> I have always taken umbrage with those lineage societies that have
> determined that because the only record of a man's service is that he
failed
> to make a muster or two and was fined, his descendants are not eligible
for
> membership. But a person who gives a "pot" is a patriot. Augusta County
> during the Revolution is a good case in point, since the fine book exists,
> and there are few other records relating to the Augusta militia.
>
> To my thinking, if the court meets and a soldier is not on the list of
those
> being fined then he must have appeared for muster. If he can be fined by
the
> court then he is under military jurisdiction which makes him a member of
the
> militia. At the time of the court he is a member of the militia.
> If we gave every person in the
> military who missed movement or failed to make muster an other than
> honorable discharge we would not have much of a military left. I do not
have the same feeling for deserters, but an occasional muster fine now and
then just proves that our ancestors were real people.
>
> To say that just because you are in the militia during the time period of
a
> war does not constitute active service is too simple an explanation,
> especially in Virginia. Given the way that units were rotated in and out
of
> the Tidewater area during the war or Baltimore for that matter, almost
every
> county was affected. Even after the war was over units from as far away as
> Harrison County were being ordered to Richmond. [Captain Forbes Britton
Troop of Cavalry and Captain Nathan Davis' Company among others from the
county were ordered to Richmond under General Orders dated 15 January 1815.]
>
> One document to look for would be an "unindexed" bounty land file in the
> National Archives. Since you know the name of the Captain it should be
easy
> to locate, if it exists.

Since William Estes Captain neither appears in the Virgina Auditors List or
the Stuart Lee Butler book, "A Guide to Virginia Militia Units in the War of
1812" it does not appear that muster rolls for this company are extant in
either the Library of Virginia or the National Archives. It will just make
the confirmation of service more difficult to prove.
>
> Just my two cents, but I only spent twenty years in the military service.
>
> C.
>
> Craig R. Scott, CGRS
> CEO & President
> Heritage Books, Inc.
> Willow Bend Books (a division of Heritage Books, Inc.)
> 65 East Main Street
> Westminster, MD 21157-5062
> 800 876-6103
>
> Visit our websites at www.HeritageBooks.com and www.WillowBendBooks.com
>
>
>
>
>
> Those who wish to turn service for their country into a country club
> exclusivity are beneath contempt. Military discipline of the period was
> harsh, and these fines, while small to our thinking, are quite large. For
> example, a private in the Union Army during the Civil War made $13 a
month,
> so $1.50 is more than 10% of his salary. I doubt the financial differences
> were much different four decades before.
>
> Unfortunately, being on the militia roles does not prove service in the
> militia (all able-bodied white males of a certain age were expected to be
> part of the militia). Nor does service in the militia prove active service
> in the War of 1812. The spotty records for the 19th Century leave many
such
> questions even for a war as thoroughly documented as the Civil War, where
> I'm more well-versed.
>

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