I am pleased to announce the release of my transcription of Richmond County’s court orders from the Revolutionary War era. The volume, entitled “Richmond County, Virginia Court Orders 1776-1784,” is the fifth installment of my transcriptions of Virginia’s county court orders from the Revolution, the other four completed counties being Augusta, Bedford, Brunswick and Halifax. These volumes may be ordered at http://www.lulu.com, by following this link to my author page: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/bjcnva. Each volume is available both as a hard copy and as a downloadable ebook (PDF).

Some of my readers have asked about future publication plans. I am currently transcribing Louisa County’s court orders from the Revolution, and Northumberland County will probably following Louisa. I have also completed about seventy-five percent of volume 4 of “Selected Virginia Revolutionary War Records.” This will include a complete transcription of Auditors’ Account volume XVIII (a manuscript volume in Library of Virginia, 701 pages, of receipts and warrants from the auditors from late 1783-1784, the “most important” volume of that series); also an inventory/extract of all items in LVA’s APA 238 “General Claims Approved” (a 2 inch file containing a hodge podge of loose affidavits and certificates related to claimed military and non-military service during the war); and finally a complete transcription of LVA’s APA 207 “Expences Incurred by the Conquest and Protection of Northwestern Territory 1777-1787” (an 88 page gold mine of claims made by individuals in present Illinois and Kentucky for services rendered to the American cause from those areas). The first three volumes of my “Selected Virginia Revolutionary War Records” series are also available at lulu.com.

