Not Captain Molly: skeleton in grave of woman hero of US Revolutionary War belongs to a man

Remains believed to be of a Revolutionary War hero buried at West Point don’t belong to a woman known as Captain Molly after all but to an unknown man.

The US Military Academy said Tuesday the discovery stems from a study of skeletal remains conducted after Margaret Corbin’s grave was accidentally disturbed last year by excavators building a retaining wall by her monument in the West Point Cemetery. Tests by a forensic anthropologist revealed the remains were likely those of a middle-aged man who lived between the Colonial period and 19th century.

Corbin was known for bravely stepping in to fire a cannon in 1776 during a battle in New York City after her husband was killed. She was severely wounded during the Battle of Fort Washington, but lived another 24 years. She became the nation’s first woman to receive a pension for military service.

The location of Corbin’s remains is a mystery. Ground-penetrating radar around the grave site failed to turn up any signs.

The Daughters of the American Revolution received approval in 1926 to move Corbin’s remains from nearby Highland Falls to the hallowed ground of West Point’s cemetery. The leafy lot near the Hudson River is the resting place for thousands, including Gulf War commander General H. Norman Schwarzkopf, U.S commander in Vietnam General William Westmoreland and Lieutenant Colone George Custer.

The DAR used records and local accounts from the community to locate the remains believed to be Corbin, according to the Army.