Bertie County NcArchives Military Records.....Colonia, Militia 1722-1775 
Other War 
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Gerald Thomas gerald_thomas00@comcast.net April 9, 2018, 10:14 am

Colonial Militia - Bertie Co


BERTIE COUNTY’S

COLONIAL MILITIA

by

Gerald W. Thomas

2018

 

 

Introductory comments: Two of England’s legacies for the American colonists were
a fear of standing armies and a reliance upon the citizens as soldiers (i.e.,
militia) for defense and security. In colonial America each able-bodied freeman
was considered a soldier to be called to duty in times of crisis, rebellion, or
invasion. The leaders of each British colony were responsible for instituting
defensive measures. North Carolina leaders legislated the formation of militia
regiments commanded by appointed colonels in each precinct (subsequently
county). Regiments were comprised of companies (commanded by captains) which
were formed in districts delineated by local officials. Potential militia
service was an acknowledged aspect of life in colonial North Carolina.

The author’s intent in preparing this paper was to present a history of Bertie
County’s militia regiment during its colonial era (1722-1775) and a putative
roster of members of the regiment. However, the author quickly found that a
meager few military records exist for the Bertie regiment during the cited
timeframe. North Carolina’s published colonial records contain only three
documents providing limited information on the regiment. In addition, a return
for the regiment during the 1760s identifies twenty-nine officers and a 1770
record provides the names of five men who were appointed officers. No company
muster rolls which would list members (officers, non-commissioned officers, and
rank and file soldiers) of the Bertie regiment exist. Therefore, the author
researched non-military records, including general assembly minutes, county
court minutes, wills, and estate files, to identify individuals who served as
regimental officers. Using such sources, the author prepared the following
history and roster of the Bertie County militia regiment from the formation of
the precinct to the start of the Revolutionary War.

 

*****

 

On October 2, 1722, the North Carolina colonial assembly convened at Queen
Anne’s Creek in Edenton, Chowan Precinct. Twenty individuals from seven
precincts (Beaufort, Chowan, Craven, Currituck, Hyde, Pasquotank, and
Perquimans) comprised the assembly’s membership. During the eighteen-day
session, the assemblymen concluded that the part of Chowan Precinct lying to the
west of Chowan River was sufficiently inhabited to warrant the formation of a
distinct and separate governmental unit. Thus, the assemblymen passed an act
that formed Bertie Precinct and defined the new precinct’s eastern boundary as
the Chowan River; the northern, as the North Carolina-Virginia border; the
southern, as Albemarle Sound and the Moratock River (present-day Roanoke River),
including both sides of the river and its tributaries; and the western as
extending “as far as the limits” of the government. The region encompassed by
Bertie Precinct was immense—covering areas wholly or partly included in the
present-day counties of Edgecombe, Halifax, Hertford, Martin, Northampton, and
Tyrrell.1

When Bertie Precinct was formed, the colony of North Carolina was under the
control of descendants of the eight Lords Proprietor. In March 1663 King Charles
II had granted a charter to eight influential Englishmen who had assisted him in
regaining the throne of England. The territory in American which was granted to
the group was immense, essentially encompassing the geographical area included
today in North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Tennessee,
Mississippi, and parts of Florida and Louisiana. The territory was to be known
as “Carolina,” in honor of Charles I. From 1692 to 1712 the colonies of North
Carolina and South Carolina existed as one unit of government, under the overall
leadership of the Governor of Carolina and a deputy governor. Throughout this
two-decade period, North Carolina had its own assembly and council. North
Carolina and South Carolina became distinct colonies in 1712, each with an
appointed governor and council.2

The Lords Proprietors’ (and subsequently their descendants), in exercising
control over the governmental affairs of North Carolina, commissioned colonial
officials and granted certain authorities to the governor and his council.
Defense and security of the colony was predicated on the organization of militia
units within the precincts. Consequently, Bertie’s appointed leaders were
responsible for organizing the freemen within their jurisdiction into a military
unit.3 Precedent for organizing “citizen soldiers” dated back almost six decades
to the founding of the province.

The 1663 charter from Charles II to the Lords Proprietor stipulated that the
Lords Proprietors appoint military officers within the province. The king also
granted the proprietors authority to build fortifications as they deemed
necessary and to furnish arms, munitions, and habiliments of war for the safety
and welfare of the province. An agreement dated January 7, 1665, between the
proprietors and the commander of the king’s military forces, provided that the
provincial governor constitute and train companies of soldiers for the safety
and defense of the province, to suppress rebellions, and to “make war” with
Indians, strangers, and foreigners as circumstances warranted. The assembly was
authorized to nominate and appoint military officers who were subordinate to the
governor. Also, each able-bodied man was to arm himself with a “good” firelock
or matchlock musket, bullets, gunpowder, and provisions to sustain himself for
six months. The Lords Proprietor issued their Fundamental Constitutions of the
Carolinas in March 1669 which further provided that all “inhabitants and
freemen” of the province – aged seventeen years to sixty – were required to bear
arms and serve as soldiers whenever the council found it necessary.4