Montgomery County, which lay on Virginia’s western frontier during the American Revolution, is notable for the quality and quantity of its records relating to both “patriots” and “tories” during the Revolutionary War era. While it is unrealistic to give an account of all Library of Virginia holdings specific to Revolutionary War Montgomery County here, three notable holdings should be consulted by any researcher seriously interested in this area: (1) the manuscript volume entitled “Fincastle & Montgomery Counties: Revolutionary War Records 1775-1783”; (2) the Montgomery County Commonwealth Causes; and (3) the William Preston Papers.
First and foremost for genealogists is the volume entitled “Fincastle & Montgomery Counties: Revolutionary War Records 1775-1783,” LVA barcode #1118855. This photostatic copy of an original volume held in the Montgomery County courthouse is divided into eight sections, which I will describe here in turn.
1. Journal of the Committee of Safety 8 Nov 1775-4 April 1776 (pp 1-26). This has been transcribed in Harwell, “The Committees of Safety of Westmoreland and Fincastle.” The journal includes references from early in the war to Montgomery County tories, such as this 11 June 1776 entry: “orderd. that William Blivens, James Blivens & John Blivens be summoned […] to answer the following complaint, that they have refusd. to bear arms or muster in Capt John Shelby’s company of militia […] by reason of their attachment to the enemies of American Liberty and their correspondence with Tories in the Cherokee nation.” The proceeding against Nathaniel Britton and John Martin is also worthy of special mention: 4 April 1776, “ordered that Nathaniel Britton & John Martin be apprehended […] to answer the following charge, That they have made a practice of stealing horses, That they have threatened to take the life of Capt Jos. Cloyd & have said many things that shew that their intentions are unfriendly to the American cause.” The committee also ordered Capt Cloyd to take as many men out of his company necessary for the task, “who it is expected will chearfully attend him & execute the order.”
2. Minutes of the Committee of Safety (pp 27-52). These are evidently the rough notes preceding the final journal version (#1). There are a handful of entries not found in the journal, as well as a petition signed by inhabitants “on the frontier part of Clinch.”
3. Letters of Arthur Campbell from May 1776 (pp 53-7).
4. Militia lists (pp 58-181). These 41 lists, which include 29 undated lists, 9 lists from 1781, 2 from 1782, and 1 from 1783, have been transcribed in Kegley, “Militia of Montgomery County, 1777-1790.” These lists reflect the state of each militia company, but do not reflect expeditionary service and may not even reflect attendance at private (company) and general (regimental) musters. This is generally supported by many notations, such as “not fit,” “an old man,” over 50,” “under 18,” “removed from the county,” etc.
5. Oaths of Allegiance (pp 132-53). These include one list of those who swore allegiance to King George in 1774-5; 8 lists under the 1777 act of the General Assembly requiring the swearing of allegiance to the Commonwealth; and 1 bond dated 26 April 1779 of disaffected persons for their good behavior towards the Commonwealth, signed by 32 men. Again, many of these were transcribed in Kegley, above.
6. Court Martial records (pp 154-78). These are very important records, since they constitute the only substantive militia court martial records from Virginia during the Revolution, with the exception of Augusta County. There are two long lists of fines for non-performance of militia duties from 1778 that, as far as I know, have never been published. There are also minutes for 5 courts martial in 1781-3, and it is here where things get interesting. Many entries are exactly what you would expect to find in records such as these, such as references to men excused from militia duty due to age or infirmity. However, many entries reflect serious strife in the county, such as the summoning of the whole of Capts Ozburn’s and Swift’s companies for not attending general muster; and the sentencing of several tories to service in the Continental Line. Some of these entries are abstracted in Kegley, “Early Adventures on the Western Waters.”
7. Individual Service Records (19 certificates receipts, etc., relative to militia and Continental Line service performed); and
8. Public Service Claims (19 certificates and receipts for supplies furnished patriot forces).
The second set of records that Montgomery County researchers should consult in LVA are the Montgomery County Commonwealth Causes, LVA barcode 1048926, encompassing .15 cubic feet. Many of these records are criminal cases for murder, slander, etc., but quite a few are warrants to apprehend tories for refusing to bear arms against the king, etc. The several following examples should give you a good idea.
1. Warrant 27 April 1779 from Walter Crockett and James McGavock to any officer civil or military, which sd officer is empowered to command a guard for his assistance; “Whereas complaint has been made upon oath that Joshua Jones, John Lewis, Moses Wells, Fredrick Slamp, John Vaute, David Vaut and Vaut that has the mill on the Cripple Creick, Henry Vaut, Philip Dutton, Benjamin & John Griffith, Frances Kattering, Peter Kattering, Peter Kinder, Frederick Brontstedder, Andrew Brontstedder, Jinkin Williams, Humphrey Best, old Fredrick Moor, Henry Wiess or Vice have entred into a conspiracy and taken an oath not to lift arms against the King of Great Britain or his heirs and to join the Inglish and Indians and to assist them in destroying the country,” warrant to take “the above named traitors to their country.”
2. Warrant 6 April 1779 from Walter Crockett and James McGavock to the Sheriff; “Whereas complaint has been made to us upon oath that John Henderson, Jacob Darter, Joseph Irwin, Joseph McFarland, Daniel Atter, John Stephens, Dunkin Ogullion, Philip Myer, William Black, Daniel Liberton, Daniel McKinsey, John Cox, Nathaniel Britain and Philip Lambert have entred into a conspiracy to seize the publick magaziens, and then to proceed to kill murder and lay waste this county,” warrant to apprehend them.
3. Bond of Lawrence (x) Buckholder 8 Jan 1778, for 200 pounds; Whereas sd Buckholder was taken on suspicion of “being an enemy to this state & expressing himself in many instances as such” and being brought into court and a jury being summoned, the jury returned verdict that he was to pay 10 pounds and give bond for his good behavior 12 months and a day.
4. 20 April 1779 whereas John Dones “a person of evil fame, has been this day brought before me Wm. Preston a Justice for sd. county being charged by Nickolas Salles a recruit for the Continental Army for wanting and requesting the said Nickolas to quit the service in which he is engaged and to enter into the service of the King of great Britain for which he should have two shillings and seven pence sterling per day from the day he would engage, that he the said Dones was to go last Saturday to a certain place where a club was to meet to consult matters & that he would give him an answer on Sunday & that they had a Justice appointed amongst them, all which the sd. Salles made oath to in presence of sd. Dones who did not attempt to disprove thereove, and whereas the sd. John upon many occasions, has called the good subjects of the state rebels to their King & declared himself a true subject of King George of great Britain and drank his health,” these are to command the Sheriff to receive said Dones and keep him under a good guard, “as he is an old offender.”
Many of the tory cases mentioned in the Commonwealth Causes overlap entries found in the “Revolutionary War Records” volume and, as such, it is important to consult both groups of records if you find your ancestor in either. It is also worth checking the last group of records on our agenda, as well: the “Colonel William Preston Papers Concerning the Defense of Southwestern Virginia” (APA 223, 5 inches, miscellaneous reel 655). These papers give great color to a serious tory uprising in Montgomery County in the summer of 1780. The letters of William Preston, the County Lieutenant, to other county leaders name many of the tory individuals in the records noted above, and show that the tories in the county had three main objectives in mind. First, some of the tories wanted to kill William Preston, Arthur Campbell and various militia Captains to render the county’s patriot faction leaderless. Second, they actively recruited soldiers destined for the Continental Army to desert and join a royalist army that tory leaders would lead in a campaign to lay waste and destroy the frontier. Third, they intended to seize control of the lead mines (in present-day Wythe County) and effectively deny the Commonwealth of its main source of lead.
All of the records mentioned here show that tories were active in the county from the earliest days of the Revolution until fairly late in the conflict and that their influence was rather strong and widespread. Preston’s actions in suppressing them were evidently of such a serious nature that the General Assembly, in its session of October 1782, indemnified him, Robert Adams Jr., James Callaway and Charles Lynch from “all pains, penalties, prosecutions, actions, suits, and damages on account thereof” (Hening, “Statutes at Large,” vol XI, pp 134-5). Such an extreme action as this suggests that Montgomery County’s Revolutionary War experience deserves more attention than it has heretofore received.

