William Sanford Pickett is one of the ancestors responsible for my membership in SAR. He was born in Fauquier County, Virginia in 1734 and died there in 1798.
The following is taken from Jean Edward Smith's book, John Marshall: Definer of a Nation.
"In July 1775 the Virginia convention met to organize the colony's defense. In addition to providing for two regiments of regular troops (subsequently known as the Virginia Line), the convention authorized the formation of 'sixteen battalions of Minute Men,' who would be 'more strictly trained to proper discipline than hitherto been customary.' Patterned after the Massachusetts minutemen at Lexington and Concord, each man who enlisted was given a hunting shirt, a pair of leggings, and 20 shillings a year for the maintenance of his rifle or musket.*
"The first and largest batallion formed under the new ordinace was located along the frontier in the Culpepper district, which included Culpeper, Orange, and Fauquier counties. The Culpeper minutemen, as the battalion was styled numbered upward of 350 men, almost all of whom were expert marksmen. H. J. Ekenrode, Virginia' historian of the revolution, wrote that the minutemen were "by far the most efficient soldiers the colony possessed.' Madison wrote to a friend that 'the strength of this Colony will lie chiefly in the rifle-men of the Upland Counties, of whom we shall have a great number.' John Marshall, one of the earliest to enlist, was commissioned a first Lieutenant in the Fauquier Rifles, a company from Fauquier county commanded by Captain William Pickett. Isham Keith, Marshall's cousin, served as an ensign in the same company."
* "The frontier rifle was a new device in eighteenth century warfare. Developed originally as a hunting weapon by German gunsmiths in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, it was highly accurate (in experienced hands) at distances up to 200 yards. By contrast, the basic 'Brown Bess' infantry musket was reliable only at 50 yards or less. But the musket could be loaded four times more quickly (15 seconds versus one minute) and could be fitted with a bayonet, which the frontier rifle could not. Thus, the rifle became a specialized weapon for the sharpshooters of the light infantry."
(Author: Bob Steinbach August 1999.) |