In 1711 the assembly, in reaction to attacks on colonists by Tuscarora Indians,
passed a measure which required all men aged sixteen years to sixty years to
fight or pay £5 in lieu of military service. The Tuscarora War erupted on
September 22, 1711 and continued until February 11, 1715. The General Assembly
convened on November 17, 1715, nine months after the conclusion of the conflict.
Lawmakers positioned that North Carolina had endured a “long … tedious War” with
the Tuscarora partly as a result of the “remissness of the People & disobedience
to their officers[’] commands.” The assemblymen passed an act that reconfirmed
certain provisions of the 1711 measure but modified the range of ages for
militia service to include individuals aged sixteen years to sixty years. Each
militia captain was to prepare a comprehensive list of the freemen residing
within his district from which his company was to be organized. Each captain was
to provide one copy of his list to the governor (i.e., the commander in chief of
the province’s militia) and one copy to the colonel of the regiment. Thereafter,
each captain was to prepare a new list annually in October and submit it to the
governor and the colonel. However, certain members of colonial society –
clergymen, physicians, surgeons, members of the office of the Lords Proprietors,
members of the General Assembly, justices of the peace, clerks of court,
attorneys, marshals/sheriffs, and constables – were exempted from military
service, except during a “time of danger” when they could be commanded to serve
by the governor. The law did not mandate that militia commanders were to hold
periodic musters and drills. The statute became effective in January 1716.5

Records documenting the organization of Bertie Precinct’s militia regiment
during the 1720s do not exist. Likewise, no rosters of officers, muster rolls or
returns have survived for the regiment during its early years. Presumably, a
regiment was organized within a few years after the precinct was formed and
possibly its initial commanding officer was Col. William Maule, a veteran of two
wars. Maule served in the War of Spanish Succession (1701-1714) during which he
was twice captured by French forces. He arrived in Virginia about 1710 and
subsequently commanded North Carolina troops in 1712 and 1713 during the
Tuscarora War (1711-1715). By 1726, Colonel Maule’s health likely was declining
as he prepared his will in the spring of that year. He died before the end of
the year at the approximate age of thirty-seven years.6

In 1729 seven of the eight Lords Proprietors sold their interests in North
Carolina to the Crown and North Carolina transitioned from a proprietary colony
to a royal colony. Little changed in the administration and governance of the
province except who appointed colonial officials.7 No impact resulted to the
province’s militia as the provisions of the 1716 law remained in effect.

George Burrington was appointed the first governor of North Carolina under royal
authority. Burrington, who traveled to England in 1729 and secured the
governorship, had previously served as governor of the province in 1724 and
1725. (He had been removed from office by the Lords Proprietors.) On December
14, 1730, the Board of Trade – the British government’s agency principally
concerned with matters of the American colonies – instructed Burrington to “take
care that all Planters[,] Inhabitants and Christian Servants [in North Carolina]
be well and fitly provided with arms and … be [en]listed under good officers.”
Also, the board instructed that armed residents be “mustered and trained” as
often as “thought” necessary so that they “may be in a better readiness for the
defence of the … Province.” The board cautioned Burrington to not conduct
musters and remote marches of the militia so frequently that they would become
“unnecessary impediments to the [personal] affairs of the inhabitants.”
Burrington was sworn in as the governor on February 25, 1731.8

Burrington, who only a few years previously had been the commander in chief of
the North Carolina militia, quickly found that the province’s citizen soldiers
were in disarray. He began visiting each of the precincts and became
“intollerably [sic] plagued with settling the Militia.” On November 2, 1732,
Burrington wrote to Alured Popple, secretary of the Board of Trade, that his
work was incomplete, partly due to a “terrible sickness” he had suffered, but he
intended to “soon … finish the remaining part.” Two months later Burrington
reported to British officials that he had endured “much fatigue in settling the
Militia.” Hampered by the deaths of two colonels (unidentified), the governor
had eventually obtained lists of the members of the various precincts’
regiments. He concluded that five thousand men were enrolled in the militia
while an additional one thousand individuals were not on the rolls. According to
Burrington, the province’s militia “had been totally neglected” during Sir
Richard Everard’s governorship (1725-1731).9

Amidst the disarrayed state of the provincial militia, Thomas Pollock Jr. – a
justice of the peace in Bertie Precinct, the precinct’s treasurer, and a member
of the General Assembly – was appointed colonel by the early 1730s. The Bertie
militia regiment had been organized and officers appointed. Barnaby McKinnie and
James Millikin were majors and at least ten captains – John Boade, Needham
Bryan, Thomas Bryant, Benjamin Hill, John Holbrook, Simon Jeffries, Francis
Pugh, John Spiers, Peter West, and George Wynns – had been commissioned. Colonel
Pollock’s tenure as commander of Bertie’s militia regiment, however, was
short-lived as he died prior to July 1733.10

Robert West [II] succeeded Pollock as the commanding officer of the Bertie
regiment. He was first mentioned in Bertie Precinct court records as a colonel
in May 1732. West served as the commanding officer of the regiment for
approximately three decades. During his tenure as colonel, West also served as a
justice of the peace (1730s – 1760s) and as a member of the General Assembly
(1762).

