One of the most exciting parts of any forensic genetic genealogy investigation is screening candidates for the unknown subject when you get far enough along in the research to have identified common ancestors who may be grandparents or great grandparents. This happened to me recently when I noticed the name Samuel Coleman on a photo of a Revolutionary War Memorial Marker not far from the Historic Camden campus.

The marker reads in part:

“This monument is dedicated to the Revolutionary War Patriots buried on this site who lie in graves some known and others known only to God.”

It goes on to list 29 names of patriots who were executed, killed in action, or died of wounds from the Battle of Camden. We know this is just a small fraction of the number of men killed that day, but it’s always been a place to start in our efforts to find them all for our study. I don’t know what made me look at it one day last month, but I did. And there was the listing –

“Coleman, Samuel 1st LIEUT, 1 VA Continental ARTY”

I did a double take. It so happens that I had just finished tracing out 6 generations of Colemans from Halifax County, Virginia who have appeared in the genetic family tree for one of our subjects, a patriot we call Camden 11A. I recalled that the common ancestor, John Coleman, had a brother named Samuel who we hadn’t really been able to trace.

I got goosebumps. Surely it couldn’t be as easy as a name on a marker when hundreds were missing and unaccounted for.

Camden 11A has been unique in what we expected to be a study fully occupied by men from Maryland or perhaps, Delaware. Or maybe, in a rare instance, we might even find one of Hal Dixon’s men from North Carolina. Dixon’s militia was one of the only non-Maryland or Delaware units thought to have actually fought that day. Yet 11A’s background has caused many an email conversation with our historians about the potential for Virginia men fighting at Camden. With a tree made up 80% of Virginia families, it had to be a possibility, even though it had never really been on our initial radar.

After some frenzied emailing with our military historians, I started digging on my own. I got a second goosebump moment when I found articles on the Maryland State Archives website entitled, Resolves Of The Maryland Assembly 9 May, 1780.

On this day, the state voted to incorporate the Maryland Artillery Companies with Harrison’s Virginia Artillery. The other name for Harrison’s Artillery was the 1st Continental Artillery Regiment – one and the same unit listed next to Samuel Coleman’s name on the monument that started my search.

Learn more about Rev War artillery on the website of the Society of the Cincinnati’s American Revolution Institute, here.

Banastre Tarleton wrote in his 1787 treatise, A History of the Campaigns of 1780 and 1781, in the Southern Provinces of North America that American forces employed eight brass artillery pieces in the Battle of Camden: 4 six pounders, 2 three pounders, and 2 two pounders.

The majority of these field pieces were under Colonel Harrison’s unit. This map by English cartographer William Faden shows the locations of the guns.

Burial 11, where our subject 11A was recovered, was almost right on top of one of these.

Alas, after a morning of goosebump moments, a few more hours of research revealed that in spite of being listed on the Library of Virginia’s database of Virginia Military Dead as KIA at Camden, the National Archives and his descendants begged to differ.

In fact, Coleman was taken prisoner of war and held until the end of the war in 1783. His land grant papers were assigned to a relative and were signed by the governor of Virginia, whom he went to work for soon after the war. In his career as assistant clerk of the Council of State, he regularly wrote letters to George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and James Monroe as late as 1805. Many are housed at the National Archives.

The Library of Virginia’s listing was informed by a 19th century book, Historical register of officers of the Continental Army during the war of the revolution, April 1775, to December, 1783; by Francis B. Heitman. The book or the Library itself, likely informed the makers of the Camden monument that started my search. It happens.

Admittedly, like most forensic genealogists I can be like a dog with a bone. I didn’t want to give up MY Samuel Coleman without a fight. After noticing on the website for the Society of the Cincinnati that Lt. Coleman was still represented today by descendants in the Society, I called someone I knew could set me straight. I knew if anyone could help me put the bow on my disambiguation of men named Samuel Coleman in the Revolutionary War, he could.

Our advisor, Tripp Onnen is an absolute fount of information on our areas of research. And even I had to finally give up Samuel Coleman when I spoke to him.

“That descendant is my fraternity brother. I compiled his lineage paperwork for his application,” he explained.

Even I couldn’t argue with that.

Camden 11A has not given up all of his secrets yet. And one day, I won’t be surprised if he’s not from Maryland after all.