94 



ty are formed into companies, and these again into one 

 or more battalions, according to the numbers in the 

 county. They are commanded by colonels, and other 

 subordinate otiicers, as in the regular service. In every 

 county is a county lieutenant, who commands the whole 

 militia of his county, but ranks only as a colonel in the 

 field. We have no general officers always existing. 

 These are appointed occasionally, when an invasion or 

 insurrection happens, and their commission determines 

 with the occasion. The governor is head of the mili- 

 tary, as well as civil. The law reqtiires every militia- 

 man to provide himself with the arms usual in the 

 regular service. But this injunction was always indif- 

 ferently complied with, and the arms they had, have 

 been so frequently called for to arm the regulars, that 

 in the lower parts of the country they are entirely dis- 

 armed. In the middle country a fourth or fifth part of 

 them may have such firelocks as they had provided to 

 destroy the noxious animals which infest their farms ; 

 and on the western side of the Blue ridge they are 

 generally armed with rifles. The pay of our militia, 

 as well as of our regulars, is that of the continental 

 regulars. The condition of our regulars, of whom we 

 have none but continentals, and part of a battalion of 

 state troops, is so constantly on the change, that a state 

 of it at this day would not be its state a month hence. 

 It is much the same with the condition of the other 

 continental troops, which is well enough known. 



QUERY X. 



The marine? 



Before the present invasion of this state by the Brit- 

 ish under the command of General Phillips, we had 

 three vessels of 16 guns, one of 14, five small gallies, 

 and two or three armed boats. They were generally 

 so badly manned as seldom to be in a condition for ser- 

 vice. Since the perfect possession of our rivers as- 



