[BlueTrain]

And they impeached Johnson, too, didn't they?

Any idea of when and where British troops were stationed in Virginia befoe the war started? It doesn't really have any bearing on the 2nd amendment, which didn't happen for anothereight years. Just a matter of curiosity.

I did another search through the reference I mentioned earlier in the History of the Middle New River Settlements. First, I should point out that there was a lack of precise terminology and organization in these matters. However, it was clearly state troops (referred to as such) that were used on the frontier in Virginia during the period of the 1760s and 1770s. They were raised or called out by the governor, who was a royal appointee. There is also mention of the militia, too, but it isn't clear if the writer was referring to the same troops or not.

The question of regional governments may not be settled but during the frontier period in Virginia, there were few town governments. But county governments were formed as soon as possible. The so-called state troops I mentioned served along the frontier, here referring just to what is now southwestern Virginia, where there were not yet any country governments. While the settlers were really on the frontier, they were not really so isolated or uninformed as we may think either.

These state troops were apparently not large in numbers but neither were the settlers. The troops were organized along military lines and did have ranks. No mention is made of their weapons, that is, where they were obtained but since things seem to always have their origin in Williamsburg, one might assume they came from the magazine, which is still there, across the street from the courthouse.

In all fairness to the vague description of military matters just before the revolution in western Virginia, it was a history of the settlements, not a history of the militia. It was published in 1906. The revolution had started only 130 years earlier.