1780-1804

FILI serves in war and peace

A Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry muster book contains minutes from the first meeting in 1793.

President George Washington had only a small army - and no standing navy - to respond to threats, foreign and domestic.

So in May 1792, Congress passed the Militia Act, requiring towns to form infantry, artillery or cavalry companies composed of men ages 18 to 45.

Eighteen months later, on the banks of Cross Creek near Cool Spring, Cumberland County men assembled to form the Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry.

The citizen soldiers equipped themselves with "good muskets" or flintlock rifles as required by Congress. Arms and uniforms were paid for by the militia members.

Robert Adam was elected captain; John Winslow, lieutenant; and Robert Cochran, ensign, at the first meeting on Aug. 23, 1793.

Issac Hammond, a free black man who was a barber, was named the company fifer.

The men "highly appreciate the blessing of peace," according to company minutes from 1807. "Yet as citizen soldiers they are ever ready to avenge an insult offered to their country."

The Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry responded to every war from the War of 1812 to World War I.

The only president it refused was Abraham Lincoln. On April 15, 1861, Lincoln called for troops after the attack on Fort Sumter in Charleston, S.C. Seven days later, the FILI seized the federal arsenal in Haymount for the Confederacy.

The FILI offered its services to President Roosevelt in 1940. Roosevelt commended the group for its offer but said the company would not be called up as a unit.

The company also helped with civil affairs such as looking for felons, escorting prisoners and ceremonial duties. In 1799, the company formed at the county jail to escort a prisoner to his hanging.

In 1825, the company escorted the Marquis de Lafayette into town on his visit.

The FILI is still active as a ceremonial unit and is the second-oldest militia unit in the country.