British officials removed George Burrington as governor of North Carolina and
Nathaniel Rice briefly served as the acting chief executive. Gabriel Johnston
was appointed governor in 1734 and soon determined that improvements were needed
in the province’s militia. On January 17, 1735, Johnston addressed the Upper
House of the General Assembly. He emphatically recommended that the legislators
pass a law to strengthen and enhance the militia to defend the province and
assist magistrates in the execution of laws. Johnston considered the enactment
of a law a matter of “great importance.” Three days later the assemblymen
committed to “take care” to put the provincial militia on a “footing as may best
answer the purposes” sought by Johnston. However, despite the commitment, the
assembly passed no militia law during the session which concluded March 1, 1735.11

Johnston next appealed to the Upper House during the General Assembly’s
September – October 1736 session. The governor noted that militiamen were not
attending musters as frequently as necessary. He attributed the absenteeism to
the fact that penalties provided in the militia law were so slight and
inconsequential as to not motivate the citizens. Johnston concluded that without
a new statute to address the issue, there was no avoiding the “inconvenience.”
Again, no new militia law emanated from the assembly.12

The governor had become frustrated with the over the lack of action to revamp
the militia. An individual who had come to the province from England disclosed
that British authorities had “a design” to send an independent company of
soldiers to North Carolina. On April 30, 1737, Johnston wrote to the Board of
Trade that he was satisfied with the prospect, noting that “our Assembly will
never … put the Militia in any tolerable footing.” He questioned how lives and
properties could be preserved in a society where the militia could not be
raised. He opined that if the situation was not “soon remedied,” detrimental
effects would occur.13

Finally, during the assembly of 1740, North Carolina lawmakers moved to enact a
new militia law. At the time Britain had been at war with Spain over colonies
and trade since October 1739 and a wider conflict appeared imminent among
European countries. Governor Johnston, on February 5, 1740, once again addressed
the members of the General Assembly. During his remarks he informed the
lawmakers of the “great appearance of a war breaking out in Europe.” In
consequence thereof, Johnston alerted the assemblymen of the absolute necessity
to “revise and reform” the province’s militia law. A bill was introduced,
however, when the legislative session ended on February 27 no law had been
passed. The assembly reconvened on July 31, 1740, and immediately Johnston
reminded the members that it was “high time” that the province had a “good
Militia when the war is brought to our very door.” Spurred to action, within
days the lawmakers were deliberating a bill for the “better regulation of the
Militia.” Finally, during the session (which concluded on August 22) the
assembly repealed the 1716 militia statute and enacted a new law.14

The new law was substantively the same as the 1716 statute. It retained the
range of ages (sixteen years to sixty years) for freemen to be liable for
militia service as well as the requirement for captains to annually compile
lists of the persons residing within their districts who were subject to militia
duty. Ministers of the Church of England, members of the General Assembly,
attorneys, physicians, surgeons, and other select occupations continued to be
exempt from service but could be specifically called into service by the
Governor. Colonels were to annually muster their regiments for training and
exercising with arms. Captains were to muster their companies twice a year. Each
militiaman was to provide for himself a “good gun,” powder, shot, and a sword or
cutlass. The law also provided that any militiaman who was disabled in service
to such an extent which prevented him from being able to support himself was to
be supported by the provincial government. Additionally, such a person was to be
provided “one good Negroe” (i.e., slave) to assist him. The wife and family of a
militiaman killed in public service were to be supported by the government.
Furthermore, the new law increased penalties and fines to be levied for
non-conformance with certain provisions and provided for new fines for other
infractions. For example, any captain who failed to prepare a list of
individuals liable for militia service in his district was to be fined £10
(verses £5 under the old law). Captains who failed to issue warrants for
punishing members who failed to show for musters were to be fined £20 (verses
£10). The law provided for the imposition of a £5 penalty for any militiaman who
failed to appear at a muster with a good weapon, ammunition, etc., or an exempt
person who similarly failed to appear with his weapon and other required
equipment when called by the governor. Also, captains who failed to muster their
companies twice a year were to be fined £5.15 Clearly, the province’s lawmakers,
in passing the act with increased and new penalties and fines, placed the onus
for improving the efficiency and effectiveness of the militia on the captains
(i.e., company commanders).

