Query IX

The number and condition of the Militia and Regular Troops, and their Pay?

The following is a state of the militia, taken from returns of 1780 and 1781, except in those counties marked with an asterisk, the returns from which are somewhat older.

Every able-bodied freeman, between the ages of sixteen and fifty, is enrolled in the militia. Those of every county are formed into companies, and these again into one or more battalions, according to the numbers in the county. They are commanded by colonels, and other subordinate officers, as in the regular service. In every county is a county-lieutenant, who commands the whole militia of his county, but ranks only as a colonel in the field. We have no general officers always existing. These are appointed occasionally, when an invasion or insurrection happens, and their commission determines with the occasion. The governor is head of the military, as well as civil power. The law requires every militia-man to provide himself with the arms usual in the regular service. But this injunction was always indifferently complied with, and the arms they had, have been so frequently called for to arm the regulars, that in the lower parts of the country they are entirely disarmed. In the middle country a fourth or fifth part of them may have such firelocks as they had provided to destroy the noxious animals which infest their farms; and on the western side of the Blue ridge they are generally armed with rifles. The pay of our militia, as well as of our regulars, is that of the continental regulars. The condition of our regulars, of whom we have none but continentals, and part of a battalion of state troops, is so constantly on the change, that a state of it at this day would not be its state a month hence. It is much the same with the condition of the other continental troops, which is well enough known.

Situation. Counties. Militia.

Westward of the Alleghany 4,458. Lincoln 600

Jefferson 300

Fayette 156

Ohio ..

Monongalia *1,000

Washington *829

Montgomery 1,071

Greenbriar 502

Between the Alleghany and Blue Ridge. 7,673. Hampshire 930

Berkeley *1,100

Frederick 1,143

Shenando *925

Rockingham 875

Augusta 1,375

Rockbridge *625

Boutetourt *700

Between the Blue Ridge and Tide Waters. 18,828. Loudoun 1,746

Faquier 1,078

Culpepper 1,513

Spotsylvania 480

Orange *600

Louisa 603

Goochland *550

Fluvanna *296

Albemarle 873

Amherst 896

Buckingham *625

Bedford 1,300

Henry 1,004

Pittsylvania *725

Halifax *1,139

Charlotte 612

Prince Edward 589

Cumberland 408

Powhatan 330

Amelia *1,125

Lunenburg 677

Mecklenburg 1,100

Brunswick 559

On the Tide Waters, and in that Parallel. 19,012. Between James River and Carolina. 6,959. Greensville 500

Dinwiddie *750

Chesterfield 665

Prince George 328

Surrey 380

Sussex *700

Southampton 874

Isle of White *600

Nansemond *644

Norfolk *880

Prince Anne *594

Between James & York rivers. 3,009. Henrico 619

Hanover 706

New Kent *418

Charles City 286

James City 235

Williamsburgh 129

York *244

Warwick *100

Elizabeth City 182

Bet. York & Rappahannock. 3,269. Caroline 805

King William 436

King and Queen 500

Essex 468

Middlesex *210

Gloucester 850

Betw'n Rappahannock and Powtomac. 4,137. Fairfax 652

Prince William 614

Stafford *500

King George 483

Richmond 412

Westmoreland 544

Northumberland 630

Lancaster 332

East'n Shore. 1,638. Accomac *1,208

Northampton *430

Whole Militia of the State 49,971