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American military history began with the establishment of the Virginia colonial militia in the seventeenth century. Although ill-trained, it was the colony's only defense against Indian attacks and invasion by hostile powers. The records left are fragmentary and scattered, and it has always been hard to locate them and make them accessible.

With the publication of this work that problem is now behind us. From research based on county court minutes and orders, bounty land applications and warrants, records of courts martial, county militia rosters, Hening's Statutes at Large, the Draper manuscripts, and manuscripts in the Public Record Office in London, we now have an authoritative register of Virginia's colonial soldiers. And it is not merely a dry catalogue of names and dates, for included are the military's "size" rolls which routinely give the soldier's place of birth, age, residence, occupation, and physical description. And sometimes this was made even more informative when the enlisting officer recorded his impressions of the soldier!

Little is known of the ordinary people of colonial Virginia for they left no diaries or journals, but now we have the rare privilege of coming almost face to face with them in this remarkable book.

This volume is available on our Family Archive CDs 7503 and 7121.

SEE ALSO THESE RELATED BOOKS:
Colonial Soldiers of the South, 1732-1774
Historical Register of Virginians in the Revolution


EDITORIAL REVIEWS

"Once again, the Genealogical Publishing Company has done the genealogical community a notable service--this time in recognizing the value and excellence of Mr. Bockstruck's manuscript. Obviously the result of careful, thorough, and extensive research, this volume will be of interest to all who trace their ancestries to one or more colonial Virginians...No searcher of forebears in colonial Virginia can afford to overlook this model of what a genealogical reference book should be."--NATIONAL GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY QUARTERLY, Vol. 77, No. 2 (June 1989).

"...the book will long remain an almost definitive work on a highly specialized subject...It is my pleasure to recommend [this book] to the serious consideration of all historians and genealogists."--GEORGE TUCKER, VIRGINIAN PILOT (November 6, 1988).

"This volume will stand as the primary listing of Virginia colonial military services for years to come. It should be in all Virginia genealogical collections."--VIRGINIA GENEALOGIST, Vol. 32, No. 3 (July-September 1988).

"...all in all, a genealogist's delight."--JOURNAL OF SOUTHERN HISTORY, Vol. 54, No. 3 (August 1988).