USA > Virginia > List of the revolutionary soldiers of Virginia, special report of the Department of Archives and History for 1911 > Part 1
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975.5 V81st 9th 1911 1912835
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REYNOLDS HISTORICAL GENEALOGY COLLECTION
ALLEN COUNTY PUBLIC LIBRARY 3 1833 01755 8443
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http://archive.org/details/listofrevolution09virg
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VIRGINIA STATE LIBRARY
Rost
List of the Revolutionary Soldiers of Virginia
1912 1911-12 6
i
Special Report of the Department of Archives and History for 1911 H. J. ECKENRODE, Archivist
RICHMOND: DAVIS BOTTOM, SUPERINTENDENT OF PUBLIC PRINTING.
1912.
Preface
1912835
No claim of completeness or even approximate completeness is made for the present list of Revolutionary soldiers of Virginia. While much fuller in every way than any other list ever published, it is but tentative, and does not include all the lists of soldiers known to be in existence. Permission_ could not be gained for copying the rolls in the War Department in Washing- ton, and this omission is a serious deficiency. And in addition to these lists, which were not obtained, though preserved amongst the archives of the Federal Government, it is believed that the researches still being conducted by the Virginia State library will bring to light other rolls whose where- abouts can now be only guessed at, while from time to time regimental and company rosters may turn up in out-of-the-way places. The list, there- fore, is merely the first stage of a work to be continued for many years and brought to a conclusion only when the sources of Virginia Revolutionary history shall have been completely explored, leaving no reasonable hope for further discoveries.
The vague and unsatisfactory nature of the estimates hitherto made of the number of Virginia troops in the Revolutionary War is largely due to the fragmentary condition of the records. The non-existence of regular military rolls among the archives of the State has left such estimates to be based upon the returns of the Continental line, which, for various reasons, have proved misleading. In the absence of proper records, the result has been that many people have believed that Virginia contributed but few troops for the war, while, on the contrary, probably no other State furnished more.
The Virginia forces in the Revolutionary War may be considered under four heads: (1) Continental, (2) State, (3) Militia and (4) Navy.
Virginia furnished fifteen regiments of the continental line, which were entirely in the service and at the command of Congress. Saffell publishes lists of several of these regiments, but not of all, and the number of men serving in them, first and last, can only be told by an examination of the rolls at Washington.
Besides this quota of regiments supplied by the State, other commands, raised mostly or wholly in Virginia, served in the Continental army, but, being congressional forces pure and simple, are not accredited to the State. Such were Nathaniel Gist's, Grayson's and Thurston's regiments of infantry, Moses Rawlings's rifle companies, Harrison's artillery, Bland's and Baylor's dragoons and Lee's and Armand's legions. Of these commands Gist's regiment is given in Saffell as from Virginia and is consequently included in this index; Rawlings's rifle companies and Harrison's artillery, being made up of Marylanders in part as well as of Virginians, though accessible in Saffell, are not given in the index because of the impossibility of separating the soldiers from the two States. Pay rolls of Bland's dragoons, printed in
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REPORT OF THE STATE LIBRARIAN
Boogher's "Gleanings of Virginia History," are included, as well as the officers of Lee's legion, whose names are furnished by Saffell. A roll of Armand's legion is printed, apparently in full, in the documents appended to the Journal of the House of Delegates of Virginia for 1833-4. Some of the names of Baylor's dragoons have been recovered, but not a full list. Pay rolls of all these continental commands are probably in existence in Washington and will likely be published some day, when it will be possible to know, with a reasonable degree of accuracy, the number of men furnished by Virginia to the Continental line), and Dabney's State legion. In the absence of regular Georgia and other States recruited their own continental regiments on the soil of the Old Dominion.
The State line included three regular infantry regiments, an artillery regiment, a cavalry regiment, what was known as the "State Garrison Regiment," two regiments in Illinois, the "Convention" troops engaged in guarding the Saratoga prisoners near Charlottesville (sometimes accredited to the Continental line), and Dabney's State legion. In the absence of regular rolls of most of these commands for different years, an estimate of the number of men serving in the State line would be hazardous, but it may be said with certainty that this branch of the service was a good deal smaller than the Continental line.