The Library of Virginia has announced an exciting new initiative to microfilm the well-known, but little-used, Auditors’ Account Volumes from the Revolutionary War era. The initiative, using grant funds from the Daughters of the American Revolution, is scheduled to be completed by the fall of 2015. The announcement may be found in the June edition of LVA’s e-newsletter, here: http://www.lva.virginia.gov/news/newsletter/2015_06-june.htm. It reads, in part,

The Library of Virginia is pleased to announce the award of a generous matching grant from the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) that will allow us to microfilm the receipts and disbursement journals of Virginia’s auditor of public accounts, 1778–1797. These 21 volumes include daily entries of revenues and expenditures, many of which document payments for Revolutionary War service and public service contributions. Entries include payments for military service in the militia and Continental Line and for other military services rendered, relief payments to disabled soldiers and widows, interest paid on military certificates, and reimbursement for impressed property, as well as payments to individuals for civil service and to members of the General Assembly.

The importance of these volumes, which actually number more than 21, cannot be overstated. The most comprehensive source of warrants authorizing payments to and from the Commonwealth of Virginia during the Revolution, these 30+ daybooks are among the most underutilized Revolutionary War records in the LVA collection. The scope of these volumes must be underscored: Virginia did not issue payment to individuals during the Revolutionary War era without a warrant from the Auditors. This included everything from the salaries of the Governor and the members of the House of Delegates all the way “down” to the payments made to militiamen for their tours of duty. That is why these volumes, which have received a great deal of lip service but little else, are so important. This is where all of those authorizations for payment were recorded in detail.

Hamilton J. Eckenrode designated these volumes with roman numerals and partially indexed them in his 1912 List of the
Revolutionary Soldiers of Virginia. Eckenrode’s index only included names of soldiers and, while he did a magnificent job, some of the soldiers were missed. Of these volumes, which range in size from 124 pages to over 700 pages, five have been previously microfilmed, while the rest currently exist in textual form, only. The Library holds the original volume along with a photostat copy, in most instances. The public is usually served the photostat.

It is important to understand that Virginia kept “two sets” of books. The Auditors’ Account Volumes consist entirely of warrants presented to the Auditors for authorization of payment. When an individual presented himself before the Auditors and received a warrant, s/he then “went” to the Treasurer where s/he actually received payment. The Treasurer kept a second set of books. The Treasurer’s volumes, which are NOT “Auditors’ Account” Volumes, record the same basic information, but often in abbreviated form.

An inventory of the Auditors’ Account Volumes as they were arranged by Eckenrode is found in Annual Reports of Officers, Boards and Institutions of the Commonwealth of Virginia for the Year Ending September 30, 1905, Part II (Richmond: Superintendent of Public Printing, 1905), 101-4. For practical purposes, when Virginia researchers speak of the “Auditors’ Account” Volumes, they are referring to this corpus as they were arranged and then indexed by Eckenrode, not as they are currently catalogued by the Library of Virginia. This state of affairs is due to the simple fact that, until somewhat recently, Eckenrode’s 1912 index was the one and only practical way to access these records.

With a few exceptions (such as Volume I) these volumes may now physically be found in Record Group 48, Auditor of Public Accounts, Inventory Entries 34 and 45. Most of these volumes were once found entirely in APA 34, but some seem to have been recently moved to APA 45. The most notable example of this movement is volume XVIII, the grand dame of all of these volumes. To my knowledge the volumes currently span BOTH inventory entries.

