Colonel

Description:

The superior officer of a regiment, whether of infantry or cavalry. He ranks above the Lieutenant Colonel, on whom, in the British army (except in the Artillery and Engineers), the command of the regiment generally devolves, and below the general officer, who is attached to no one regiment. The title is often honorary, and conferred upon distinguished officers or princes of royal blood.

Citation

People

John Banister (1734–1788) was a planter and lawyer whose estate Battersea was near Petersburg in Dinwiddie County, Virginia. He served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1765 to 1775 and in ... Read More

Dudley Digges (1718–1790) of York County and Williamsburg, Va., was a member of the committee appointed in 1756 to supervise the expenditure of funds for the Virginia Regiment. The Virginia ... Read More

A native of Falmouth, England, Eleazer Oswald (d. 1795) had immigrated to America in 1770, and was apprenticed to John Holt, the printer of the New-York Journal. During the Revolutionary ... Read More

Abraham Barnes (died c.1778) resided for many years in St. Mary's County, Maryland. He was a merchant, who held several public offices. Barnes was also engaged for a time in military service, ... Read More

George William Fairfax (1724–1787), a relative of Thomas, Lord Fairfax, proprietor of the Northern Neck of Virginia, was the the son of William (1691-1757) and Sarah Walker Fairfax. He was ... Read More

John Randolph (c.1728-1784) practiced law in Williamsburg. He also served as attorney general of the colony of Virginia from 1766 to 1774 and was an outspoken Loyalist during the Revolutionary War ... Read More

Philadelphia merchant Clement Biddle (1740-1814) served during the Revolutionary War as commissary general of forage for the Continental army with the rank of colonel, 1777-80, and as ... Read More

John Hunter served for a time as justice of the Elizabeth City County, Va., court and as colonel of the county’s militia. He lived near Hampton, where he was also a merchant. During the French and ... Read More

John Thornton (d. 1777) resided near Fredericksburg and represented Spotsylvania County in the House of Burgesses. He was a close associate of the Washington family, and during the French and ... Read More

William Byrd III (1728–1777) was appointed, in the mid-1750s, a member of the Virginia Council. He lived at his family’s James River plantation called Westover, located in Charles City County, ... Read More

Born in England, George Lee (1714-1761) later removed to Virginia, and resided at Mount Pleasant, Westmoreland County, Virginia. In 1738 he married Judith Wormeley of Middlesex County, Va., though ... Read More

Augustine (“Austin”) Washington (1720–1762) of Pope's Creek, Westmoreland County, Virginia, was GW’s half brother. He was married to Ann Washington.

John Carlyle (1720–1780) of Scotland was a prominent merchant of Alexandria, Va., and one of the founders of that city. He was a partner in the Alexandria firms of Carlyle & Adam and of ... Read More

Daniel McCarty (d. 1792), son of Daniel McCarty (d.1724), was a wealthy planter living at Mount Air on Accotink Creek in Fairfax County. He was married to Sinah Bell McCarty (d. 1798) with whom he ... Read More

Samuel Washington (1734–1781), the eldest of GW’s three younger brothers, left Ferry Farm in the mid–1750s and settled on a 600–acre plantation in the Chotank district of Stafford County, Va., ... Read More

William Crawford (1732-1782), brother of Valentine Crawford and husband to Hannah Vance Crawford, was, in 1755, commissioned an ensign in the company of scouts attached to the Virginia Regiment. ... Read More

Book page

Pages

Subscribe to Colonel