By Ernest Williams
With 2026 being the 250th anniversary of the U.S. (sometimes referred to with the awkward term “semiquincentennial”), many are interested in the participation of Cabells in the revolutionary war. The most recent Cabell newsletter (June 2026) included links to a remarkably detailed and enlightening collection of information about Cabells through the revolutionary period (https://cabell.com/america-250/). It’s a tour de force, and if you missed it, you should try again! To supplement that collection, below is an early summary of Cabell involvement. The source is an 1881 letter from Nathaniel Francis Cabell (NFC, 1807-1891, of Liberty Hall) to his son-in-law William Daniel Cabell (1834-1904). NFC was deeply interested in family and wrote a document first drafted in 1851 and entitled “Cabelliana or Notes & Memoranda concerning The Cabells of Va” that was a spur and source of information for Alexander Brown in writing The Cabells and Their Kin. Here is part of a letter NFC wrote in 1881 (transcribed exactly as he wrote it) in response to a request for information about Cabells in the revolutionary war. It was a centennial (100 year) response! In this letter he refers to three sons of William Cabell the Founder: William Cabell Sr (1st son, 1730-1798), Joseph Cabell (2nd son, 1732-1798), and Nicholas Cabell (4th son, 1750-1803) as well as two grandsons, Samuel J. Cabell (1756-1818) and William Cabell Jr. (1759-1822).
Warminster, Va Feb. 16th 1881.
For the rest, it would be more becoming in us to confine our attention to certain of the Representative men of our own Family. Of these I may mention Col Wm Cabell Sr & his three brothers. _ His eldest son, Col. Saml J. Cabell raised the first company of Riflemen for the service, in Old Amherst. This company formed a part of Morgan’s Command, & was the first to take position in the Battle of Saratoga; & Morgan’s Rifles, as we know, decided the fate of the Day – which virtually ended the War in the North. – Col. S.J.C. afterwards sat in the Va convention of 1789, & was M.C. from this District. _ Col. Nicholas Cabell, (the 4th brother) about the same time raised a company of Minute Men, which was taken from him & sent under Col. Lewis (of Albe) to the Sou. West to fight the Indians. N.C. (my Gr father) then raised another, with which he marched to Williamsburg. _ In the latter scenes of the War, yr Grandfather, Col. Wm Cabell Jr was Major of the Amherst Battalion which served under Lafayette. _ His uncle Joseph Cabell (2nd of the 4 brothers) commanded the Buckingham Regiment, which was at Yorktown – and on their March took in the Students of Wmsburg, which were formed into a company for that purpose.
Yrs truly,
N. Franc Cabell