Despite the enactment of the militia statute, Governor Johnston still felt that
the law contained “notorious” defects which needed to be remedied. One
“oppressive” issue to certain citizens was the failure of officers to call
general musters. As a result, some militiamen voluntarily attended musters of
regiments outside the counties of their residence. A bill to amend the 1740 law
was introduced in the November – December 1744 assembly session. However, the
bill was “tabled.”16

During June 1746, the General Assembly passed another law to better regulate the
militia. Various provisions were the same as the 1740 act, but one provision
required captains to muster their companies four times a year (verses two times
per the previous law) and ensure that the members of their units were
appropriately armed. Captains who failed to comply with the provision were to be
fined £5. Also, colonels were required to muster their regiments at least once
annually or face a fine of £20. The law was to remain in effect for three years.
During the September – October 1749 legislative session, the General Assembly
extended the law for five additional years. Lawmakers again extended the
effective date of the law to October 16, 1759 during the February–March 1754
session.17

Col. Robert West’s effectiveness in commanding the Bertie County militia cannot
be determined due to the lack of records. Obviously, organizing, training, and
commanding planters and farmers as soldiers during the 1730s and 1740s was an
imposing task. Presumably, the Bertie regiment suffered from the issues and
problems raised by Governors Burrington and Johnston.

Bertie County court records indicate that Benjamin Hill, an influential merchant
and justice of the peace who resided near Potecasi Creek (present-day Hertford
County), held the rank of colonel at least from May 1734 through November 1741.
No military records exist regarding Hill’s appointment. Possibly, the
organization of the Bertie militia was divided into two units with Colonels West
and Hill each in command of a unit, particularly given the large geographic
region covered by Bertie County.18

During Robert West’s tenure as commander of the Bertie regiment, another
influential county resident – Peter West – also held the rank of colonel. Court
records indicate that the latter West was a colonel for at least two years –
November 1739 through November 1741. He had served in the Bertie regiment as a
captain earlier during the 1730s. Peter West died in Bertie County in 1751.19

A 1754 return for the Bertie regiment indicates that the unit was comprised of
eight companies totaling 720 men and a troop of mounted militia comprised of
forty-four individuals (764 total militiamen). A similar return for 1755 reveals
that the regiment was comprised of 838 members – an increase of seventy-four
individuals, or almost ten percent from the previous year. The mounted component
of the regiment still totaled forty-four members. By July 12, 1756, the
regiment’s strength had increased to 946 persons – the number of “horse troops”
remained constant. The Bertie regiment accounted for 7.3 percent of the
province’s total militia forces (12,931 men) in 1756. Less than half of the
province’s citizen soldiers were armed.20 The significant increase (almost
twenty-four percent) from 1754 to 1756 in the Bertie regiment’s strength was
attributable to North Carolina’s efforts to strengthen its defenses as a result
of the ongoing French and Indian War.

By the fall of 1756, North Carolina’s leaders determined that the provincial
militia needed to be “well disciplined” for the defense of the country “against
the common Enemy at this critical Juncture.” Arthur Dobbs was governor at that
time. British colonists had been pitted against French colonists in North
America since 1754. The North American conflict, which flared as a result of
competition for land between Great Britain and France, was a component of the
Seven Years War in Europe. Between 1755 and 1757 North Carolina focused on
enhancing its frontier defenses. The 1756 militia law authorized field officers
and company commanders to call out their units to confront French forces should
they invade North Carolina. The call-outs could be made without prior orders
from Governor Dobbs, the commander in chief of the provincial militia. To
improve discipline and training, each captain was required to muster his company
five times a year and ensure that each member of the unit was appropriately
armed. Regiments were to be mustered only once annually. Further, the law
permitted Dobbs to appoint troops of “light horse” cavalry in counties where he
deemed necessary.21 No Bertie County militiamen were deployed from the county to
serve during the French and Indian War (1754-1763).

Thomas Whitmell Jr. was appointed colonel of the Bertie militia regiment by
1763. Whitmell served as the regiment’s commanding officer throughout the 1760s
and into the 1770s as relations between the American colonies and Great Britain
continually deteriorated eventually leading to the Revolutionary War (April
1775–September 1783). A return of militia officers under Colonel Whitmell’s
command (ca. 1767) lists three regimental officers (Whitmell, colonel; Robert
West [III], lieutenant colonel; and Thomas Pugh, major) and twenty-six
company-level officers – ten captains, eight lieutenants, seven ensigns, and one
cornet (the lowest officer rank in a cavalry troop).22

