Edward Vail
Chowan County, Chowan County, North Carolina
Marker Inscription
Edward Vail 1717 1777. Colonial statesman and Brigadier General of the Edenton District militia. Member, N.C. Committee of Correspondence, 1768, 1773-74. Lived 2 mi. SW.
Erected by North Carolina Department of Cultural Resources
The Story
Edward Vail was a colonial statesman who served as a brigadier general of the Edenton District militia and sat on North Carolina's Committee of Correspondence in 1768 and again in 1773-74. Those committees knit the colonies together in the years of mounting resistance to British rule, placing Vail among the local leaders who carried the Revolution forward. He lived about two miles southwest.
Why it matters
Vail was one of the provincial leaders who turned local grievance into organized revolution, linking eastern North Carolina to the wider American cause.
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Related people
- Β· Edward Vail
Related events
- Β· North Carolina Committee of Correspondence
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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Chowan County Courthouse
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