Shenandoah Valley Military Records

575 WFCHS/THL

Inventory created by Archives Staff 07/1998. Last revised 01/2019.

ACCESS RESTRICTIONS: Collection is open to all researchers.

USE RESTRICTIONS: Restrictions may apply concerning the use, photoduplication, or publication of items in this collection. Consult a member of the archives staff for information concerning these restrictions. The user assumes all responsibility for identifying and satisfying any claimants of copyright.

EXTENT: 0.42 linear feet

DATE: 1775-1880; excludes Civil War

SCOPE AND CONTENT: This collection contains materials from a number of military units operating within of the Shenandoah Valley during the French and Indian War, the Revolutionary War, the War of 1812, and beyond. There is also information about the Continental Morgan Guards and their actions while serving at Charlestown during the Brown Raid and trial in 1859. Materials are organized chronologically.

BIOGRAPHICAL/HISTORICAL: During the early 1700s, the British Government and colonial leaders in Virginia began to encourage settlement in the Shenandoah Valley as a buffer against French expansion and attacks from Native Americans. As Virginians began to expand their area of settlement into the Ohio Valley conflict with the French and their Indian allies led to the French and Indian War.

The conclusion of the French and Indian War cemented British control over the North American colonies while at the same time laying the ground work for future conflict between American colonists and the British Government over westward expansion, among other issues. Tensions between Britain and the new nation persisted after the Revolutionary War erupted again in the War of 1812.

Troops from the Northern Shenandoah Valley participated in all of these conflicts, and the evidence of their involvement is present in a number of forts, battle sites, and other landmarks throughout the region.

The Continental Morgan Guard, founded in 1855 in Frederick County, Virginia, and formally known as Company A 31^st Virginia Militia, were named in honor of Revolutionary War officer Daniel Morgan. They would later become Company K of the 5^th Regiment and serve the Confederacy during the Civil War.

RELATED MATERIAL: Civil War Collection, 1610 THL; French and Indian War Foundation Collection, 1177 THL; Spanish American War Collection, 1698 WFCHS; World War I Collection, 1115 WFCHS; World War II Collection, 1050 WFCHS; Korean War Collection, 1447 WFCHS, Cold War Collection, Middle East Wars Collection, 1660 WFCHS/THL. Materials related to veterans may also be found in other collections. Consult Archives Staff for details.

CITE AS: Shenandoah Valley Military Records, 575 WFCHS/THL, Stewart Bell Jr. Archives, Handley Regional Library, Winchester, VA, USA.

ACQUISITION INFORMATION: Acquired as a gift.

ORGANIZATION:

BOX 1 

FRENCH AND INDIAN WAR

A Return of Virginia Regiment Commanded by George Washington, Fort Loudoun, March 1, 1758. 1 leaf printed, 1 leaf printed (photocopy)

Journal of Colonel Charles Lewis, Covering the expedition of the Virginia Militia under George Washington from Fredericksburg to Fort Cumberland and Fort Ashby, October 10, 1755-December 27, 1955, 8 leaves, typescript (photocopy) DO NOT REPRODUCE IN ENTIRETY OR PUBLISH WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE CHICAGO HISTORY  MUSEUM.

List of Horses Returned to Officers, July 26, 1760, 1 page manuscript (photocopy)

Major Gen. Edward Braddock's Orderly Book, February 26 to June 17, 1755, published booklet, 1 item, printed

Capt. William Haymonds Co., Virginia Militia, 1 leaf, typescript

”The French and Indian War in Frederick County, VA,” an address by Norman L. Baker to WFCHS, November 16, 2000, 1 item, 31 leaves, printed

REVOLUTIONARY WAR

William Clark-Proceedings Against for support of King, July 1775, 5 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Committee of Dunmore County—1775 & 1776, Letter from Fielding Lewis, Record of Meeting electing members, Resolution in support of Independence, 1 leaf transcript, 5 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Hessian barracks built in Winchester during the Revolution – Folder includes the following:    

Information gathered and printed from online resource fold3, material includes images of original text relating to the topic; 16 leaves, printed photocopies      Instructions for the German POWs to remain in barracks in Winchester 

Hessian Barracks : A Witness to History, Hazel K. McCammer, June 1976, 8 pages, printed, these barracks were erected in Frederick, MD. and still exist today as a museum 

Militia – from Col. Richard Peters to Col. Jas. Wood, Superintendent of Convention Troops, 2 leaves, printed, photocopied from Calendar of State Papers, V. 1, pp. 592-593