As commander of the Bertie regiment, Whitmell was responsible for preparing
Bertie County militiamen to potentially march against fellow North Carolina
citizens. During the 1760s – as relationships between the American colonies and
Britain worsened – yeomen farmers in the backcountry of North Carolina, known as
the Regulators, rebelled against royal officials. The Regulators, dissatisfied
elements of the colony’s Piedmont region, were suspicious and resentful of
political leaders from the eastern region of the colony. By the mid-1760s the
Regulator movement was well established and gaining momentum. Bertie County’s
militiamen seemed destined to help quell the unrest. Governor William Tryon
designated the county’s militiamen to potentially assist in subduing the turmoil
associated with the insurrectionary Regulator movement then taking place within
the backcountry region of the colony. On April 27, 1768, Tryon—in response to
appeals by his friend Edmund Fanning, an Orange County militia officer, royal
judge, and target of the Regulators’ ire—directed the commanders of a number of
militia regiments, including Thomas Whitmell, to be ready to march with such
numbers of men and officers as might be required by Fanning or the commanding
officer of the Orange County militia. The governor, also a target of the
Regulators’ ire, was preparing to suppress “in the most effectual manner” the
“several riotous and tumultuous Assemblies” taking place in Orange County. The
Orange County Regulators believed Judge Fanning epitomized political corruption.
Eventually, the crisis eased and the assistance of the Bertie County militia was
not required.23

However, the Regulators subsequently rekindled their ire and their movement
gained momentum and followers. Finally, on March 19, 1771, Governor Tryon
ordered the militia commanders of twenty-nine counties to raise volunteers “to
march against the Insurgents.” Tryon called for 2,550 militiamen, of whom he
designated fifty to be drawn from Bertie County’s regiment.29 On April 3 Tryon
ordered Colonel Whitmell and the commanders of eight other counties to march to
Hillsborough the forces they previously had been ordered to raise. Tryon
directed that each detachment be marched “by the most convenient route” to
Hillsborough and to arrive by May 6. There, the units were to join other North
Carolina detachments that Tryon had ordered to the rendezvous. The county
commanders would receive further instructions once they and their men reached
Hillsborough.24

Ten days later Tryon transmitted funding warrants to Whitmell and seven other
colonels, recipients of the governor’s April 3 instructions. The warrants (all
except one in the amount of £150) were to be drawn upon the colony’s treasury
and the funds were to be used to pay bounties to the militiamen and defray other
expeditionary expenses. The county detachments were to provide their own
provisions until they reached Hillsborough. Once they reached the rendezvous
location, Thomas Hart, an Orange County merchant and militia officer who had
contracted with Governor Tryon, was to furnish rations to the troops.25

The Regulators, growing increasingly agitated, threatened to disrupt the
colony’s assembly in New Bern. Governor Tryon called out elements of the
province’s militia, totaling about a thousand men (substantially less than the
2,550-man force he had ordered to be readied for action in March) and marched to
the heart of the Regulator country. On May 16, 1771, the governor’s force
soundly trounced armed Regulators at Alamance Creek in Orange County (now
Alamance County), about eight miles south of present-day Burlington. The battle
climaxed over a decade of social unrest, violence, and disorder and ended the
so-called War of Regulation. Although twice placed on alert to potentially march
to the Piedmont, in the end Bertie County’s militiamen were not involved in
quelling the Regulators.26

Despite additional laws enacted in 1771 and 1774, North Carolina militia
regiments continued to be largely ill prepared for combat. The Revolutionary War
ignited in Lexington, Massachusetts on April 19, 1775, when Massachusetts
minutemen and British regulars engaged each other. The war would not formally
conclude until September 3, 1783, when officials from the United States and
Great Britain signed the final peace treaty. During the war, eleven companies of
militiamen wholly or partly formed from the Bertie County regiment were detached
and marched to South Carolina, the Piedmont, and Virginia in defense of their
newly established country. The members of another county militia company were
drafted into the North Carolina line and sent to New York. Following more than a
half century of largely inactive service during the colonial period, Bertie’s
militiamen experienced the horrors and tragedies of combat during the nation’s
War for Independence.27

 

*****

 

During the colonial period, a regiment was the highest echelon unit of North
Carolina’s militia. Regiments were organized at the county level and generally
comprised of eight to ten companies. There were no brigades of regiments and no
general officers. Colonels, as commanders of regiments, received their orders
from the governor.

The individuals who served as officers in the Bertie militia regiment were
predominantly men of influence and high social standing. Most of the individuals
who served as officers also served in other governmental (provincial and
precinct/county) capacities, including as members of the General Assembly,
members of the governor’s council, Bertie Precinct/County justices of the peace
and law enforcement officers. For example, all eight individuals who were
appointed to the rank of colonel also served during their lifetimes as justices
of the peace. Sixteen militia officers (including five colonels) were members of
the General Assembly as well as justices of the peace. The following table
presents the names of persons who served as officers in the Bertie militia
regiment from 1722 to 1775 and other governmental positions they held as
identified by the author. As previously noted, due to the lack of pertinent
records and limitations in available records, the table does not include the
names of all individuals who served as officers in the regiment during the
specified timeframe. Dates are of the records which include information
indicating that the identified individuals were militia officers and do not
necessarily represent the actual periods the individuals served. For example,
the author found records which indicated that John Boade was a captain in 1733
and 1734. Boade may have served over a longer period of time.

