ORGANIZATION and ADMINISTRATION of the M IL ITIA SYSTEM OF'colonial VIRGINIA. the American Un
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
64- 12,797 ALDRIDGE, Frederick Stokes, 1916- ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE MILITIA SYSTEM OF'COLONIAL VIRGINIA. The American University, Ph.D.,, 1964 History, modern University Microfilms, Inc., Ann Arbor, Michigan Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. Copyright by Fredcriok Stokes Aldridge 1965 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE MILITIA SYSTEM OF COLONIAL VIRGINIA by Frederick Stokes Aldridge Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of The American University in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in History Signatures of Committee: . Chairman: Graduate Dean:-y/^^y , C - Di April 1964 -neiT A^CRiCAlM uNlVtRSll "■ The American University LIBRARY Washington, D. C. JUL311964 WASHINGTON. D. f % 0 cl£ Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. PREFACE The information for this paper was gathered largely from the material held by the Research Library of Colonial Williamsburg and the Sargeant Room Collection of the Norfolk Public Library. I am highly appreciative of the co operation of the Director of Research of Colonial Williamsburg, Dr. Edward M. Riley, and his assistant, Mr. John Selby, who established the need for work* on the militia and who provided ready access to the material in the Research Library. For several years Dr. Arthur A. Ekirch has been a source of guidance and encouragement to me, and it was he who originally suggested that I investigate the Virginia militia as a subject for study. Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. INTRODUCTION ......................... ..... 1 Problem. .......... 1 Statement of the Problem .................. 1 Importance of the Subject. .............. 1 Review of Sources........................... .. 3 British Organization for Colonial Affairs. 10 British Militia Tradition. .............. 13 II. MILITARY SYSTEMS IN THE SOUTHERN COLONIES. 2 3 Militia of Neighboring Colonies............ 23 South Carolina ............................ 23 North Carolina ............................ 24 Maryland .................................25 Concepts of Defense.......................... 27 Defense under the Virginia Comnany ......... 30 The Beginnings of the Militia........... 35 III. SEVENTEENTH CENTURY MILITIA................... 41 Organization for Defense until 1646...... 41 Service in the Militia ..... .'........48 Liability for Service......................48 Enforcement of Militia Regulations .... 52 The Costs of War . ‘................ 53 Para-Militia Organization................ 56 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. XV CHAPTER . PAGE Militia under the Commonwealth.............. 5 8 Bacon’s Rebellion. ........................ 6 3 /' Militia Organization, 1660-1676 ......... 63 The Rebellion .............................. 7 0 Culmination of the Seventeenth Century Militia 7 8 New Forms for D e f e n s e .................... 7 8 A The Intercontinental Threat .............. 8 3 The Century Summarized. .............. 8 7 IV. THE FIRST HALF OF THE EIGHTEENTH CENTURY. 100 The Militia under Nicholson ........ 100 Governor Spotswood........................... 106 The Era of Good Feeling ............. Ill The Militia and S l a v e r y ............. 115 Exemptions from Militia Duty. ........... 122 Virginia Forces Outside the Colony. 124 The Readiness of the Militia, circa 1750. 130 .. V. PERIOD OF THE FRENCH AND INDIAN W A R ......... 13 3 Dinwiddie and the Militia . .............. 13 3 The Militia System— 17 5 5 ......... 147 Wartime Efforts to Improve the Militia. 153 The Post War Militia......................... 18 2 VI. DEVELOPMENTS IN THE ORGANIZATION AND ADMINISTRATION OF THE M I L I T I A .............. 19 0 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. V CHAPTER PAGE Organization 19 0 Administration ........................... ....199 Military Justice ................................ 200 Medical and R e l i g i o n ..........................204 Impressment.....207 L o g i s t i c s .................................. , , 210 Financing the Militia......................... .. 214 Compliance with Acts and Orders.................217 Military Cooperation between Colonies..........224 VII. CONCLUSION......................................... 229 Factors Affecting Effectiveness of the Militia . 230 Concept of Defense .................. ...... 230 The Internal Security of the M i l i t i a ....... 231 Class Structure.............. 233 The Effectiveness of the Virginia Militia. 238 BIBLIOGRAPHY ................................ 247 Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION I. PROBLEM Statement of the Problem. This paper will as its major objective trace the organizational structure and administration of the Virginia militia during the colonial period until 177 5. The study will also seek to determine the effect of certain factors on the efficiency of the militia — factors sudh as the social structure of the colonies, the concept of defense, and the mission of.the militia to provide for internal security. Conclusions will be sought on whether the Virginia Militia was organized and administered to accomplish its mission - the defense of the colony against its enemies. Importance of the Subject. Traditionally the United fofl s States /subscribed to the concept of the "citizen in arms," who in time of national emergency would defend the nation. Only before World War II was a system of conscription adopted before war actually began. During most of our national history it was assumed that a small standing army would be augmented in time of war by larger forces of "volunteers", national guard, militia,, or the like, to carry the major burden. This study will.not seek to evaluate what has been Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. right or wrong with this national approach, but, rather, will study our colonial history when the "militia solution" was developing. In fact, the militia tradition goes back even further, to the British organizations of the Anglo- Saxon period. The English colonists brought tradition and ideas on organization to the new world and these were little diluted in Virginia's formative years by large influxes of other nationalities and particularized religious views— a uniqueness ^further protected by geography. The Virginia colonial militia is thus a relatively pure example of the militia tradition and organization that has remained a factor in our national life. A study of the Virginia militia system is essentially that of its organization and administration. This paper will confine itself to these areas and will not attempt a discussion of the tactics of the militia nor of its organization on the battlefield. Detailed information on the colonial militia has been gathered in the specific field of equipment and drill, inasmuch as Colonial Williamsburg has had need for this information in reconstructing the details of life in the Virginia colonial capital. Information on organization and administration of the militia is available in the laws and other records of the period, but has not been gathered in one place with vthe object of tracing its development. Philip Bruce in his organizational history of Virginia discussed Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. problems of defense during the seventeenth ceijtury, but his treatment was not in terms of the development of the militia during the entire colonial period. This paper will draw its information primarily from the basic laws of the Colony, Acts of Assembly as supple mented by decisions and orders •of the governor and Council. Reaction to the militia system can be determined by review of the material written at the time, particularly letters. Following a discussion of sources, the paper will review the English government, particularly as^it applied to the New World, and its militia system. The militia systems of Virginia’s neighbors and the Colony’s system of defense under the Virginia Company will then be described. For the body of the paper a chronological approach generally will be pursued in portraying the organization and adminis- tracion of the militia from Virginia's beginning as a royal colony until 1775. The study will summarize major aspects of the militia, such as organization of units and military justice ,and conclusions will be sought on the combat efficiency of the militia. II. REVIEW OF SOURCES ' Finding aids are led by E. G. Swem's Virginia Historical Index, a guide to the material in Hening's Statutes, and five other sources, the most productive of these others being the Virginia Magazine of History and Biography. The guide to Reproduced with permission of the copyright owner. Further reproduction prohibited without permission. British held sources is Charles M. Andrews’ Guide to the Materials for American History to 1783 in the Public Record Office of Great Britain. Andrews’ work is valuable as its indexing system is followed in part for transcripts and microfilms of the British material held in the United