The following article was provided in Representative Perry Stambaugh’s Capitol Report issued on May 28, 2025. Rep. Stambaugh can be contact through his website at https://www.repperrystambaugh.com/

During the May 23 ceremony honoring the service of Revolutionary War patriot Jacob Stambaugh, I learned about Jacob’s Continental Army uniform from Dale Leppard, genealogist and registrar and past president of the Washingtonburg Chapter (Perry and Cumberland counties) of Sons of the American Revolution. A descendant of Jacob’s, Leppard sported a regimental coat worn by the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line in 1779 and further commissioned a leather cap, regimental flag, and knapsack unique to the unit. 

 Dr. Steven Messner, chairman of the Perry County America250PA Committee, right, and committee member Dale Beaver, left, posed with me and Nancy Bratton, who owns the property where Jacob Stambaugh is buried.

Last Friday, I spoke at a ceremony on the Spring/Centre township line east of Elliottsburg where a Sons of the American Revolution (SAR) grave marker was unveiled recognizing a Revolutionary War patriot — in this case, my great-great-great-great-grandfather Jacob Stambaugh (April 18, 1761-May 29, 1837).

Born Johann Jacob Stambach in Berks County, Pa. — then on the fringe of settlement in colonial America — Jacob anglicized his name early in life and during the War of Independence served with American troops in the Light Infantry Company of the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment of the Continental Line. Later, he was a corporal in the Northampton County militia.

During his time in the Continental Army, Jacob fought at the Battle of Stony Point, N.Y., in 1779, where American troops captured the British fortification in a well-planned, three-phase nighttime assault with unloaded muskets, using only bayonets and courage. Jacob apparently was part of the first wave of the attack.

In 1788, Jacob and his brother and their families embarked to find new lands in Kentucky but halted their journey somewhere in Central Pennsylvania due to reports of troubles with Native Americans on the western frontier. As a result, Jacob settled on the farm near Elliottsburg — now owned by his descendant, Nancy Bratton — where he is buried. At some point Jacob even served as a first lieutenant and then captain in the Cumberland (now Perry) County militia.

In my remarks, I pointed out some of the reasons young Americans like Jacob fought against British rule and its repressions of liberty and freedom. I noted that while we have enjoyed fruits of the Continental Army’s victory (chiefly, an independent United States governed as a representative, constitutional Republic for nearly 250 years), the fight to preserve the Revolutionary principles enshrined in the Declaration of Independence and U.S. Constitution continues today and will shortly fall to the next generation.

The event was sponsored by the Perry County Committee of the United States Semiquincentennial (America250PA), as well as the Perry County Chapter of Daughters of the American Revolution and Washingtonburg (Cumberland and Perry counties) SAR Chapter.

(Full disclosure: Jacob’s oldest son, John Jacob Stambaugh II, who died before his father in December 1832, acquired the farm in Green Park where I reside.)