Page:Notes on the State of Virginia (1802).djvu/134



HE 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 is ſomewhat older. Every able bodied freeman, between the ages of 16 and 50 is enrolled in the militia. Thoſe of every county are formed into companies, and theſe again into one or more battalions, according to the number 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 occaiſion. 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