IDENTIFIED OFFICERS OF THE BERTIE COUNTY MILITIA REGIMENT

AND OTHER GOVERNMENTAL POSITIONS HELD

DURING THE COLONIAL PERIOD

1722 – 1775

 

 

OFFICER
	

RANK(S) AND APPROXIMATE DATE(S) HELD
	

 

OTHER GOVERNMENTAL POSTION(S) AND APPROXIMATE DATE(S) HELD

Bevin, Andrew
	

Lieutenant: ca. 1767
	

 

Boade, John*
	

Captain: 1733-1734
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1728-1735

Brown, Arthur
	

Captain: ca. 1767-1774
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1765-1774

Bertie sheriff: 1774-1775

Brown, John
	

Captain: ca. 1767
	

Member of General Assembly: 1740

Bertie justice of the peace: 1743-1761

Bertie sheriff: 1747

Bryan, Edward
	

Captain: 1757
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1748-1749

Bryan, Needham**
	

Captain: 1732-1749
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1731-1748

Bryant, Thomas
	

Captain: 1733-1740
	

Indian Commissioner: 1732

Bertie justice of the peace: 1725-1740

Member of General Assembly: 1736-1740

Burke [first name not given]
	

Captain, 1758
	

 

Burns/Barnes [first name not given]
	

Captain 1767-1769
	

 

Campbell, John
	

Captain: 1753
	

Member of General Assembly: 1754-1760, 1769-1775

Bertie justice of the peace: 1757-1775

Clark, Christopher
	

Captain: 1775
	

 

Davis, William
	

Lieutenant: 1770
	

 

Edwards, Titus
	

Cornet: ca. 1767
	

Bertie constable: 1755-1760

Bertie deputy sheriff: 1767

Bertie patroller: 1767-1772

Everett, Charles
	

Captain: ca. 1767-1775
	

Bertie patroller: 1768

Bertie constable: 1775

Freeman, John
	

Captain: ca. 1767-1774
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1766-1775

Freeman, Moses
	

Lieutenant: ca. 1767
	

Bertie constable: 1772-1774

Freeman, William
	

Captain: 1768
	

 

Gray, William
	

Captain: ca. 1767
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1758-1774

Member of General Assembly: 1760-1768

Hardy, Humphrey
	

Lieutenant: ca. 1767
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1774-1775

Harrell, Adam
	

Ensign: ca. 1767
	

 

Harrimond, Henry
	

Captain: 1764-1774
	

 

Hill, Benjamin
	

Captain: 1731-1733

Colonel: 1734-1741
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1757-1746

Member of General Assembly: 1738-1746

Bertie clerk of court: 1741-1742

Hill, John
	

Captain: 1754
	

Bertie constable: 1739

Bertie justice of the peace: 1749-1763

Bertie sheriff: 1751-1754

Indian Commissioner: 1753

Member of General Assembly: 1760

Holbrook, John
	

Captain: 1732-1734
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1724-1739

Howell, John
	

Captain: prior to 1764
	

Bertie constable: 1741-1743

House, Alexander
	

Captain: 1771
	

 

House, Thomas
	

Ensign: ca. 1767
	

Bertie patroller: 1768

Bertie constable: 1775

Hunter, Hardy
	

Ensign: ca. 1767
	

Bertie constable: 1763-1765

Bertie patroller: 1767-1768

Hunter, Henry
	

Ensign: ca. 1767
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1748-1760

Jacocks, Thomas
	

Captain: 1763
	

 

Jones, James
	

Captain: 1758-1760
	

 

Jeffries, Simon
	

Captain: 1733
	

 

Kinchen, Peter
	

Captain: 1740
	

 

King, David
	

Captain: ca. 1767
	

 

King, Michael
	

Ensign: ca. 1767
	

 

King, William
	

Lieutenant: ca. 1767
	

 

Knott, Absolom
	

Ensign: 1770
	

 

Knott, William
	

Lieutenant: 1770
	

 

Lancaster, Micajah
	

Ensign: ca. 1767
	

 

Lewis [first name not given]
	

Captain: 1764
	

 

McDowell [first name not given]
	

Captain: 1742
	

 

McKinney, Barnaby
	

Major: 1726-1731
	

Assistant justice of North Carolina General Court: 1822, 1725, 1726

Member of Governor’s Council: 1725

Member of General Assembly: 1722-1723

Bertie justice of the peace: 1724-1728

Maule, William
	

Colonel: 1724-1726
	

North Carolina deputy surveyor: 1710-1713

North Carolina surveyor general: 1714-1723

Judge of North Carolina vice admiralty court: 1724-1725

Member of governor’s council: 1724-1725

Bertie justice of the peace: 1724-1725

Member of General Assembly: 1725-1726

Millikin, James
	

Major: 1731-1733
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1731

Moore, James
	

Captain: 1732
	

 

Moore, James
	

Captain: ca. 1767

Major: 1775
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1759-1770

Bertie sheriff: 1771-1774

Pollock, Thomas Jr.
	

