It is important to remember that when the county form of government was established in Virginia in 1634, there were no professional armies to defend the colonists as there were in Europe.
In lieu of such, Europeans
living on the North American continent formed themselves into local militia
units. Over time this process became
codified. For over two and a half
centuries every able-bodied white male from the age of sixteen years was required by
law to be a member of his local militia unit.
In Virginia, the militia units were organized by the county government which often conformed to a watershed of a specific river. The units therefore had both numerical and county designations. Often they were referred to by the river valley from which they came.
Due to the fragmentary nature of many of the earlier records much has to be inferred, but it is known from the records which do exist that all able-bodied men were required to attend four company musters, one battalion muster and one regimental muster annually. If a man did not, he was fined. The fines were used for the support of the militia.
It is important to remember that the local militia was not just a local defense force, but it was a hierarchical command structure with the governor at the top, filtering down to encompass and include the poorest landowner in the county.
There were a few exceptions made for specified reasons as are specified in county
court records or militia books on the county level. An example of this would be that a man would be excused from military duty due to the fact that he had no teeth because without teeth he could not eat the normal military rations of jerky and hardtack which soldiers of the era depended upon.
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