The following is a reproduction of Eckenrode’s inventory, along with annotations of my own. Volumes with an
asterisk (*) are especially rich in payments to men for militia services. The first three volumes are transcribed in my Selected Virginia Revolutionary War Records, volume III. You will notice that the volumes are not strictly chronological. One reason is that there are volumes that deal with exceptional circumstances, such as volume IV, Accounts with the Illinois Department. The Library of Virginia, along with the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution, are to be warmly thanked by all researchers who care about Virginia’s Revolutionary War era records. This initiative will fill a glaring need, and will preserve these precious, precious volumes for many years to come!

Aud Account volume number – and description
I Accounts of the Committee of Safety from October 21, 1775 to July 5, 1776; 128 pages (misc reel 301; APA 211)
II Accounts from March 5 to July 23, 1779; 278 pages (indexed in Eckenrode as “Aud Acct
1779;” misc reel 149)
III Accounts from July 24, 1779 to March 4, 1780; 329 pages
IV Accounts with the Illinois dept. from January 5, 1778 to December 13, 1783; 124 pages
(APA 206A; Indexed in Eckenrode as “Aud Account Book 1778-1783 Ill. Dept”)
V* Accounts from March 6 to October 13, 1780; unpaginated (indexed in Eckenrode as Aud Acct “1780”); microfilmed
VI Accounts from May 11, 1780 to January 3, 1781; 566 pages
VII Accounts from October 16, 1780 to March 23, 1781; 328 pages
VIII* Accounts from March 24 to November 14, 1781; unpaginated (misc reel 150)
IX Accounts from August 30 to December 22, 1781; unpaginated
X Accounts from November 15, 1781 to October 31, 1782; 326 pages
XI Accounts from January 5 to November 7, 1782; unpaginated
XII Accounts from November 8, 1782 to February 10, 1783; 329 pages (misc reel 150)
XIII Accounts from January 5, 1782 to April 25, 1783; 662 pages
XIIIA Accounts from February 11 to April 17, 1783; 327 pages
XIV Accounts from April 25 to July 4, 1783; 334 pages
XV* Accounts from April 25 to October 29, 1783; 630 pages (misc reel 249)
XVI Accounts from July 4 to October 29, 1783; 329 pages
XVII Accounts from October 30, 1783 to January 23, 1784; 322 pages
XVIII* Accounts from October 30, 1783 to May 22, 1784; 701 pages
XIX Specie waste book, January 24 to March 22, 1784; 263 pages
XX Accounts from March 23 to May 22, 1784; 365 pages
XXI Accounts from May 24 to November 4, 1784; 556 pages
XXII* Accounts from May 24 to December 14, 1784; 646 pages
XXIII Accounts from November 5 to December 31, 1784; unpaginated
XXIV Accounts from December 15 to 31, 1784; 60 pages
XXV Accounts from January 1 to 31, 1785; 365 pages
XXVI Accounts from March 19 to May 10, 1785; 365 pages
XXVII Accounts from May 11 to October 10, 1785; 500 pages
XXVIIA Accounts from October 11 to December 31, 1785; 333 pages
XXVIII Accounts of Revolutionary pensioners, 1782 to 1785; 181 pages
XXIX Accounts from January 2 to February 8, 1786 XXX Accounts from February 9 to April 29, 1786; 328 pages
XXXI Accounts from January 2 to May 31, 1786; 368 pages
XXXII Accounts from January 20, 1784 to March 2, 1791; 250 pages

Library of Virginia, Record Group 48, Auditor of Public Accounts, Inventory Entry 139: General Contingent Fund, Accession 1081005 (23 feet, arranged chronologically by year).

The historical note for the General Contingent Fund, reproduced in the LVA online catalog, reads: “The term contingent fund encompasses a wide variety of funds set aside for special purposes by the General Assembly. Contingent expenses included those for office supplies, printing, and maintenance of public buildings.”

There are two basic points to be made with respect to the General Contingent Fund. First, the records encompass 23 feet (!) in the LVA collection, spanning the era from the Revolution to just before the outbreak of the Civil War. This makes it quite a large collection which, it should be underscored, is entirely unindexed. The collection begins in 1776 and the body of records relating to the Revolutionary era are all in the first box. These are the records with which we are concerned.

