The Militia of Washington County, Virginia 1777-1835 (Paperback) (ISBN-13: 9780788477935)

The Militia of Washington County, Virginia 1777-1835 is one of those unique items that comes along. The information was gathered over thirty years by Gerald H. Clark. He spent many days at a time in the Virginia State Archives going through about 150 boxes of unfiled papers to find those few sheets that pertained to Washington County. This collection of materials is found in the Auditor's group of papers and were "fines" lists sent in from time to time by each local County Sheriff. These fines were collected when a man did not report for the muster call of the Militia Units across the state. To better understand the situation, one has to have a grasp of the Militia system as it was the standard form of military service during the development time of the nation. Each County had at least one unit divided into companies. The officers of each company were appointed by the County Court and their records are often found in the County Court Minutes. Then the unit is made up of all the men in the boundaries of the company. Every man between 16 and 45 years of age was expected for the six muster calls each year. Four of these were for the company, one for the Regiment and one for the Battalion. When a man missed one of these meetings, he was fined. The Sheriff collected the fines and reported these to the Auditors of the State. During a person's life, the chances of missing at least one or more of the meetings was high, therefore, this listing is better than a tax list or census records as it covers a longer period of time and more detailed. Following are two different indices: one for the Officers and the other is for all of the other men.