John Wampee (Wampey)

Quick Facts

Significance:

Patriot of Color at the Battle of Bunker Hill

Place of Birth:

Pomfret, Connecticut(?)

The following is from the 2004 National Park Service study Patriots of Color researched and prepared by George Quintal:

Nothing is known of the early life of John Wampee.^I

He is not listed on any known 1775 muster roll, but was surely at the Battle of Bunker Hill as he is recorded as having lost his gun there.^II

There was a John Wampee who signed on the Galley Shark on 16 June 1776, under Capt. Thomas Stanton.^III There was also a John Wampee who received bounties from the Town of Pomfret from 1777 to 1779.^IV

Footnotes:

1. Love, W. DeLoss, Ph.D. Samson Occum and the Christian Indians of New England (1899), 364 states that his is a name from the Tunxis Tribe of Farmington (CT).
2. Adjutant General’s Office [CT]. Record of Service of Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution (1889). 1 vol., 58.
3. Ibid, 594.
4. “Revolutionary War Master List.” Mohegan Archives, Uncasville, CT, 24.

Learn more about Quintal's study.