The principal sources for the names of soldiers of the Continental and State lines are the lists of those serving in the two branches who received back pay due them after the war, and the index of applications for land bounties made by soldiers who had served three years or more in any military capacity or by their heirs.
The State navy may be, and sometimes is, considered as a part of the State line because of its exclusively local character. In this index, however, the navy is carefully differentiated. The number of ships and men employed in it varied greatly from time to time, but there never were at any one time more than a few hundred men in the service, few of whom, it is believed, have been omitted in the present compilation.
The branch of the State's military service impossible to analyze is the militia. A manuscript list of the militia supposed to be available for the field in 1776 gives about forty-five thousand men; the list given below includes estimates for nine counties omitted in the original, but it is believed that the numbers calculated are rather too low, if anything, than too high. The list is as follows:
Accomac
500 (estimated;
Culpeper
1,000 (estimated)
Albemarle
1,304
Cumberland 1,000
Amelia 1,100
Dinwiddie 500
(estimated)
Amherst 650
Dunmore
800
East Augusta. 2,000
Elizabeth City 160
Bedford
1,400
Essex 400
Botetourt 1,600
Fairfax 1,000
Fauquier 1,100
Frederick
1,260
Berkeley
700 (estimated )
Fincastle 2,000
Caroline 600
(estimated )
Gloucester 900
Charles City 350
Goochland 520
Charlotte . 812
Halifax 1,000
Chesterfield 960
Hampshire
700
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Brunswick 1,200
Buckingham 650
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Hanover
900
Northampton
500 (estimated)
Henrico
500
Orange 550
Isle of Wight. 725
Pittsylvania 1,438
James City.
190
Prince Edward. 550
King George 400
Prince George . . 600 (estimated)
King and Queen. . 600
(estimated )
Princess Anne. . . .
450
King William
600 (estimated )
Prince William ... 1,000
Lancaster. 200
Richmond
470
Loudoun
1,600
Southampton
750
Louisa
600
Spotsylvania 500
Lunenburg 573
Stafford
400
Middlesex 300
Surry
350
Mecklenburg 850
Sussex 660
Nansemond 800
Warwick 100
New Kent. 448
Westmoreland 697
Norfolk
1,000
York
300
Northumberland . 700
Williamsburg 218
No later militia returns are to be found, but it is probable that the number of militia remained about the same, from 45,000 to 50,000, through 1777, 1778 and 1779, but that on account of losses by war and emigration the number decreased somewhat in 1780, 1781 and 1782, although in 1780 and 1781 the force of militia actually in service reached its maximum.
It is probable that about one-fourth of the militia saw real service, at one time or another, but in most instances for very short terms. The militia in the tidewater section was subject to frequent calls all through the war upon the strength of reports of hostile descents upon Chesapeake Bay and to repel privateers, and in the west on account of numerous Indian Incursions.
The militia records are exceedingly fragmentary. Strangely enough, the pay rolls for the western department have been preserved, and it is probable that the names of few Kentucky militiamen have been lost, while the rolls for the eastern and much more thickly settled and civilized portion of the State have not been found. In the absence of pay and muster rolls, the chief sources of information are the Auditor's books of the Revolutionary period, which record the payment of the services of many individual militia- men. Unfortunately such payments are generally put down as having been made to some officer for himself and his company as a whole, without includ- ing a list of the company. It thus follows that the names of company com- manders survive, while the great mass of the privates are unknown. No estimate of the number of militia called into the field in the course of the war can be safely made at the present time.
But, while I am unwilling to risk a guess (certain to prove a mistake later on) as to the number of soldiers who served from Virginia in the Revolution, it is quite clear that that number was very large in proportion to the white male population, probably even larger than the estimates hitherto made. The basis usually adopted in estimating the number of troops furnished by Virginia, as well as by all the other States, is General Knox's report as Secretary of War in 1790. This report is doubtless generally correct as to the Continental troops in the fifteen regiments or battalions furnished by Virginia, but does not include the continental troops from Virginia in other organizations than the Virginia line, fails to take into
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REPORT OF THE STATE LIBRARIAN
consideration the State line and merely estimates the number of inilitia furnished year by year, with blanks for several years. As a considerable body of men served in the State line and as the number of militia called out every year was large, it is evident that a report based only on the returns of the Virginia line in the Continental army and militia estimates is inadequate.
