Who They Were

The word “militia” refers to people who fought in the Revolutionary War but were not officially in the regular British or Continental armies. Militias existed for decades prior to the war, to protect settlements against raids by the French, Spanish, pirates, and Native Americans and frequent slave revolts. North Carolina militias participated in the French and Indian War of 1754–63 and the War of Regulation. There were also “minutemen” trained to respond quickly to local incidents, but those units were disbanded in 1776.[1]

During the Revolution, militia units we call “Patriots” or “Whigs” formed to support independence, and others formed to oppose it, called “Loyalists” or “Tories.” Both sides were organized into companies by county, and sometimes into larger armies, by local leaders who often had limited military experience. However some of the leaders, on both sides, had served with the British army or royal governor in those earlier actions.

Many militia members signed on to their unit for a set period of time, while others showed up for a specific action and then went home. On the Patriot side, the state created formal county regiments within multi-county “districts.” If there were not enough volunteers, the local commander could draft more by law, thus sharing the burden of local defense more evenly. Most white males 16 to 50 were subject to being drafted, though draftees could hire substitutes. Exempted from the militia draft were “millers, ministers, school masters, ferry keepers, and overseers of more than 5 slaves.”[a] Of course, most Tories defied draft orders.

Captured militia were often “paroled,” meaning they were released to return home after signing written pledges not to fight again for their side. Those pledges were often broken. There were also cases of men paroled only if they would fight for the other side, which they often did half-heartedly until they could desert. Breaking one’s parole was considered dishonorable by many on both sides, and sometimes became the pretext for a hanging if the person was captured again.

Regular army commanders viewed militia as unreliable yet necessary additions to their forces. Battles were often delayed, won, or lost based on what the militia did. Militia also fought each other independently, especially after the two regular armies left North Carolina in 1781, leading to a vicious “Tory War.”

A lack of experienced officers played a big role in these problems. Militia leaders were usually just local landowners-turned-politicians, often with limited or no military background. An army lieutenant colonel wrote in 2014: “Both sides experienced a critical lack of military leadership. The social and political nature of militia leadership made importing leaders from outside colonies nearly impossible. It was worse for the British and Tories because the Whigs had spent 1777-1780 effectively killing, co-opting, or dislocating the most capable Tory leaders.”[b]

Life in the Field

Militia soldiers did not wear regular uniforms or receive much training,