The second general point to be made about the General Contingent Fund is that, as the title implies, its contents are more than a little “random” in nature. As stated in the general note above, the contingent fund from the Revolutionary War years show expenses relating to “office supplies, printing, and maintenance of public buildings.” Indeed, there are many vouchers/certificates for payment issued to individuals for providing blank books for public offices; for supervising the printing of paper money; for cleaning the Capitol and government offices; etc. Ho-hum, right? Not so fast. The records from the Revolution go far beyond merely these kinds of expenses. There are a great many certificates for men who rode express, mostly for pressing issues related to the militia and mostly in the western counties. For example, on 1 Oct 1780, Col Walter Crockett certified that John Criger rode express “from my house” to Col William Preston’s on publick service fifty miles going and forty miles returning (in folder “1781”). If you’re looking for more drama than this, there are accounts to a handful of county jailers for men (who are named) jailed in their respective counties on charges of treason. The account of the jailer of Henry County shown below is the most spectacular of these accounts. These kinds of records are quite rare.

There are also a great many certificates issued to reimburse those who assisted public officials in the execution of their public duties, such as (1) those who furnished supplies to men removing the public records from Charlottesville to Staunton in advance of British troops; (2) those who furnished supplies to militiamen guarding the Surveyor running the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Virginia; etc.

Finally, there are items in the collection that simply defy categorization. We may cite the account of an 18 Dec 1780 court proceeding in James City County by which slave Matthew, belonging to Benjamin Bryan, was convicted on charges of burglary and sentenced to death by hanging (in folder “1783”). The best example of “randomness” that I can offer, by far, is the steamy poem written by some unknown Casanova to his beloved Phebe in file “1783.” These last two items are shown below, along with one of the many certificates in the collection signed by Thomas Jefferson. This collection is another box of chocolates among many boxes of chocolates in the Auditor of Public Accounts Record Group. While I have extracted some of the more interesting items from the Revolution from the General Contingent Fund in my blog index, the collection is begging for a thorough indexing. Without one, it will continue to be ignored and/or underutilized.

Library of Virginia, Record Group 48, Auditor of Public Accounts, Inventory Entry 640: Provision Law & Specific Tax (1 foot; files alphabetical by county)

Many of the records in APA 640 have their genesis in a May 1779 act laying a tax, payable in commodities (wheat, etc.), to provide for “armaments” for defense of Virginia (Hening, Statutes at Large, vol 10, 79-81). The act provided that “for every man above sixteen years old, and every woman slave of like age” one bushel of wheat, or two bushels of Indian corn, rye, or barley, or ten pecks of oats, or fifteen pounds of hemp, or twenty eight pounds of inspected tobacco were to be delivered to a commissary appointed to receive the same. The county courts were directed to appoint commissioners for the year 1779 and for each consecutive year thereafter for four years, and the act empowered these individuals with authority to fix the places and direct the commissaries where the commodities were to be received.

The implementation of this act did not go well. First, counties did not have timely notice of the act. Second, many of the individuals who were obliged to pay the tax could not do so because their commodities had already been impressed by military forces and they had nothing left to give. Third, men were away from home in the “frequent calls of the militia” and were thereby unable to bring in their commodities. Finally, the Commissioners appointed to execute the act were sluggish in the performance of their duties, or simply refused to act. After a series of remedial acts intended to correct these deficiencies (Hening, 292, 357, 404-5, 435), the situation did not appreciably improve and the Assembly started over with a completely new act in November 1781 (Hening, 490). There are significant differences between the 1779 specific tax act and the 1781 specific tax act. First, it should be underscored that the 1781 act makes no explicit reference to the defense of the Commonwealth. Second, the 1779 act was a “stand alone” act, whereas the 1781 act incorporated the specific tax concept into the payment of the poll tax. That is, the 1781 act allowed citizens to discharge the duties of the poll tax by payment in commodities or in money. Therefore, when we speak of “specific tax records,” it is very important to understand under which act the records fall: the 1779 act or the 1781 act.

While many files in APA 640 only contain bonds for the appointment of commissioners, many include long lists of individuals and in what commodities they paid. While the inventory title (Provision Law & Specific Tax) overstates the case, there are indeed some miscellaneous records related to the Provision Law of May 1780 (Hening’s, vol 1, 233-7). Let there be no confusion: the commodities impressed under the Provision Law are completely unrelated to the commodities supplied under the specific taxes. It is also very important to note that there are quite a few lists herein that relate not to the specific tax or the provision law, but to the personal property or land tax assessments under the so-called “revenue act” of 1782. The 1782 act simplified Virginia’s tax structure by reducing the tax burden from several convoluted assessments into a two fold structure: the personal property tax and the land tax. These miscellaneous personal property and land tax records should probably be somewhere else in the LVA collection, but they are not. They are lying here, neglected and unknown.