Colonel: 1731
	

Member of governor’s council: 1722-1731

Bertie justice of the peace: 1724-1728

Member of General Assembly: 1731

Treasurer for Bertie Precinct: 1732

Pratt, John
	

Captain: 1732
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1739

Bertie sheriff: 1739-1741

Pugh, Francis
	

Captain: 1732-1733

Major: 1734

Colonel: 1736***
	

Indian Commissioner: 1732

Bertie justice of the peace: 1732-1734

Pugh, Theophilus
	

Captain: 1734
	

 

Pugh, Thomas
	

Captain: 1765

Major: 1767

Colonel: 1775
	

Bertie sheriff: 1761-1762

Bertie justice of the peace: 1756-1770

Member of General Assembly: 1762-1765

Reed, Christopher
	

Ensign: 1770
	

 

Rhodes, Thomas
	

Lieutenant: ca. 1767
	

Bertie constable: 1774-1775

Scolley, Samuel
	

Captain: 1740-1742
	

 

Sparkman, William
	

Captain: ca. 1767
	

 

Spiers, John
	

Captain: 1727-1735
	

Member of General Assembly: 1723

Bertie justice of the peace: 1726-1732

Indian Commissioner: 1732, 1736

Standley, David
	

Lieutenant: ca. 1767
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1765-1775

Bertie deputy sheriff: 1766

Bertie sheriff: 1766-1769

Member of General Assembly: 1771-1775

Standley, Jonathan
	

Captain: ca. 1767-1769
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1763-1772

Sutton, John
	

Major: 1734
	

Bertie deputy clerk of court: 1723-1724

Bertie constable: 1733

Crier of Bertie court: 1734****

Sutton, Thomas
	

Ensign: ca. 1767
	

 

Vann, Edward
	

Captain: ca. 1767
	

 

Watson, John Jr.
	

Lieutenant: ca. 1767
	

Bertie constable: 1768-1769, 1774

Bertie patroller: 1771-1772

West, Peter
	

Captain: 1732-1736

Colonel: 1739-1741
	

Bertie constable: 1724

Bertie justice of the peace: 1727-1745

West, Robert [II]
	

Colonel: 1732-1758
	

Indian Commissioner: 1732, 1736

Bertie justice of the peace: 1732-1739

West, Robert [III]
	

Lieut. Colonel: ca. 1767
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1760-1762

Member of General Assembly: 1762

Whitmell, Thomas Jr.
	

Colonel: 1759-1775
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1734-1744, 1774

Indian Commissioner: 1736, 1753

Inspector (warehouses, quitrents, etc.): 1739-1744

Bertie sheriff: 1745-1747, 1763-1764

Member of General Assembly: 1754-1760

Bertie constable or deputy sheriff: 1758

Whitmell, Thomas [III]
	

Captain: ca. 1767
	

 

Williams, Rowland
	

Captain: 1739-1740
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1735-1741

Wolfenden, John
	

Captain: 1770
	

 

Wynns, Benjamin*****
	

Captain: 1756-1759
	

Bertie constable: 1736

Bertie deputy sheriff: 1741

Bertie deputy clerk of court: 1744-1747

North Carolina deputy surveyor: 1745-1746

Bertie clerk of court: 1752-1762

Member of General Assembly: 1754-1760

Bertie justice of the peace: 1756-1759

Wynns, George
	

Captain: 1727-1733
	

Bertie justice of the peace: 1724-1735

Member of General Assembly: 1729-1735

* Surname is also recorded in colonial records as “Boude.”

** Surname is also recorded in colonial records as “Bryant.”

*** Francis Pugh was deceased by May 1736.

**** A crier was a person who made public announcements in court.

***** Benjamin Wynns resided in the area of Bertie County which became part of
Hertford County in 1759. Wynns served as Herford County’s first clerk of court
from 1760 to 1764. He represented Hertford County in the General Assembly
(1771-1772, and 1774) and served as the colonel of the Hertford County militia
regiment (1772-1776).

 

 

NOTES

 

1. John L. Cheney Jr., ed., North Carolina Government, 1585-1979: A Narrative
and Statistical History (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of the Secretary of
State, 1981), 33 (hereafter cited as Cheney, North Carolina Government); Walter,
Clark, ed., The State Records of North Carolina, 16 vols. numbered 11 through 26
(Raleigh: State of North Carolina, 1895-1906), 23:98, 100-102 (hereafter cited
as Clark, State Records); David Leroy Corbitt, The Formation of the North
Carolina Counties, 1663-1943 (Raleigh: Division of Archives and History, North
Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, 1987, 2000), 25, 65.

