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Home  »  The American National Song-Book  »  Colonel David Humphreys (1752–1818)

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……

  • WHAT though no angel glanced aside the ball,

    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.