As such, it is fair to say that APA 640 is like a box of chocolates: you never know what you are going to get. You will need to pay close attention to headings and dates in these records. You will also need to have a working understanding of Virginia’s tax structure during the Revolution to correctly interpret these records. The best introduction to Virginia tax legislation during the war, to my knowledge, is Joan Peters, The Tax Man Cometh: Land and Property in Colonial Fauquier County, Virginia (Westminster, MD: Willow Bend Books, 1999). The following list is my rough inventory of all files in APA 640. Enjoy!

1. Albemarle County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
2. Amelia County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
3. Amherst County (Box 1759): Alphabetical list of balances due in the lower district of the county for the specific tax; 1780 account of tax laid on grain for the lower district.
4. Augusta County (Box 1759): List of vouchers to be taken by Capt Culbertson Feb 1779 [before the 1779 Specific Tax Act]; Alphabetical list of delinquents in the lower district of the 1st Battalion who have not paid specific tax 1782.
5. Bedford County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
6. Berkeley County (Box 1759): Lists of grain received at Worthington’s Mill for tax on enumerated articles 1781.
7. Botetourt County (Box 1759): Several lists of 1780 and 1781 specific tax.
8. Brunswick County (Box 1759): List of grain received, 1782; List of insolvents charged with specific tax, 1782.
9. Buckingham County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, letters, etc.; Short list of beef cattle collected but “not yet drove.”
10. Campbell County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
11. Caroline County (Box 1759): Lists of specific taxes collected 1780, 1781; Account of beef drivers for 1781. A good file.
12. Charles City (Box 1759): Account of delinquents for specific tax, 1781.
13. Charlotte County (Box 1759): List of grain tax insolvents, 1782.
14. Chesterfield County (Box 1759): List of specific taxes, 1780.
15. Culpeper County (Box 1759): List of specific taxes received, 1782.
16. Cumberland County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
17. Dinwiddie County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No Lists.
18. Elizabeth City County (Box 1759): List of those who had not paid specific tax, 1782.
19. Essex County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
20. Fairfax County (Box 1759): List of lots in Alexandria sold by the Escheator as British property; Narrative lists of individuals who furnished supplies on various occasions.
21. Fauquier County (Box 1759): List of specific tax delinquents, 1782.
22. Fluvanna County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
23. Frederick County (Box 1759): List of delinquent taxes for 1783 [not for specific tax]
24. Gloucester County (Box 1759): Receipts of commissioners, etc. No lists.
25. Goochland County (Box 1759): List of specific tax for 1781.
26. Greenbrier County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
27. Greensville County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
28. Halifax County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
29. Hampshire County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, general returns, etc. No lists.
30. Hanover County (Box 1759): Return of stray horses collected, 1781.
31. Henrico County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
32. Henry County (Box 1759): List of specific tax insolvents, 1782.
33. Isle of Wight County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
34. James City County (Box 1759): Specific tax lower part of county, 1782.
35. King & Queen County (Box 1759): List of money received for the “one eight percent tax.”
36. King George County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
37. King William County (Boxes 1759, 1761); Alphabetical account of grain, tobacco, etc. received for specific tax, 1780.
38. Lancaster County (Box 1759): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
39. Loudoun County (Box 1760): Undated list.
40. Louisa County (Boxes 1760, 1761): List of specific tax for 1780; Alphabetical account of grain received under the specific tax, 1781; List of specific tax insolvents for 1782. A good file.
41. Lunenburg County (Box 1760): Two lists of grain, 1781; one list of grain 1782.
42. Mecklenburg County (Boxes 1760, 1761): Brief accounts for specific taxes; Alphabetical return of grain taken under provision law, 1781.
43. Middlesex County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
44. Montgomery County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
45. Nansemond County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
46. New Kent County (Box 1760): Account of all taxes received in New Kent for 1783 [not specific tax]
47. Norfolk County (Box 1760): Letters, commissioner’s receipts, etc. No lists.
48. Northampton County (Box 1760): Undated scraps.
49. Northumberland County (Box 1760): Bonds, accounts of commissioners, etc. No lists.
50. Orange County (Box 1760): Bonds, receipts of commissioners, etc. No lists.
51. Pittsylvania County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
52. Powhatan County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
53. Prince Edward County (Box 1760): Bonds, receipts of commissioners, etc. No lists.
54. Prince George County (Box 1760): Specific tax list for Brumeton Parish, 1782.
55. Prince William County (Box 1760): Bonds, receipts of commissioners, etc. No lists.
56. Richmond County (Box 1760): Return of the classes laid off in Richmond County per act of May 1782.
57. Rockbridge County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, general returns, etc. No lists.
58. Rockingham County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
59. Shenandoah County (Box 1760): Lists of hemp collected agreeable to act for raising tax of 2 percent, 1781; 1783 return of the Sheriff for taxes [not specific tax] This is the largest file.
60. Southampton County (Box 1760): Oct 1780 account of brandy purchased by Commissioner; List of taxes due from Nottaway Parish, 1782 [not specific tax].
61. Spotsylvania County (Box 1760): Large specific tax booklet, 1782.
62. Stafford County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc. No lists.
63. Surry County (Box 1760): Incomplete assessment for 1783 [not specific tax]
64. Sussex County (Box 1760): Bonds of commissioners, etc.; No lists.
65. Warwick County (Box 1760): Lists of those who failed to pay specific tax, 1780; List of specific taxes received 1780; List of “revenue tax,” 1782. A good file.
66. Washington County (Box 1760): Scraps.
67. Westmoreland County (Boxes 1760, 1761): Alphabetical list arranged by parish of specific taxes collected, 1780; Account of surplus beef, 1781.
68. Williamsburg city (Box 1761): Alphabetical account of the “land tax,” 1782, two lists.
69. York County (Box 1760): Two lists of taxes paid under “revenue act” 1782.

