A Guide to the Cumberland County (Va.) Military and Pension Records, 1757-1912 Cumberland County (Va.) Military and Pension Records, 1757-1912 1156174

A Guide to the Cumberland County (Va.) Military and Pension Records, 1757-1912

A Collection in
the Library of Virginia
Barcode number: 1156174


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© 2009 By The Library of Virginia. All Rights Reserved.

Processed by: Sarah Nerney

Repository
The Library of Virginia
Barcode number
1156174
Title
Cumberland County (Va.) Military and Pension Records, 1757-1912
Physical Characteristics
.45 cu. ft. (1 box)
Collector
Cumberland County (Va.) Circuit Court.
Location
Library of Virginia
Language
English

Administrative Information

Access Restrictions

There are no restrictions.

Use Restrictions

For Order Book for 1st Brigade of Virginia Militia (1814 Sept. 11-1814 Oct. 26) and Muster Rolls and Payrolls of Captain Allan Wilson's Company of Cumberland County Militia, 1st and 17th Regiments (1814 Aug. 9-1815 May 24), use Cumberland County (Va.) Reel 90. For Record Book of the Cumberland Troop of Dragoons (1857 Jan. 26-1862 Mar. 28) and Record Book of the Cumberland Troop Association (1889-1912), use Cumberland County (Va.) Reel 91.

Preferred Citation

Cumberland County (Va.) Military and Pension Records, 1757-1912. Local government records collection, Cumberland County Court Records. The Library of Virginia, Richmond, Va. 23219.

Acquisition Information

These items came to the Library of Virginia in shipments of court papers from Cumberland County. The volumes came to the Library of Virginia under the accession number 25085.

A donation to the Library of Virginia's Adopt Virginia's History program from Neil Hening, in memory of William Waller Hening, Deputy Adjutant General for Virginia during the War of 1812, has funded the conservation of the Muster Rolls and Payrolls of Captain Allen Wilson's Company of Cumberland County Militia.

A donation to the Library of Virginia's Adopt Virginia's History program from the Friends of the Virginia State Archives, June 2014, in honor of Peter Broadbent for his chairmanship of the Library of Virginia Board, has funded the conservation of the Order Book for 1st Brigade of Virginia Militia (1814 Sept. 11-1814 Oct. 26).

Historical Information

Culpeper County probably was name for Catherine Culpeper, or for her mother, Margaret Lady Culpeper, or for Thomas Culpeper, second baron Culpeper of Thoresway, governor of Virginia from 1677 to 1683, or for their family, which long held proprietary right in the Northern Neck. It was formed from Orange County in 1749.

Scope and Content

Cumberland County (Va.) Military and Pension Records, 1757-1912, consist of loose papers and four volumes. Loose papers cover the areas of county militia (1757-1857), militia muster fines (1852-1855), pensions (1777-1854), revolutionary war issues (1780-1784), and civil war issues (1861-1876 circa). Volumes include the Order Book for 1st Brigade of Virginia Militia (1814 Sept. 11-1814 Oct. 26), Muster Rolls and Payrolls of Captain Allan Wilson's Company of Cumberland County Militia, 1st and 17th Regiments (1814 Aug. 9-1815 May 24), Record Book of the Cumberland Troop of Dragoons (1857 Jan. 26-1862 Mar. 28), and the Record Book of the Cumberland Troop Association (1889-1912).

County militia papers (1757-1857) include militia commissions, appointments and resignations, militia oaths, an enlistment order to the United States Army, orders to summon magistrates to fill vacancies in the militia and militia officers, and an 1857 list of all persons between the age of 18 and 45 liable to be enrolled in the militia by the laws of the United States.

Militia fines papers (1852-1855) consist of lists of persons owing muster fines and slips detailing the fines for individual people. Some of the lists appear to be of persons owing muster fines who are insolvent.

Pension papers (1777-1854) include mostly pension certificates and claims for Revolutionary War federal pensions. Most certificates include regiment, commanding officer names, and other details about wartime service. Some certificates also contain details about property the applicant currently owns and debts owed as a way of proving current income. Several documents relate to the widows of soldiers. A 1853 order relates to bounty land, and an 1854 order concerns the widow of a soldier who was certified to have died in service in 1813.

Revolutionary War issues papers (1780-1784) mostly consist of receipts and orders concerning clothing and provisions for the army. There are several documents dated 1781 detailing property lost to depredations by the British, including a list of slaves.

Civil War issues papers (1861-1876 circa) include receipts for arming the county militia and other provisions provided including bacon and salt and lists of indigent soldiers and families which include names and amounts of provisions furnished. There are also various accounts of county bonds and amounts levied, a printed act of 1876 about artificial limbs, and a partial application of Stephen Huddleston for an artificial limb.

Order Book for 1st Brigade of Virginia Militia (1814 Sept. 11-1814 Oct. 26) is a volume that details brigade and general orders and includes information about patrols, drills, guard details, troop discharges, officer appointments and retirements, orders to furnish various reports usually on supplies, and orders for various persons to report to various people and places. Other information recorded includes details of regimental courts convened for court martials for various offenses including insubordination, cursing an officer, striking another soldier with a sword, taking men into battle unarmed, sleeping on watch, being absent without leave, and being drunk while in command. Sentences and punishments are recorded for the court martials.

