Alexander Scammell - Plymouth, MA
Posted by: 
silverquill
N 41° 57.331 W 070° 39.913
19T E 361992 N 4646178
This bronze plaque mounted on a granite stone is located on Burial Hill, near the site of a school where Alexander Scammell taught before the U.S. Revolutionary War. He was Colonel and Adjutant General when he was killed near Yorktown in 1781.
Waymark Code: WMDQZG
Location: Massachusetts, United States
Date Posted: 02/16/2012
Views: 5
ALEXANDER SCAMMELL
1747 -- 1781
TEACHER SOLDIER PATRIOT
HE TAUGHT THE PUBLIC SCHOOL ON THIS SITE
COLONEL AND ADJUTANT GENERAL IN THE
CONTINENTAL ARMY
MORTALLY WOUNDED AT YORKTOWN
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THIS MEMORIAL DEDICATED BY THE
GENERAL SOCIETY SONS OF THE REVOLUTION
JUNE 1, 1923
Alexander Scammell was born in 1744 in Massachusetts and graduated from Harvard College. He taught school in Plymouth County, including a school near this site at the heart of the Plymouth Colony. He later became and attorney and surveyor before joining the Continental Army at the start of the U.S. Revolutionary War as a major in the 2nd New Hampshire Regiment.
In December of 1776 he was promoted to Colonel and put in charge of the 3rd New Hampshire Regiment. Scammell was a close friend of Gen. George Washington and crossed the Delaware River with him, often rallying the troops ahead of Washington in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. He and his regiment wintered with Washington at Valley Forge where Washington appointed him as Adjutant General.
On May 17, 1781, Scammell was assigned command of a light infantry detachment that became known as Scammell's Light Infantry. Scammell led his brigade in the the Battle of King's Bridge, and than as the leading vanguard for the Army's march to Yorktown.
General Scammell was shot on September 30, 1781, while on patrol as Officer of the Day near Yorktown, and was transported to Williamsburg for treatment where he succumbed to his his injuries on Oct. 6, 1781, making him the highest ranking American officer killed during the Siege of Yorktown.
Further details of his career can be found in the Wikipedia entry for Alexander Scammell