Militia Lists in APA 225, Library of Virginia

Library of Virginia, Record Group 48, Auditor of Public Accounts, Inventory Entry 225, “Militia Lists 1779-1782” contains two inches of militia muster rolls or “lists” submitted by militia officers to Virginia’s Auditors for payment. The inventory entry (Salmon and Kolbe, Auditor of Public Accounts Inventory [Richmond: Virginia State Library, 1992], 51) reads

This series consists of a collection of revolutionary war militia lists. Although most of
the lists record the names of the men in the militia and their pay, the lists for Henry and
Loudoun counties also record the soldiers’ occupations, heights, and places of residence.
Lists are included for the following counties: Albemarle, Amelia, Amherst, Essex,
Fauquier, Frederick, Gloucester, Henry, King George, Loudoun, New Kent, Prince
William, Rockbridge, Rockingham, Shenandoah, Washington and Westmoreland.

A few remarks are in order regarding these lists. First, these are not the only militia lists and muster rolls in LVA…there are others scattered in various locations throughout the collection. Second, it is important to note that there are notations on some of these lists indicating that they were not honored or paid by the Commonwealth. Any number of explanations may be offered for this: the men were not entitled to pay; they had been paid for the services on a previous occasion; etc. Third, a select few of the lists, as noted in the inventory entry, are “size rolls” of sorts, which give physical descriptions of each soldier. Fourth, while most of these lists were for services in the expeditionary militia, there are exceptions, the most notable being a 1782 New Kent County class list of 482 individuals, which does not prove active militia duty.

Many of these lists have been abstracted and/or transcribed, particularly in the Magazine of Virginia Genealogy. Susan Chiarello, in particular, is to be commended for her recent transcriptions of these records. A small few remain untranscribed, such as the New Kent County class list mentioned above. The following is my inventory of all records in the file:

1. Albemarle County-Capt B. Harris’ company 19 Sept 1781
2. Amelia County-Capt Edwd. Munford’s company march’d to Cabin Point 1781
3. Amherst County (two)-Capt Azariah Martin’s company June -Sept 1780; Capt William Tucker’s company Jan-March 1781. Both published in Sweeny, “Amherst Co in the Rev.”
4. Caroline County- Capt Edmd. Jones’s Company 29 April 1781
5. Essex County-Militia ordered out 4 Sept 1781 under Col Smith
6. Fauquier County (two)-Capt John Ball’s company July -Sept 1781; Capt William Triplett’s company 1781
7. Frederick County (two)-Capt Samuel Glass’s company against the tories in Hampshire County, no date; Col David Kennedy’s Batt. guarding prisoners at Winchester 1781
8. Gloucester County (two)-Capt Billups’ company on duty during the invasion, Aug-Oct 1781; Capt Thomas Baytop’s company May-June 1781
9. Henry County (three)-List of recruits raised under Act of Assembly Oct 1781 [a size roll]; Capt Daniel Carlin’s company July -Sept 1779; Capt Daniel Carlin’s company Feb-March 1781
10. King George County-List of recruits 1781
11. Loudoun County (three)-Capt Henry McCabe’s company May-July 1781; Capt Samuel A. Noland’s company 1782; Recruits raised by Act of Assembly Oct 1780 [a size roll]
12. New Kent County-Class List made by the field officers for New Kent Aug 1782 [class list of 428 individuals]
13. Prince William County-List of recruits 1781
14. Rockbridge County-Capt James Gilmore’s company under Gen. Morgan in SC 1780
15. Rockingham County (two)-Capt George Baxter’s company guarding British prisoners at Winchester Feb-March 1782; List of recruits 1781
16. Shenandoah County (three)-Capt Linefield Sharpe’s company Aug-Oct 1781; List of men drafted or enlisted 19 March 1781 agreeable to Act of Assembly; List of men from whom money received for recruiting soldiers 24 June 1782
17. Washington County (four)- Capt James Dysart’s company of light horse in service in NC 1781; Lt Reece Bowen’s company on expedition to King’s Mountain 1781; Capt David Beatie’s company on expedition to King’s Mountain 1781; Ensign Robert McFarland’s militia patroling on the frontier Oct 1780
18. Westmoreland County (two)-List of recruits 1780; Account of Commissioners to raise troops 1781

