Proposed message to Office of Military History, Department of the Army Sir: Recently I have been investigating the units involved in the 1781 operations in Virginia leading up to Yorktown and the surrender of the British on 19 Oct 1781. Of particular interest is Gaskins' VA Battalion/Regiment also known as the 1st VA Battalion about which there seems to be some confusion over the battalion command. My understanding is as follows. With the Virginia Continental Line being captured at Charleston in 1780, stragglers and escapees were returning to VA. With the British moving northward from Charleston. Virginia was desperate to recreate a force to replace the lost units. Through collecting the veterans of Charleston and the levying of the militia from the counties, the 1st VA Battalion (aka The Virginia Battalion) was organized under Lt. Col. Thomas Gaskins (previously of the 5th VA Regt of 1778). Command of the Battalion was briefly (less than a month) taken over by Colonel Christian Febiger and then returned to Col. Gaskins by General LaFayette. Gaskins commanded the 1st VA Battalion until after the surrender on 19 Oct. 1781 at Yorktown of Lord Cornwallis. Lt. Col. Thomas Posey succeeded Gaskins as commander. Documents transcribed from Wright's "The Continental Army" state- <<On February 12, 1781, a board of officers met at Chesterfield Court House, Virginia and created the First Virginia Regiment as a "paper" organization. With over 1,300 Virginia Continentals still held prisoner at Charleston, South Carolina, the reorganization was largely designed to establish relative seniority of the officers. The personnel who had managed to escape capture were formed into a temporary battalion under Lt. Col. Thomas Posey.>> This quote is inconsistent with the record that in a squabble over seniority Col. Christian Febiger took over The Virginia Battalion from Lt. Col. Thomas Gaskins (for less than a month) until General LaFayette reinstated Gaskins who commanded through the Fall of Yorktown in October 1781. Posey took command from Gaskins in the late fall of 1781. _______________ David, Any comment? Best regards, Hugh <[email protected]>