Among the names of the soldiers who gave their lives are Daniel Wells and Henry G. McComas, the two young men who some people credit with shooting British commander Ross, so helping to blunt the enemy thrust toward the city. Their names appear above a tableau carved by Italian sculptor Antonio Capellano that shows the death scene with Ross being laid on the ground while the American militia fire over a rail fence in a scene meant to represent the Battle of North Point. Gen. William H. Winder before sacking Washington. As Ross fell, the British troops fired toward the telltale smoke and both fell dead. When his body was recovered several days later, it was thought that McComas had been in the act of reloading when he was shot through the heart.
Wells meanwhile is said to have been shot through the back of the head.
So much for the legend. It is certain enough that Wells and McComas were privates in Captain Edward Aisquith's militia rifle company which saw action at Bladensburg. Indeed, both did die in the skirmish in which Ross received his fatal wound, a short while before the British under new commander Col. Arthur Brooke engaged Brig. Whether either Wells or McComas fired the fatal shot that killed Ross is another question entirely.