In fact, research based on primary sources tends to indicate just the opposite. Orderly books for that military unit are located in the New-York Historical Society and will be examined at the first opportunity. In fact, the attacking columns of American Light Infantry, armed only with unloaded muskets and fixed bayonets, flanked the British on both sides and soon captured the fort and garrison. Even primary source material must be carefully evaluated. Applying the criteria described here of reliance on primary sources for historical accuracy, we have to conclude, until and unless reliable primary source information is discovered, that the role that Pompey Lamb is supposed to have played during the Battle of Stony Point runs counter to the known facts and seems highly unlikely.
Scholars tend to agree.
One consequence of the retelling of Pompey's alleged exploit is that it replaces those accounts that are supported by the facts. Thus the historical record is eclipsed, and documented acts of heroism may as well not exist. Ironically, Pompey's apparent willingness to serve the cause of liberty through his service in the militia and possibly in the 2nd New York Regiment as well, despite a social order which often denied those of his race freedom, may, in fact, be diminished by the attribution of a tale that is implausible and unproven. At Fort Ticonderoga in 1777, the First Rhode Island Regiment was formed by Udney Hay, quarter master general, who took blacks from various regiments and formed them into the First Rhode Island. At the Battle of Rhode Island, in August of 1778, they presented themselves as a distinctive group, holding their positions during the attack by the British.