In the Culpeper Courthouse, on Oct. 21, 1765, 16 of the 20 members of the County Court of Culpeper, holding commissions as Justices of the Peace from King George III, resigned and relinquished their commissions in protest of the Stamp Act. Nine years later, the citizens of Culpeper held a mass meeting, fiercely condemned the British Parliament, and pledged themselves to defend their rights with their "lives and fortunes".

At the Virginia convention held May, 1775, in Richmond, the colony was divided into 16 districts and each district instructed to raise the discipline a battalion of men "to march at a minute's notice". Culpeper, Fauquier, and Orange, forming one district, raised a cadre of 350 men called the Culpeper Minute Men. Organized July 17, 1775, under a large oak tree in "Clayton's old field" (later known as Catalpa Farm), the Minute Men took part in the Battle of Great Bridge, the first Revolutionary battle on Virginia soil. The Culpeper Minute Men flag is inscribed with the words, "Liberty or Death" and "Don't Tread on Me".

In 1860 the Culpeper Minute Men were reorganized under the rattlesnake flag. The company's staff was organized under the same oak tree where the Minute Men of 1775 were formed. When war came the men were mustered in under Co. B, 13th Infantry. Other Culpeper companies organized for Confederate service were the Little Fork Rangers and Brandy Rifles.

A great deal of action took place in the county during the war, and several battles - notably Cedar Mountain and Brandy Station - and engagements were fought on Culpeper soil. Both armies marched through, fought, and camped in the county repeatedly during the four-year struggle. During the winter of 1863-64, Grant's Army of 100,000 men camped within its borders.

The Culpeper Minute Men were again mustered into service for the Spanish-American War but did not see active duty.

Source of above: http://www.culpepermuseum.com/history.htm

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Source of the following (below) is: http://gen.culpepper.com/archives/va/culpeper/minutemen.htm

The Minute Battalion of
Culpeper County, Virginia
1775 - 1776

Left to Right: Private Man, Officer in Captain Taliaferro's Company, Private Man, Officer in Captain Wm. Pickett's Company

Military Uniforms in America Plate No. 259
Copyright 1973 by Company of Military Historians

Provided to Culpepper Connections! by Chip Culpepper who received it from Gene Norris Culpepper.

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The Following (below) is from the following source: http://www.liming.org/nwta/culform.html

THE FORMATION OF THE MINUTE BATTALION

By Kyle Willyard

Soon after Dunmore removed the colony’s powder, Patrick Henry led a group of armed volunteers toward the capitol to demand the return of the powder or payment for it. Governor Dunmore backed down and payment was made.

Tensions between the colonists and British government continued to worsen though. Lord Dunmore, no longer able to remain in control, fled Williamsburg and took refuge on a British man-of-war.

In response to the rising threat of a war. with Great Britian, the Assembly of Virginia ordered that a Committee of Safety should be appointed to take measures for the defense of the colony. In July 1775, the assembly "found it necessary in the present time of danger," to authorize two regiments of regular troops and sixteen battalions of minutemen, "for the better defense of the colony against invasions and insurrection."

The convention divided the colony into 16 districts, each including from one to four counties. Each district was to provide one battalion of minutemen, raised from the militia, "more strictly trained to proper discipline than hath been hitherto customary." (Sanchez-Saavedra, p.4-5)

The largest battalion was formed in the Culpeper District, which was comprised from the counties of Culpeper, Orange, and Fauquier. By September 1775, about three hundred men had been recruited and divided into companies. The committee of safety commissioned Lawrence Taliaferro of Orange County to be colonel, and Edward Stevens of Faquier County to be major of the battalion. They also commissioned ten captains for the companies into which the battalion was distributed. (Sanchez-Saavedra, p.5)

One of the privates in Captain John Jameson's newly formed company was sixteen-year old Philip Slaughter. Philip's father, Captain James Slaughter, had command of another company. Philip, unlike most youths of the time, began a journal that he kept until 1849. In it, he describes the formation of the battalion.

"We encamped in Clayton's old field (at Catalpa, the home of Philip Clayton). Some had tents, and others huts of plank, &c. The whole regiment appeared according to orders in hunting shirts made of strong brown linen, dyed the color of the leaves of the trees, and on the breast was worked in large white letters the words, "Liberty or Death"! and all that could procure for love or money buck's tails, wore them in their hats. Each man had a leather belt around his shoulders, with a tomahawk and scalping knife. The flag had in the center a rattlesnake coiled in the act to strike. Below it were the words, "Don't tread on me!" At the sides, "Liberty or Death"! and at the top, "The Culpeper Minute Men."" (Green, p.13)

Major Thomas Marshal was accompanied by his nineteen-year-old son, John, who would later become the first chief justice of the United States. John was commissioned a lieutenant in Captain William Pickett's company. He served as a drillmaster, teaching the new recruits the manual of exercise as ordered by His Brittanic Majesty in 1764, the standard drill manual of the time. Lieutenant Marshall, something of a dandy, appeared at the encampment in a "purple, or pale blue hunting shirt and trousers of the same material fringed with white." (Beveridge, p. 72)

Philip Slaughter wrote in his journal, "During our encampment an express arrived from Patrick Henry, commandant of the First Virginia Continental Regiment, by order of the committee of safety, then sitting in the city of Williamsburg, requesting the Minute Men to march immediately to that city, as Governor Dunmore had conveyed powder and military stores from the magazine to a British man-of-war, etc., etc. The Minute Men immediately made ready and marched with all possible dispatch, and in a few days reached the city of Williamsburg. (Green, p.13)

The Minute Battalion had taken several weeks to assemble and make the 150 mile march. On October 20, 1775, readers of Alexander Purdie's Virginia Gazette were informed that "the Culpeper Battalion of minutemen, all fine fellows, and well-armed are now within a few hours march of this city." (Virginia Gazette)

Apparently not everyone read or was convinced by Mr. Purdie's words of admiration. The appearance of the battalion in the capital city caused quite a stir. Slaughter writes, "Many people hearing that we were from the backwoods, near the Indians, and seeing our dress were as much afraid of us for a few days as if we had been Indians; but finding that we were orderly and attentive in guarding the city, they treated us with great respect. We took great pride in demeaning ourselves as patriots and gentlemen." (Green, p.13)

Men were pouring into the city of Williamsburg from all over the colony. The capital was soon turned into a makeshift armed camp. The gardens behind the capitol and at the other end of town behind the College of William and Mary were dotted with tents, and the ground in both places was soon trampled to mud. Taverns did booming business each night and apothecaries made handsome profits in the morning by serving hangover remedies to the unruly new recruits.

While in Williamsburg, officers and men alike took the opportunity to replenish their clothing and supplies. Account books are full of purchases for rifles, muskets, powder, hunting shirts & etc. According to Public Store records, Colonel Taliaferro bought a stand of colors, along with one drum and two fifes. On the same day, eight yards of white shalloon were received for camp colors for the army in Williamsburg. All companies received blue "half--thicks" for enlisted men's leggings and the "best blue stroud" for officers' leggings. Other items included duck for pouches and oznabrig for knapsacks and haversacks. (Company of Military Historians, p. 110) Many officers bought supplies from William Armistead's regimental store, which operated out of Joseph Hornsby's tailor shop. (Sanchez-Saavedra, p.7)

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The Minute Battalion of Culpeper County, Virginia 1775 - 1776

THE FORMATION OF THE MINUTE BATTALION

The Minute Battalion of
Culpeper County, Virginia
1775 - 1776