Even as regards the Virginia troops furnished for the use of Congress, Knox's report is not altogether satisfactory. Thus it fails to credit Virginia with any troops for the year 1775, except 3,180 militia, although Morgan's detachment of riflemen, which served with such exceptional gallantry and efficiency in the closing months of 1775, was not a militia command.
In 1776 Virginia is set down in the report as furnishing 6,181 continentals, the third largest number among the States, but no estimate whatever is made of the militia for this year, although it is known that a large force was called into the field against Dunmore, for the relief of North Carolina, and for the Cherokee expedition in the west.
In 1777 Virginia is credited with 5,744 continentals, a contingent second only to that of Massachusetts, which was 7,816, as well as 1,269 militia, while a further militia force of 4,000 is estimated to have served for short ternis. These figures, which seem correct, give Virginia a total of nearly 11,000 men in service as against about 12,600 furnished by Massachusetts; but since no mention is made of the State line, consisting of a number of coinmands in that year, it is probable that Virginia had in actual service in 1777 as many men as had Massachusetts or even more. The losses in 1777 among the Virginia troops, always in the forefront of the battle, were severe, especially at Germantown, where a regiment was captured. Owing to these losses, the two first regiments of the State line joined the Continental army, causing a considerable reduction in the local military establishment.
In 1778 Virginia had 5,230 men in the Continental army and Massa- chusetts 7,010. The estimate of the Virginia militia for this year-2,600- is rather too low, as operations in the west were becoming active. Virginia's quota of continental troops in the next year, 1779, fell to 3,973, a bad second to the 6,287 of Massachusetts, but Virginia is credited with 3,000 militia in service. This calculation is again rather low in view of the fact that a British detachment landed at Portsmouth and laid waste a wide tract of country, bringing out the militia in considerable force, while Clarke was now established in Illinois with a small command, backed by the riflemen of the Kentucky counties. A thousand men were raised by Virginia and North Carolina for the defense of the frontier this year. The military activities of Virginia in 1779, in fact, were numerous. The legislature authorized the governor to send 1,500 militia to South Carolina and gave him special powers in case of invasion. The State troops for the defense of the east were incorporated with the artillery and garrison corps; the cavalry was reduced to three troops, and the commands in the west formed into one regiment. At the same time the State navy underwent a reorganization.
In 1780 the Virginia continentals were reduced to 2,486 men, but a coll- siderable detachment had been sent to the South and lost at Charleston, and, as a result of the drain of the war, the contingents from all the States were rapidly dwindling; Massachusetts had but 4,453 men in the army. Furthermore, the energies of Virginia were diverted to the South, which
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had now become the seat of war. In April Woodford with 700 Virginia continentals arrived at Charleston in time to be included in the capitulation. Burk's History states that 300 or 400 Virginia troops under Heth were also present at the siege. Shortly after the fall of Charleston, Colonel Buford with 400 Virginia troops was routed by Tarleton at Waxhaw.
Virginia is credited by Knox's report with 4,500 militia in 1780, which, with continentals added, makes a force of 7,000, little less than the total of Massuchusetts for the same year. Knox's estimate for this year, as usual, makes no allowance for the State line, which was still of some size. Never before during the progress of the war had such demands been made on the resources of Virginia, and large numbers of militia were called into the field in several quarters. Jefferson gives the Virginia forces intended for North Carolina in the early part of 1780 as follows:
Buford's regulars. 400
Porterfield's State troops. 500
Armand's horse. 190
White's and Washington's horse.
200
Virginia militia. 2,500
Total
3,790
Needless to say, this militia force was not raised, but Jefferson's statement shows the strength of several of the State commands at the time.