Please do not request that I add your ancestor to this index.

Please note that I make no grandiose claims to the “completeness” or “exhaustiveness” of this index. It is a work in progress and will never be completed.

Please note that this blog is not endorsed or sponsored by the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution. All opinions expressed herein are mine and mine, alone.

Welcome to my little project! I have many motivations for maintaining this site. However, I am first and foremost interested in those men who took up arms in defense of Virginia during the Revolutionary War. Some of you may (or may not) be aware that there is no comprehensive index, published in traditional codex form or otherwise, of Virginia’s military men in the Revolution. I may mention two authors that attempted to present a comprehensive listing of Virginia’s Revolutionary War soldiers but, in spite of their magnificent efforts, fell short of this goal. The first, and by far the most important, is Hamilton J. Eckenrode’s List of the Revolutionary Soldiers of Virginia: Special Report of the Department of Archives and History for 1912, reprinted in 1989 by the Virginia State Library as Virginia Soldiers of the American Revolution. One of the major problems with using Eckenrode’s work is that, particularly with respect to militia service based on sources in the Virginia State Archives (now Library of Virginia), his references were 1912 references that are difficult to correlate with their 21st century designations. I intend to clarify and “update” these sources to which Eckenrode was referring in his index. At the risk of insulting your intelligence, I will also underscore that Eckenrode’s index is an index and, because names have been removed from their context, many modern researchers have attributed military service to one man in a particular part of Virginia when the service actually belonged to another man of same or similar name in a completely different part of the state. I hope to rectify this problem by describing the context in which each of these men appears in the given sources. The second major index with which researchers may be familiar is John H. Gwathmey, Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution (Richmond: Dietz Press, 1938). Gwathmey relied quite heavily on Eckenrode for his materials, but his major contribution was his extracts of the appointment of militia officers from the county court order books.

My second major motivation for maintaining this site is my love for the collections of the Library of Virginia, which contains the most comprehensive archival holdings with respect to Virginians in the Revolutionary War era. Very few, and I do mean very few, people are competently aware of the massive manuscript collections held by LVA relating to the Revolution that are held in textual form only and, furthermore, that are completely unindexed. This site is a meager effort to identify at least some of the individuals who are “buried” in these manuscript collections. My conviction in the importance of the forgotten Revolutionary War era records in LVA is so strong that it forces me to expand the present index to non-soldiers. You may safely assume that some of the individuals mentioned herein are recorded on a singular unindexed record that exists in textual form only in LVA. You will not find these records at ancestry.com or familysearch.org, or anywhere else for that matter. Perhaps it is appropriate for me to state that this site is not sponsored by LVA, nor is any part of it endorsed by the Library or any of its wonderful employees.

You will find that I will cite a wide breadth of sources herein: sources from the National Archives; sources from the Library of Virginia; county level sources such as the county court order books, which are grossly underutilized by most researchers; and etc. You will also find, pleasantly I hope, that I have made a special effort to include herein references to women, African Americans and those who were marginalized by 18th century society. Some of you, perhaps less pleasantly, will notice that I do not shy from including “tories,” but I feel that the actions of these individuals contribute to a more complete and realistic telling of the Revolutionary War story. Therefore, I will not ignore them. This is probably a good place to state that I am uninterested in performing psychoanalysis on any of the personalities indexed on this site. I am interested in providing a summary of the historical record and will leave cause and effect arguments to others.

Speaking of cause and effect, this site is primarily “geared” towards genealogists. However, if some historians find material herein to be helpful to their research, I will not object.