Militia - Alexander Machin-Strasburg District, February 1775, 4 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Militia - Capt. Jacob Holman, May 29, 1775, 2 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Prisoners taken at Quebec—1775, 9 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Correspondence-John Page, Williamsburg, July 20, 1776, 1 leaf manuscript (photocopy)

Correspondence – Col. John Smith, Winchester to General Horatio Gates, Jan. 18, 1781, 2 leaves, manuscript (photocopy), copied from Manuscript Department, New York Historical Society
DO NOT REPRODUCE IN ENTIRETY OR PUBLISH WITHOUT PERMISSION FROM THE MANUSCRIPT DEPARTMENT, NEW YORK HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Militia-Capt. Joseph Bowman, no date, 4 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

8th Virginia Regiment, no date, 2 leaves typescript

11th Virginia Regiment Field Staff, May 17, 1777, l leaf manuscript (photocopy)

Soldiers from Winchester and Frederick County, 3 leaves, typescrip

Grave Sites in Frederick, Clarke, and Warren Counties, 4 leaves typescript

Claims-Reports of Committees of Congress on the subject of House Bill 1782-47th Congress, c 1881

WAR OF 1812

Correspondence – Peter Stayner to Mr. John Moler, August 11, 1819, 1 leaf, manuscript, transcript, 1 leaf, typescript

Declaration of War, published by National Intelligencer Gazette, June 20, 1812, 1 leaf, printed

4^th Virginia Regiment, October 1813, Capt. Charles Brent, Jr., 2 leaves typescript

24th United States Infantry, February 16, 1815, Capt. Silas Stephen, 3 leaves typescript

1786-1880

List of Persons returned for 1786 by George Noble (no source cited), 1 leaf, typescript

Regulations for the order and discipline of the troops, 1792, l item printed

Winchester Recruiting Service—Quartermaster estimate of clothing, camp & garrison equipment, October 1846 & February 1847, 1 leaf manuscript printed form, 1 page manuscript on printed form

Continental Morgan Guards – “The Continental Morgan Guards: A Volunteer Militia Company in the Antebellum and Civil War Periods”, by Gustav Person and Ben Ritter, Military Collector and Historian, winter, 2007, vol. 59, No. 4,  4 pages, printed (photocopy)

Continental Morgan Guards—Constitution and by-laws with list of officers, 1859, l item printed

Continental Morgan Guards—Quartermaster's book, Charlestown duty, October 29, 1859 to April 24, 1860, l item manuscript

Continental Morgan Guards—Payroll 1857 to 1858, reports & militia lists 1861 to 1862,   l item manuscript

Winchester Light Infantry – “Winchester Light Infantry, 1877 – 1893” by Gustav Person and Ben Ritter, Military Collector and Historian, 62 #3, Fall 2101, 3 pages, printed, (photocopy)

Winchester Light Infantry-certificate of membership—George W. Hardy, August 4, 1880, 1 leaf manuscript on printed form.

Militia—Winchester—1st Company 31st Regiment, Virginia Militia-Winchester, Capt. A.T. Hampton, no date, l leaf manuscript, 1 page manuscript

Virginia Militia—Winchester 51^st Regiment from Frederick County Deed Book 65, p. 297, 1836, 5 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Virginia Militia—Winchester 51^st Regiment, 1 item, manuscript, July 10, 1827

Frederick County Militia records, 1796-1812, 153 pages typescript (no source cited), 1 leaf manuscript

BOX 2 – FREDERICK COUNTY MILITIA RECORDS 1755-1761 AND MILITIA RECORDS FOUND IN FREDERICK COUNTY DEED BOOK 27-35 (deed book materials are photocopies from original) 

Muster Rolls & Court Martial Proceedings Recorded in Deed Book 18, Frederick County, September 2, 1756, to October 10, 1761, index, 21 leaves typescript (photocopy), 9 leaves typescript

Muster Rolls and Court Martial Proceedings Recorded in Deed Book 18, Frederick County, Sept. 2, 1755-Oct. 10, 1761, 121 leaves manuscript (photocopy)

Also available in published book:
Little, Barbara Vines. Frederick Co. VA Militia Records, 1755-1761. Westminster, MD: Willow Bend Books, 2000    929.3 Fre

MAP CASE 3, DRAWER 12 

Map of French and Indian War Forts on the Northwestern Frontier, 1 item, 2 copies, in book French and Indian War in Frederick County, Virginia, by Norman L. Baker, 973.26 Bak