DNA Analysis of Unidentified Revolutionary War Soldier Unveils Surprising Insights

joints hadn’t fully fused, indicating he was a teen.
“All I can say is he was at least 16 and no more than 25,” Peacock said.
Hudson pieced together a chronology of Pumphrey’s life: an aunt appointed his guardian after his parents’ death; he enlisted as a teenager; he was wounded during the Battle of Brooklyn only to return to fight at Camden.
Pumphrey’s mother is one of the few ancestors whose name we know. Her DNA was a perfect match.
Pumphrey’s remains were placed at the Reformed Church of the Ascension in Hagerstown, Maryland — not far from the Middle Bridge, where the young private was believed to have been baptized.
“There was a sense of divine timing, I guess,” Peacock said. “I don’t know what else you want to call it.”