Evaluating evidence is a task unto itself. The information may have been recorded with full attention to getting it right, and perhaps it was correctly recorded. Sometimes though we are left wondering what the written word means. My favorite example is the set of information called the Culpeper Classes.
We have more than fourteen hundred names set down rather carefully. What does the presence of a name here mean? One viewpoint is that the presence here indicates a man was a member of the militia, and that he performed service in the cause of the Revolution. Another view is that names appeared without regard to the desires of the individual; he had no choice in the matter. In this latter view the list of names is nothing more than a draft list.
We might start by looking at how the men themselves viewed this draft. It was part of an operation by the state of Virginia to raise men for duty with the Army. Of the 106 men who were designated or selected in Culpeper County, 4 apparently volunteered for the duration of the war, 47 agreed to serve for 18 months, 29 of them were drafted or conscripted, 12 refused to serve, 12 absconded, and 2 were sick. We have no knowledge of which of the 106 men did what (within the Culpeper Class lists themselves).
The figures above are misleading. First, many of the men who were selected hired someone else to take their place. The figures above are for the final man and obscure the initial selection or draft who may have hired someone else to take his place. Several of the classes (thirteen or fourteen men in each) opted to avoid the draft altogether by simply having each member of the class contribute to the hiring of a substitute for the class. One class hired a substitute, then underwent the selection process to see who in the class would get the credit for the service.
Serving in the Army was definitely not popular. It is hard to escape the view that the men had no choice in whether their names would appear in the lists. If selected, then many of them tried to avoid the consequences.
In some cases, the substitution of one name for another was a decision reached in a family. Since men were not exempted for marriage or a family, a single man within a family was substituted for a married man with children.
My feeling is that the appearance of a name in the Culpeper Classes does not indicate an individual did anything for the cause of the Revolution. A number of people who were selected did serve, and, to the extent that other sources can verify the service, then he should have credit.
But my major point is that having a primary or original record may not be what it seems to be. In some cases, one must study the records to learn more than a possible face value of the evidence.
(19 Feb 01)
We gratefully acknowledge the work of John Blankenbaker who published over 2,500 Germanna History Notes via the Germanna-L@rootsweb.com email list from 1997 to 2008. We are equally thankful to George Durman (Sgt. George) for hosting the list and republishing the notes via rootsweb.com.