Troop Returns Collection, 1747-1893, TRPR

[Item name], [Box Numbers], Troop Returns Collection, Military Collection, State Archives of North Carolina, Raleigh, N.C.

The Troop Returns Collection contains accumulated North Carolina regional or state militia and volunteer unit lists, covering the period from 1747 to 1893, with the bulk of the records dating from 1763 to 1794. The records include lists, returns, records of prisoners, and records of draftees. The majority of this collection is related to the Revolutionary War, with 221 individual rosters, troop returns, and muster rolls for state and local militia, volunteers, and draftees from the period 1763 to 1794. As well lists of N.C. and Continental prisoner of war lists and prisoner transfer lists, the collection includes service oaths; enlistment oath and records; a list of general and field officers in the Continental Troops during the American Revolution.

The Troop Returns Collection contains lists, which are generally organized chronologically by year, then in order in collection by county name, name of the commanding officer organizing or commanding the unit, or by federal service unit number. The various documents are organized or defined as follows. Lists are usually pay or muster rolls. Returns are usually field or general return, and report the names of the officers and the number of enlisted men under the commanding officer. Prisoner records, which may be lists of British prisoners, North Carolina Continental Line officers captured by the British, or lists of the prison guards during the Revolutionary War. Draft and enlistment records give the names of the enlisted men and sometimes include descriptions of individual men: height, age, coloring, etc. The majority of Continental Line records are field returns, general returns, draft records, and enlistment records. These may be organized by military unit or by location. Militia records generally include the names of the officers and soldiers, and are typically organized by district or county. Locations mentioned in these records are historical, and boundaries lines may have changed

The troop lists in the collection are all that the State Archives of North Carolina knows to have survived. The Troop Returns Collection began being collected sometime prior to the 1940s by the North Carolina Historical Commission (precursor of the State Archives of North Carolina), and later the State Archives of North Carolina. They were not collected by the state as official state records; these records exist because they were donated over the years or cobbled together from private and public donors. The Troop Returns Collection were and are kept separate from War of the Revolution Papers of the Military Collection, as they are considered militia lists instead of wartime service records. The collection is arranged in 8 Hollinger archival boxes.

This collection is organized into series:

1. Militia, 1747-1754

2. Militia, 1755-1773

3. Militia, 1774-1779

4. Continental Line, 1775-1778

5. Continental Line, 1779-1780

6. Continental Line, 1780-1783

7. Militia, 1780-1799

8. Militia, 1801-1893