This page follows our family into the day-to-day geography of the military action of the Revolution—where they drilled, marched, stood watch, fought, and sometimes vanished for months at a time into militia duty or Continental service. These men served with their neighbors as commissioned officers, enlisted soldiers, minutemen, and volunteer militia—answering the call alongside virtually every other able-bodied man in their communities, often leaving farms, trades, and young families behind with little notice and no guarantee of return.

Chronological Order of Military Action from 1774 to 1781

Interactive Map of Military Action

Each marker shows a specific battle, skirmish, encampment, or militia post—at a glance, and who was there. Click the links above for more details on the specific event.

Interactive Map of Military Action
Battle of Yorktown (Aug 1781) Williamsburg Stand off (May 1775) Militia Training Afton Va (Nov 1775) Battle of Great Bridge (Dec 1775) Battle of Saratoga Battle of Gwynn Island Halifax, NC Cherokee Campaign (1776) Winter at Valley Forge (1777-1778) Crossing the Delaware (Dec 24, 1776) Battle of Princeton (1777) Battle of Monmouth (1778) Battle of Charleston (1780)

Battle of Yorktown (Aug 1781)

Battle of Yorktown

Williamsburg Stand off (May 1775)

Capt. James Higginbotham, Lt. Joseph Cabell, and Ensign Nicholas Cabell lead a Company of 100 men from Amherst County to Williamsburg

Militia Training Afton Va (Nov 1775)

Two Amherst County minutemen militias of about 50 men each were formed—one under Capt. Nicholas Cabell with John Gilmer and Ben Taliaferro and 3rd Lt. Robert Horsley, and another under Capt. Gabriel Penn with David Shepherd and James Pamplin. They trained near Afton alongside militias from Augusta and Albemarle Counties.

Battle of Great Bridge (Dec 1775)

The volunteer and minutemen militia of Amherst County under Major Joseph Cabell and Capt. Nicholas Cabell fought at the Battle of Great Bridge.

Battle of Saratoga

Battle of Gwynn Island

Halifax, NC

After the Fifth Virginia Convention, Virginia leaders called the minute-men into active service, and Nicholas Cabell’s company traveled down the James River by canoe to Richmond, then marched overland to Halifax, North Carolina. Halifax was a key ammunition depot and supply center in 1776, where North Carolina’s provincial congress also ordered the establishment of saltpeter works to support gunpowder production.

Cherokee Campaign (1776)

The Cherokee War unfolded across the backcountry frontier in 1776. With an estimated 3,000 musket-armed warriors, the Cherokee Nation launched major attacks on South Carolina settlements on July 1, and fighting continued through late summer and early fall. Violence and retaliation spread along the frontier from Virginia to Georgia.

Winter at Valley Forge (1777-1778)

Crossing the Delaware (Dec 24, 1776)

George Washington’s army crossed the ice-choked Delaware River on the night of December 25–26, 1776, launching the surprise march to Trenton. Captain Samuel Cabell and other Virginians were among the troops who made the crossing and helped set up the dawn attack on the Hessian garrison.

Battle of Princeton (1777)

Battle of Monmouth (1778)

Battle of Charleston (1780)

In The Cabells & Their Kin, Virginian historian Alexander Brown notes that Amherst County’s militia numbered about 1,200 men from January 1776 to January 1781. Of these, roughly 350 entered Continental service, and about 200 of those who remained saw active duty in state militia service. For most, the war was not a single, continuous heroic campaign. It was a patchwork of alarms and trainings, skirmishes and supply runs, short terms of duty, and long stretches of uncertainty—often marked by hard travel, sickness, loss, and, for some, imprisonment. But between January 4 and October 19, 1781—when British forces swept through Virginia, driving the legislature from place to place and culminating in the siege at Yorktown—nearly every able-bodied man still in the county was likely engaged in the state’s defense in some capacity. See reference by Seaman for the most detailed list of Amherst County soldiers contributions in the Revolutionary War.

Works COnsulted
  1. Brown, Alexander. The Cabells and their Kin: A Memorial Volume of History, Biography, and Genealogy. Richmond, Va.: Garrett and Massie, Inc., 1939. First published 1895.
  2. Cabell Family Papers, 1727-1875, Accession # 5084, Albert H. and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia, Charlottesville, Va.
  3. Cabell, William, Sr. Commonplace Books, 1769–1795. MSS5:5 C1117:1–9. Manuscripts Collection. Virginia Museum of History and Culture, Richmond, VA.
  4. Faden, William, and Thomas Jefferys. “The British Colonies in North America.” Map. In The North American Atlas, Selected from the Most Authentic Maps, Charts, Plans, &c. Hitherto Published. London: Printed for William Faden, successor to the late Mr. Thomas Jeffreys, 1777. Library of Congress.
  5. Nance, Joanne Lovelace. “Revolutionary War Minute Men.” Magazine of Virginia Genealogy 31, no. 4 (November 1993). See this publication for names of minutemen militia under Nicholas Cabell.
  6. Seaman, Catherine Hawes Coleman. Tuckahoe and Cohee: The Settlers and Cultures of Amherst and Nelson Counties, 1607–1807. Sweet Briar, VA: Sweet Briar College Printing Press, 1992.
  7. Sweeny, Lenora Higginbotham. Amherst County, Virginia in the Revolution: Including Extracts from the “Lost Order Book” 1773–1782. Lynchburg, VA: J. P. Bell Company, 1951.