 

2. “Colonial Period Overview,” NCPedia, https://www.ncpedia.org (hereafter cited
as “Colonial Period Overview”); “Creating the Carolinas,” U. S. History Online
Textbook, http://www.ushistory.org/us/5c.asp.

 

3. “Colonial Period Overview;” Joanne C. Carpenter, “Quitrents,” NCPedia.

 

4. William L. Saunders, ed., The Colonial Records of North Carolina, 10 vols.
(Raleigh: State of North Carolina, 1886–1890), 1:29, 75, 83, 86, 187, 205
(hereafter cited as Saunders, Colonial Records).

 

5. Clark, State Records, 23:29-31; Louis P. Towles, “Militias, Colonial,” NCPedia.

 

6. Charles B. Lowry, “Maule, William,” NCPedia; Dennis F. Daniels, “Thomas
Pollock,” NCPedia.

William Maule was born in Scotland ca. 1690. Upon arriving in Virginia, he
became associated with Thomas Pollock, one of the province’s largest and
wealthiest landowners and soon-to-be-governor (appointed September 12, 1711).
Pollock recommended Maule to John Lawson, surveyor general of North Carolina.
Maule became Lawson’s deputy and assisted in the first attempt to delineate the
North Carolina – Virginia boundary. During 1712 and 1713, Maule effectively
commanded the North Carolina volunteers during the Tuscarora War. In 1714 he was
appointed surveyor general, a position which enabled him to accumulate more than
16,000 acres of land, much of which was situated in western Chowan Precinct
(subsequently Bertie Precinct in the area encompassed by present-day Hertford
County). Maule served on the governor’s council (1724-1725), as a judge of the
vice-admiralty court (1724-1725), a Bertie Precinct justice of the peace
(1724-1725), a member of the General Assembly from Bertie (1725-1726).

 

7. “Colonial Period Overview.”

 

8. Dennis F. Daniels, “George Burrington,” NCPedia; Robert J. Cain, “Board of
Trade,” NCPedia; Saunders, Colonial Records, 3:90, 112-113.

 

9. Saunders, Colonial Records, 2:368-369, 3:429, 433.

 

10. Cheney, North Carolina Government, 36; Saunders, Colonial Records, 2:526,
570, 670, 676, 818, 3:404, 546, 578, 285.

 

11. Saunders, Colonial Records, 4:75, 78.

 

12. Saunders, Colonial Records, 4:225, 228.

 

13. Saunders, Colonial Records, 4:249-250.

 

14. Saunders, Colonial Records, 4:470, 477-478, 480, 483, 504, 509, 512, 534,
535, 552, 553; Clark, State Records, 23:151;
http://www.ncpublications.com/colonial/editions/Acts/ militia.htm.

 

15. Saunders, Colonial Records, 23:151;
http://www.ncpublications.com/colonial/editions/Acts/militia.htm.

 

16. Saunders, Colonial Records, 4:732-733, 741, 745-746.

 

17. Clark, State Records, 23:244-247, 317, 330, 25:266-267.

 

18. Weynette Parks Haun, comp., Bertie County, North Carolina, County Court
Minutes, 1724 thru 1739, Book I (Durham: the compiler, 1976), 52-60, 101-104
(hereafter cited as Haun, Court Minutes I); Weynette Parks Haun, comp., Bertie
County, North Carolina, County Court Minutes, 1740 thru 1743: 1758 thru 1762,
Book II (Durham: the compiler, 1977), 1-4, 6, 8-9 (hereafter cited as Haun,
Court Minutes II).

Benjamin Hill died in Bertie County in 1753, at the approximate age of fifty-six
years. J Bryan Grimes, Abstracts of North Carolina Wills (Raleigh: E. M. Uzzell,
State Printers, 1910), 164 (hereafter cited as Grimes, Wills).

 

19. Haun, Court Minutes I, 101-107; Haun, Court Minutes II, 6-9, 12, 14-16,
18-20; Grimes, Wills, 398.

 

20. Saunders, Colonial Records, 5:161-163, 575-576, 603-604.

 

21. R. Jackson Marshall III, “French and Indian War,” NCPedia; Clark, State
Records, 23:440, 25:331, 334-337.

 

22. Transcript, Officers of the Bertie Militia Regiment, ca. 1767 by Joel S.
Russell, www.rafert.org/colonial/StateMilitia1767.htm.

 

23. Gerald W. Thomas, Rebels and King’s Men: Bertie County in the Revolutionary
War (Raleigh: North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources, Office of
Archives and History, 2013), 10-12 (hereafter cited as Thomas, Rebels and King’s
Men).

 

24. Thomas, Rebels and King’s Men, 13.

 

25. Thomas, Rebels and King’s Men, 13.

 

26. Thomas, Rebels and King’s Men, 13-14.

 

27. Clark, State Records, 23:787-788, 931, 940-945; Thomas, Rebels and King’s
Men, 222, 115-116, 168-169.

 

 

 

 

 

 


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