Can men who were killed in 1780 actually be identified using genetic genealogy?
Starting in the 1980s, reports emerged about what were thought to be human remains in rural South Carolina, including in one case, bones actually sticking out of the ground. The area was an open secret with both nearby residents and travelers as the site of the Revolutionary War’s Battle of Camden.
Archaeologists from the South Carolina Institute of Archaeology and Anthropology launched an excavation project in 2022 with several other organizations to rescue some of the remains. Based on the USA buttons found during early explorations, the team knew that it was America’s first heroes that they were protecting from further damage after 200 years of farming, relic hunting, and erosion had taken their toll.
The Richland County Coroner’s office invited FHD Forensics into the project to consider some type of DNA analysis of the remains. Answering with a hearty, “maybe” when asked whether IGG could be used, a plan was drafted and the challenge accepted. Their first step included asking the paleogeneticists at Astrea Forensics to extract and sequence the DNA.
The timing of the project so close to the 250th anniversary of the founding of the United States meant that everyone involved felt strongly that these men deserved to have their names restored and their stories told.
Team FHD began these almost 250 year-old John Doe investigations by following the same protocols they use to identify modern unidentified remains, adding additional tactics and procedures as they were required. After a year of IGG analysis, the addition of YDNA, XDNA, and mtDNA tracing, data science innovations, and deep archival research, their first identification was announced to his next of kin and the media on June 18, 2026 in Maryland.
The identification of teen soldier Private John Pumphrey of the 7th Maryland regiment is the perfect proof of concept for the use of IGG to identify 18th century combatants. A second subject’s investigation is well underway.
As more funding is raised, FHD Forensics will name more of these American heroes in the future by following their proven plan of leveraging a highly collaborative team of lab scientists, investigative genealogists, archaeologists, anthropologists, data scientists, military historians, archivists, volunteers and genetic relatives to make it all happen.
