William McCarty, comp. The American National Song Book. 1842.
An Epitaph: ‘What though no angel glanced aside the ball’Colonel David Humphreys (1752–1818)
Written the day after the capitulation of Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown, in Virginia
ALEXANDER SCAMMEL,
Adjutant-general of the American armies,
and
Colonel of the first regiment of New-Hampshire,
while
he commanded
a chosen corps of light infantry
at the
successful siege of Yorktown, in Virginia,
was,
in the gallant performance of his duty as field-officer of the day,
unfortunately captured,
and,
afterwards, insidiously wounded—
of which wound he expired at Williamsburg, Oct. 1781,
Anno ætatis……
W
Nor allied arms pour’d vengeance for his fall;
Brave Scammel’s fame, to distant regions known,
Shall last beyond this monumental stone,
Which conquering armies (from their toils return’d)
Rear’d to his glory, while his fate they mourn’d.