Location: NC 32 at Soundside Road south of Edenton
County: Chowan
Original Date Cast: 2015
Edward Vail, colonial official and militia leader, was born in 1717 and first appears in Chowan County records in 1749 when he and his brother petitioned for permission to operate a mill. As a militia captain in 1754, he raised troops to fight in the French and Indian War under the command of Col. James Innes. Vail and about 750 other men were sent to Virginia. Captain Vail and his troops supported Governor William Tryon in the campaign against the Regulators in 1771.
Vail represented Chowan County in the colonial assembly frequently between 1754 and 1774. A well-respected member of his community and the colony overall, he was appointed to serve as a member of North Carolina’s Committee of Correspondence in 1768, 1773, and 1774. Work on the committee brought Vail in contact with leaders from other colonies who sought to increase communication among the diverse and far-flung population in an effort to unify the colonies. His wife, Susannah Salter Vail, was among the signers of the 1774 resolution that came to be known as the Edenton Tea Party.
Vail remained active in the militia throughout his life and was appointed brigadier general of the Edenton District militia in 1776. The other brigadier generals that year were as follows: Richard Caswell (New Bern District), John Ashe (Wilmington District), Thomas Person (Hillsborough District), Griffith Rutherford (Salisbury District), and Allen Jones (Halifax District). Vail was reappointed in May of 1777, but he died on June 5, 1777.
References:
Colonial and State Records at Documenting the American South: http://docsouth.unc.edu/csr/
William S. Powell, ed., Dictionary of North Carolina Biography, VI, 82—sketch by William S. Smith
Elizabeth Moore Collection, North Carolina State Archives