Muster Rolls and Payrolls of Captain Allan Wilson's Company of Cumberland County Militia, 1st and 17th Regiments (1814 Aug. 9-1815 May 24) is a volume that lists muster rolls, morning reports, weekly reports, provision returns, inspection returns, pay rolls, duty rosters, and supply reports. Muster rolls include name, rank, commission date, and notations as to substitutes provided, illness, discharge, desertion, and other remarks. Morning and weekly reports of troops include numbers of troops under arms, sick, on furlough, dead, deserted, absent without leave, absents accounted for, and totals. Pay rolls include name, rank, date of commencement of pay, date of end of pay, fines paid for, pay per month, amount received, signers name, witnesses, and other remarks such as not to be paid because of desertion, payment to be made to another, and so on. Reports of arms, accoutrements and ammunition provide numbers at hand for things such as swords, bayonets, muskets, steel rods, cartridge boxes, scabbards and belts, wires and brushes, drums, fifes, flints, cartridges, worms, tin buckets, tin pans, spades, tends, screw drivers, axes, tables, cots, seats, pots, and so on. Provision returns detail the number of rations given out to various ranks of soldier. Subsistence accounts include the length of time and number of rations of tobacco and and the price. Other pages note supplies received (such as arms, whiskey, and quires of paper and ink), certifications of substitutes, and requisitions of hay. The final six pages of the volume relate to estate settlements (1815-1816) and do not appear to be related to the militia returns preceding it.

Record Book of the Cumberland Troop of Dragoons (1857 Jan. 26-1862 Mar. 28) is a volume that contains administrative information and a record of active service of the Cumberland Troop of Dragoons (also referred to as the Cumberland Troop, the Cumberland Light Dragoons, and the Cumberland Light Horse Cavalry) in the Civil War from May 1861 to March 1862. The administrative information includes the organizing constitution and bylaws, a revision of the constitution, list of organizing members, and minutes from January 1857-January 1861. Minutes concern appointment and election of officers, uniforms, fines for absences, resignations and substitutions of members, the motto of the troop, notes about drills and parades, and mention of a marksmanship competition and a picnic organized by the ladies. The meeting notes titled "Remarks" and dated January and February 1861 are a statement about the coming war. The record of active service provides details about troop movements and locations, actions of the enemy, commanding officers, orders received, patrols and watches, and election of officers and resignations.

Record Book of the Cumberland Troop Association (1889-1912) is a volume containing rolls and minutes. The first part of the volume is a roll book that lists all members of the Troop from 1861 May 1-1865 Apr. 9, including list of the dead from 1861-1892 with some additional later deaths noted at the end of the list. Notations next to the roll of members mark later death dates. Page 10 contains a list of honorary members of the troop. Page 193 is a list of honorary members who are sons of members of the Troop. Pages 184-185 is a roster of daughters of Confederate veterans of Cumberland County. Pages 11-104 are minutes of annual reunions held by the Cumberland Troop Association and describe dinners and speeches held by the veterans as well as efforts to build a monument to their dead comrades. Deaths since the last meeting are usually noted. Lists are occasionally included giving names of subscribers to the monument committee, living members, and deceased members. Pages 150-153 are copies of letters dated 1897 to and from General Fitzhugh Lee on the subject of the activities of the New Kent and Cumberland Troop near Spotsylvania Courthouse in 1864. Several loose documents were inserted at the end of the volume including an undated list of the names and addresses of Cumberland troopers living outside of the county, a rough draft of the 1910 meeting minutes, a letter dated 1912 from T. M. Fowler expressing his regrets at not being able to attend the reunion that year, and some undated minutes or notes.

Index Terms

    Persons:

  • Lee, Fitzhugh, 1835-1905.
  • Corporate Names:

  • Culpeper County (Va.). Circuit Court.
  • Subjects:

  • Courts-martial and courts of inquiry -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Families of military personnel -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Fines (Penalties) -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Military pensions -- United States.
  • Military supplies -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Slaves -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Soldiers -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Geographical Names:

  • Cumberland County (Va.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.
  • Cumberland County (Va.) -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783.
  • Cumberland County (Va.) -- History -- War of 1812.
  • Genre and Form Terms:

  • Lists -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Local government records -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Military records -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Minutes -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Muster rolls -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Orders (military records) -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Reports -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Rosters -- Virginia -- Cumberland County.
  • Added Entry - Corporate Name:

  • Confederate States of America. Army. Virginia Cavalry Regiment, 3rd. Company G.
  • Confederate States of America. Army. Virginia Cavalry Regiment, 3rd. Cumberland Light Dragoons.
  • Confederate States of America. Army. Virginia Cavalry Regiment, 3rd. Cumberland Troop.
  • Virginia. Militia. Regiment, 17th.
  • Virginia. Militia. Regiment, 1st.

Significant Places Associated With the Collection

  • Cumberland County (Va.) -- History -- Civil War, 1861-1865.
  • Cumberland County (Va.) -- History -- Revolution, 1775-1783.
  • Cumberland County (Va.) -- History -- War of 1812.