He May Be Oldest John Doe ID'd With Genetic Genealogy

A teenage soldier who died in a key Revolutionary War defeat now has his name back, nearly 246 years later. Using cutting-edge DNA techniques on centuries-old remains, researchers have identified "Camden 9B," one of 14 soldiers unearthed from shallow graves at the 1780 Battle of Camden site in South Carolina in 2022, as Marylander Pvt. John Pumphrey. Experts say it's likely the first time a person who died in the 1700s has been identified through genetic genealogy, per Smithsonian.

Pumphrey, who was likely orphaned around age 10 and apparently could not sign his name, enlisted in the Seventh Maryland Regiment at about 14 and marched more than 1,000 miles before he was felled "by a British musket ball" at Camden, where Continental Army soldiers outnumbered British soldiers two to one, per NPR. Before that, Pumphrey had fought in the battles of Brandywine and Germantown in Pennsylvania and Monmouth in New Jersey, the outlet reports.

His DNA, sequenced by Astrea Forensics and matched via genealogy databases, pointed to prominent families in Maryland's Anne Arundel County and was confirmed through multiple DNA types. Reburied with full military honors in 2023, Pumphrey has no known descendants but roughly 20,000 genetic relatives, some of whom gathered in Baltimore last month to hear his name formally restored. Researchers are hoping to find funding to ID more Camden soldiers, noting each case costs tens of thousands of dollars.