On August 14, 1780, the eve of Camden, General Stevens joined Gates with 700 Virginia militia, most of which escaped from the subsequent battle and returned home. Again, at King's Mountain, several hundred Virginia militiamen were present from the western counties under William Camp- bell. In November, 1780, Baron Steuben was sent to Virginia to arrange the defense of that State. He found Generals Muhlenberg and Weedon engaged in organizing a militia force to oppose the advance of tlie British General Leslie from Norfolk. In the last weeks of 1780 Virginia militia were serving in Greene's army, for on December 16, Daniel Morgan was detached with 200 Virginia militia and other forces for special duty. Below is given an estimate of the Virginia troops in 1780, based, in the first place, on the returns in Burk's History, iv, 426, with the addition of the other forces not included in that work, which claims to make allowance for continental forces alone:
Infantry with the main army, including the first and second
State regiments.
1,637
Gist's regiment.
123
Recruits sent south under Scott.
1,002
Colonel Porterfield.
218
Harrison's artillery
85
Hazen's regiment.
12
Caleb Gibb's guards.
37
Virginia troops at Fort Pitt
308
Taylor's Convention guards
297
Moylan's horse.
63
Nelson's horse.
64
Reid's troop in Albemarle.
29
Baylor's horse
138
Bland's horse.
140
Lee's horse
52
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REPORT OF THE STATE LIBRARIAN
Militia at Camden.
700
Militia at King's Mountain.
400
Militia about Norfolk (at least) 500
Militia with Greene. 400
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Militia on the frontier
500
Lawson's corps. 500
State troops ( not given above)
1,000
Total 8,205
The difference between Knox's and Girardin's returns is chiefly due to the fact that Knox does not credit Virginia with those continental com. mands raised in Virginia but serving Congress as separate organizations and that Girardin includes one or two organizations not Continental and one also, probably, not from Virginia. The estimate I have made of the militia is in reality too low, for it amounts to only 3,000 as against the 4,500 estimated by Knox; but I prefer to be securely within the bounds of truth.
If to the 4,205 in Girardin's account be added the 4,500 militia estimated by Knox to have served, and the Virginia State line, counted at only 1,000, the total is 9,705. Such widely contrasting figures illustrate the difficulty of arriving at any conclusion as to the number of troops actually in service in a single year. But even with Knox's low calculation of 2,486 continentals and 4,500 militia, the added State line raises the total to 8,000, and I think a fair calculation would credit Virginia with something less than 9,000 men for the year 1780. This figure would include militia called out for short term service, as well as for longer enlistments, continental and State troops and men raised in the State for service in the contingents of other States.
In 1781, when Virginia was seriously invaded, practically all of the available militia was summoned to the field. Knox allows Virginia this year 1,225 continentals, 2,894 militia at Yorktown and 2,000 other militia serving short terms-a total of 6,119 men. This militia estimate of less than 5,000 is the most inadequate of all Knox's calculations, since the need of meeting two invasions necessarily brought into service nearly all the men who could respond to the calls of the executive, although some of them were not available for lack of arms. In the first days of 1781, 800 militia engaged (ineffectively) in the defense of Richmond, while Simcoe at the same time dispersed a body at Charles City Courthouse. A force of 1,123 Virginia militia served in Greene's army at Guilford Courthouse, and at least 2,000 militia joined Lafayette in his campaign in-the summer of 1781, while more than 4,000 are said to have been present at Yorktown, nearly all of which were from Virginia. Allowing for some duplication of the militia attending Lafayette's army and at Yorktown, the number remains large, especially when the western forces, rather considerable in 1781, are added. It is probable that about 6,500 or 7,000 militia bore arms in the various campaigns and alarms of the crucial year.
Besides, at this time, the State line was of some size. The military boards of February and April, 1782, returned lists of the first and second State regiments, the first and second State artillery regiments, the State garrison and Illinois regiments, State cavalry and the Illinois troop of light dragoons. No returns came from the other State organizations, the navy and Crockett's regiment. The diminution of the continental quota from
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Virginia in 1780 and 1781 was doubtless due in part to the withdrawal of the first and second State regiments from the Continental army, but as these commands were in active service they should be considered in any estimate of the Virginia forces. Furthermore, the pressure of the war in the South in the latter years bore heavily on Virginia and prevented the recruiting of her regiments in the northern field, where hostilities languished. 'The report of the committee of the House of Delegates on military claims in 1831 says: "During the progress of that war, each State, while it was required to furnish its quota of troops and of money for the general or continental service, also raised a greater or smaller force for its own im- mediate defense. Virginia sustained and equipped a very considerable military and naval force, besides her militia, who were frequently and in great numbers in service."
