"The Last Days of Col. Alexander Scammell" Topic

"The highest ranking Continental Army officer to be killed during the Siege of Yorktown in 1781 was Col. Alexander Scammell, 34-year old commander of the New Hampshire Regiment.[1] The descriptions of his capture and wounding in the many published accounts of the siege contain inconsistencies about where he was captured and associated events. In addition, they are silent as to how he was transported from Yorktown, where he was wounded, over twelve miles to the Continental Army hospital at Williamsburg, where he died.[2] Recently-discovered evidence of the latter prompted the author to study contemporary reports of the events leading to his death with the objective of resolving those inconsistencies.

The combined Continental Army-French Army (Allied Army) under Gen. George Washington marched from Williamsburg to Yorktown on September 28, 1781 to complete the isolation of the British Army begun when the French Navy blockaded the Chesapeake Bay. During the night of September 29-30, the British commander, Lt. Gen. Charles, Lord Cornwallis, ordered the withdrawal of his forces from its outer defensive works based on his expectation that the British Fleet could break the naval blockade and bring him reinforcements. Early on September 30 American pickets, scouting in advance of the Continental Army camps near the center of the Allied Army line, determined there were no British forces in the earthworks they faced and began to probe cautiously towards Yorktown. Col. Alexander Scammell, field officer of the day that began early on September 29 and ended early on September 30, led the pickets in their probing as soon as dawn provided sufficient light, i.e. soon after 5:35 a.m.[3]

A small British cavalry patrol under Lt. Allan Cameron left cavalry headquarters at the Moore House east of Yorktown at dawn in a search for isolated Allied soldiers to capture. They probably reached the position in front of Scammell and his men, northwest of the earthwork called Poplar Tree Fort by the Americans, well before the 6:01 a.m. sunrise, i.e. during the twilight period.[4] Colonel Scammell's account of what happened next was recorded a few days later by a visitor…"
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