical luck.

3 articles · Updated · CBS New York · Jul 4

Remains labeled 9B have been identified as John Pumphrey, a Maryland soldier who enlisted in the 7th Maryland Regiment as young as 13 and died after the 1780 Battle of Camden.
Three types of DNA, family-tree research and biographical records let genetic genealogist Allison Peacock and battlefield archaeologists match the shallow-grave remains to Pumphrey after centuries without a name.
Metal buttons had already indicated the graves held Continental soldiers, one of roughly 2,000 Americans killed, wounded or captured in the Camden defeat.
Late June brought Pumphrey descendants together to hear his story, and his South Carolina tombstone—once marked "Unknown"—is set to be recarved with his name.