Roll of troops who joined at Chesterfield Courthouse since 1780 (Acc. 40). State Government Records Collection.
Virginians played a pivotal role in the struggle for American independence, 1775–1783. Virginia troops fought from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi River, and many Virginians provided some form of military or public service.
There is no single source or index for Virginia Revolutionary War records, but a wide variety of records are covered in this guide. Most records contain few details about individuals' service, and records seldom contain genealogical data. People with the same name are easily confused with one another, since most records have little identifying data. Because names were often spelled in a variety of ways, be sure to check other possible spellings.
Revised December 2021
Records of Virginia military service begin in 1775. By 1777, Virginia had raised 15 regiments of infantry for long-term service under Continental Congress authority, commonly known as the Virginia Continental Line. Many Virginians also served in the Continental artillery, cavalry, and other units not designated as Virginia regiments.
Regiments were consolidated and renumbered several times during the war, sometimes making it appear as if the soldiers served in more than one unit, when in fact their unit was renumbered.
Enlistment terms in 1775 were for one year, but in 1776 the term was changed to three years or the duration of the war. In 1780–1781, soldiers were enlisted or drafted into the Continental Line for eighteen-month terms.
Service records exist for most Continental Line soldiers in the form of payrolls and muster rolls of their units. Records of Continental soldiers housed in the National Archives were abstracted as "Compiled Service Records" for each individual. Compiled Service Records may include soldiers’ dates of enlistment, death in service or discharge, time in hospital or other duty away from their unit, and where and when they were paid.
Troops served under state authority in units known as the Virginia State Line, enlisting for three-year terms beginning in 1776. Originally intended for duty within the state, these units were sometimes called to reinforce the Continental Army in Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and the Carolinas. The State Line also included George Rogers Clark’s Illinois Regiment, which fought against the British and their Indigenous allies in the Northwest Territory, in what are now Illinois and Indiana. Virginia also created a State Navy with personnel enlisted for three-year terms.
Service records exist for some State Line soldiers in the form of payrolls and muster rolls of their units. These records are located in the Library of Virginia archives [where?]. Records of State Line units housed in the National Archives are abstracted as Compiled Service Records for each individual.
Most Virginians serving in the war did so as part of the county militia. All "free male persons, hired servants, and apprentices" (apparently restricted beginning in 1777 to free white and "mulatto" males) aged 16 to 50 were considered part of the militia, unless exempted. Militiamen could be called for tours of duty up to three months, serving mostly within Virginia but also in the Carolinas. Many served more than one tour of duty during the war. Unfortunately, few records of militia service exist.
Militia officer appointments are often recorded in the order books for the county courts. The Culpeper Classes, a 1781 militia list from Culpeper County, is indexed and available on microfilm. Appointments of officers, scattered pay records, and some lists of militia fines have survived. Many post-1832 federal pensions also mention militia service.
The following volumes index records of individual service in Virginia units, including some militia service, held by the Library of Virginia and the National Archives. Records cited include pay accounts, muster rolls, and records related to postwar benefits of land and pensions.
Multiple records are often listed for the same individual. Service records of different individuals bearing the same name may be indexed together because it was not possible to further identify them. Contact Archives Reference Services for questions regarding the use of the indexes.