War of the Revolution Papers, AMREV

[Item name], [Box Numbers], War of the Revolution Papers, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The War of the Revolution Papers contains a small collection of materials documenting aspects of the home front in eastern and central North Carolina during the Revolutionary War. A large number of the materials in the collection are non-original copies, though there are a number of surviving original documents from the period. The collection is divided into the following sets of records: North Carolina Board of War (1780 to 1781); Commissary Correspondence (1779 to 1783); British and Loyalist Papers; Miscellaneous Papers, 1776 to 1789; and non-original reproductions of the Declaration of Service to Accompany U.S. Pension Applications. Mostly, these are records that have survived from official North Carolina military bodies or state wartime organizations, and date from 1775 to 1783.

The War of the Revolution Papers records group is part of the Military Collection at the State Archives of North Carolina. The record group currently is composed 5 linear feet, housed in 14 archival boxes. The records group is organized in the following sets of records:

The North Carolina Board of War records document the role of the Board of War during a four and a half month period from 1780 to 1781 in the Revolutionary War. The records in this group were created while the Board would remain constantly in session with broad authority to direct military affairs, such as mobilizing troops; procuring supplies for military forces; and delivering provisions and military supplies to N.C. and Continental forces. The documents heavily cover operations of the war between Hillsborough, Halifax County, Bladen County, Randolph County, Duplin County, Surry County, Mecklenburg County Bute County (modern day Franklin and Warren Counties), Edenton, and New Bern, N.C. The records contain names of purchasing agents for the state militia and Continental troops in N.C.; movements of regional commanders of state militia; gives overview of the movements of the British Army; and discusses the effects of the 1780 battles on North Carolina troops. The records discuss troop movements, needs of the military forces in the state, issues related to supplies in various counties, and orders permitting foraging of local farms in North Carolina counties. The materials also contain random documents naming underage North Carolina militia members, farmers selling goods to state supply agents, commanders of prisoners of war in the state, and other miscellaneous pieces of information referencing North Carolinians.

The Commissary Correspondence (1779 to 1783) records detail the attempts of state, county, and military district commissaries to acquire and safeguard the state's supplies and food stores during the American Revolution. The records include receipts or transportation agreements with individual farmers, dry goods merchants, leather merchants, and others. Largely, they are official correspondence about the needs of stores-mainly food for certain military districts. The materials give a general picture of the direness of regional militia and communities' food supplies during the Revolutionary War. Much of the correspondence is from John Penn, member of the North Carolina Board of War. Other Board of War members were absent during most of the board's four-month existence, leaving Penn to act alone. Penn was elected to the governor's Council, and later became its president.

The British Orderly Book (August 28, 1780, to March 20, 1781) containing orders for British military operations in New York; British expedition to Portsmouth and then to Charleston to the Army of Cornwallis in upper S.C.; the march of Cornwallis across N.C.; the Guilford Court House campaign; and the first part of the British retreat to Wilmington, N.C. The book is a manuscript, written by two different unidentified British Army members under the command of British Major General Alexander Leslie. Occasionally, names of British North Carolina loyalists are referenced. Not much information is included, as it covers a limited period of time of the British in North Carolina. There is also a British Soldiers' Account Book (1776 to 1778), which contains the supply orders, pay, and miscellaneous financial record by soldiers' name for British soldiers (indexed by last name, then first name). The connection of this account book to North Carolina is unknown.

The Miscellaneous Papers (1776 to 1789) contains truly miscellaneous items, such as court martial records; depositions on treason, assault cases, and other incidents; pay abstracts; court inquiries into enlistments; prisoners of war lists; and mostly from local counties or military districts.

The Declaration of Service to Accompany U.S. Pension Applications is composed of negative photostats from county court minutes. There are also xerox copies from county miscellaneous papers of declarations of service by Revolutionary War veterans intending to apply for pensions, under various acts of the U.S. Congress. The originals from which these copies were made were searched for by Betty Camin for the State Archives of North Carolina. Many of the original records are in other county collections at the State Archives, Reference Staff can assist you in attempting to locate the originals if needed. The group of records is arranged alphabetical by the name of the veteran, with over 450 names represented by materials.

The State Archives of North Carolina and its precursor the North Carolina Historical Commission did not begin receiving original Revolutionary War materials in the War of the Revolution Papers until around 1922 from public donors. Other records were removed years ago from various state records groups and added to this war-themed records group. The Formal "War of the Revolution" Papers collection came into existence by the early 1960s. Records of individual soldiers or militia members is and remains scarce. Largely, the records that have survived are from official military bodies or state wartime organizations.