Return to Currituck Co.

    These Currituck County excerpts come from the Adjutant-General's roster of North Carolina's confederate militia roster following the September, 1861 re-organization of the state's militia.  The source for this work is the Adjutant-General's Militia Officer Roster (AG 129) which is housed in the Department of Archives and History, Raleigh, N.C.
    Each county was early divided into militia districts, a militia captain in each district.  These districts appear to have been conveniences for the tax collector, because the tax rolls are listed accordingly.  These, however, tended to pass away with the changes in population.  Militia had become of little service to the state by 1861 and militia drills had become an excuse for social interaction and conviviality.  It appears that no one took seriously the age-old function of the militia--to protect the homeland in case of invasion.
    From the time of Lincoln's election in 1860 to the firing on Fort Sumter in April 1861, the North Carolina legislature accomplished little in the way of bolstering the militia.  They worked at it; the consequence was they made the situation worse, even for a few weeks leaving the state without an Adjutant-General.  In the meantime, without copies of the law relating to the militia, and without report forms to return, even those localities which did have militia units did not know what to do.  It was not until September 1861, some 10 months after Lincoln's election, that the legislature effected the law which shaped the North Carolina militia during the rest of the war.
    In September, 1861, the North Carolina legislature passed a new "Militia Bill".  This act divided the state into 28 brigades and 116 regiments.  The brigades were clustered by counties and the regiments were, for the most part, by areas within individual counties.  Currituck, Camden, Perquimans and Pasquotank counties were the 1^st Brigade and Currituck County was the 1^st regiment of that brigade.
    The bill spelled out in great detail all phases of militia organization, responsibilities and duties.  The bill went on to specify the kinds of officers and the types of militia units and the penalties for failure to comply with the law.  Certain categories were exempt from militia duty such as: certain government personnel, county sheriffs, necessary railroad employees, telegraph operators, custom house officers, postmasters, stage drivers, mail carriers, millers of public mills, branch pilots and mariners of the Confederate states; but all were liable for military duty "...in case of invasion or insurrection in this State."  Physicians were exempted from fines for not attending drill if they stated it was necessary to be elsewhere.  The law made a provision for conscientious objection.  Free Negroes were not permitted to serve except as musicians or cooks and washers.  Militia officers were to be elected by the respective militia units.  Many of these men in militia units also served in the North Carolina Troops.
    Instead of adding another column for comments, I just put the few comments there were in blue text.  The names are in order in which they appear in the original record.

© 2005  Kay Midgett Sheppard