East Greenbush (New York) Town Historian Hears from U.S. Army About Soldier's Burial Site

From the June 7, 2024, Times Union by Kenneth C. Crowe II.

Town historian Bobbie Reno has a letter from the U.S. Army showing a ground penetrating radar scan where War of 1812 soldier Samuel Helms is perhaps buried.

Private Samuel Helms was executed during the war and is believed to have been buried in an unmarked grave behind Red Mill Elementary School.

Reno thought she was facing a roadblock from the Army over its policy not to disturb a soldier's buried remains if possible.

The Army's Office of Army Cemeteries told her to contact the New York State Historic Preservation Office and work with that agency regarding Helms.  She is doing just that.

Reno has spent the last 14 years researching Helms in an effort to clear his name after he was executed and buried at the Army's Greenbush Cantonment during the War of 1812.  He was absent without leave in October 1812, then returned.  In July 1813, he was ordered tried for desertion.  He was convicted and executed by firing squad in late August or early September 1813.

--Brock-Perry