In view of the evidence, I think that a conservative estimate would put the number of Virginia troops in 1781, Continental, State and militia, at about 10,000.
But in spite of the fact that approximate estimates may be ventured for some of the individual years of the war, it is nevertheless difficult and almost impossible to make a reasonably satisfactory calculation for the whole number of men in arms between 1775 and 1783. Probably militia calls occurred of which no account now exists, while we can only guess at the number of men actually brought into the field in the calls and campaigns of which we are cognizant. But in the event of the discovery of militia rolls and other aids to enumeration, the historical student at some time in the future may be able to speak authoritatively of the number of Virginians who saw service in the Revolutionary War.
The difficulty, however, is one not confined to Virginia, for in the case of most of the other States the returns of Revolutionary troops are unre- liable and unsatisfactory. The figures given for Massachusetts, 67,907, cannot be taken very seriously, since they have been arrived at by adding together the Massachusetts contingents for individual years as given in Knox's report. As many of the men were in service several years or were called out in the militia several times, the effect of such a method of calculation is to transform addition into multiplication.
Heitman, in his "Historical Register of Officers in the Continental Army," credits Massachusetts with the customary 67,907 men in continental service and with 20,000 militia, making a total of 87,907. He gives Virginia 26,678 continentals and 30,000 militia-56,678 altogether. The figures for the Vir- ginia Continental service represent the same arithmetical process as for Massachusetts and are as unreliable. The estimates of militia seem mere guess work, since, after a considerable study of the subject, I am not willing to make an estimate of the Virginia militia because of the lack of satisfactory evidence. Heitman, admitting the untrustworthiness of his figures, which amount to a total of 376,771 for all the States, offers the opinion that not more than 250,000 men were in actual service. Even the latter number is too liigh, in my opinion, although I am aware of the inefficiency and waste of men and material inseparable from the efforts of a confederacy to wage a long and sternly contested war-large potential numbers represent small ac- tual forces. Still the American armies, except at the very beginning of the war,
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were always small, the populations of the States were sparse and a con di siderable proportion of the people indifferent or actually hostile. When as re estimate is made of the American forces in the Revolution, allowance into necessary for the men that fought on the royal side, who, in some States th especially in North and South Carolina, Georgia and New York, amounted of to considerable numbers. A. very large proportion of the troops, too, were short-term militia, invariably expensive to maintain and almost invariably useless in the field. Heitman's calculation of 30,000 militia for Virginia must be intended to cover such short-term men, but it seems likely that the In final figures for the militia will not fall short of his guess and may go higher. In the case of Massachusetts, it is evident that the figures for the Continental line are much too high, but, on the other hand, it seems to pl me that Heitman's estimate of 20,000 militia is rather too low. Militia W unquestionably served in large numbers, alike in Virginia and Massachusetts, and alike demonstrated the inefficiency of inilitia in regular warfare. In 1781 the Virginia Assembly placed 20,000 militia at the Governor's disposal, about one-half of the total militia of the State at that time, if the state- t ment furnished in 1776 and quoted above may be accepted as a basis of calcu. o lation. This large force was not brought into service and could not have 1 been; arms would have been wanting for half this number even if the men could have been draughted. The offer of the services of nearly a moiety of the able-bodied men of the State represented, however, a disposition to make extreme efforts and confirms the belief that an unprecedentedly large militia't force was out in this year. -
The meagerness of the State's military records, deplored before, not only prevents estimates of numbers, but renders it difficult to determine the exact d branch of the soldier's service in many cases, and further complications arise from the presence in the Continental army of the first and second h State regiments; moreover, there is a considerable confusion in other ways o of the Continental and State lines. As a result of all this, while the greater part of the soldiers of the Continental and State lines and the militia can be identified with their branches, a sufficient number of cases remain in which nothing more can be said than that the soldiers in question indubitably; served in the Revolution. This deficiency has caused in this compilation of names the abandonment of the effort, made at first, to designate the branch of service, except in the case of the navy. Service in the navy is marked with an "n," because in nearly all cases this branch of the service is mentioned in the records.
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