Virginia: Edward Carrington

Like the majority of his colleagues in the U.S. Marshal Service, Edward 

Carrington was active in local politics and was a veteran of the 

American Revolution. Born in Cumberland County, VA on February 11, 

1748, Carrington worked as a lawyer, gentleman planter, and a local 

politician before the American Revolution began.134 In 1775, he 

became a member of the Goochland County Revolutionary Committee 

and when the Continental Army accepted the Virginia artillery unit in 

March 1776, Carrington was one of the unit’s lieutenants.

Almost a year and a half after the battles of Lexington and Concord, 

Carrington joined the First Continental Artillery as a lieutenant colonel 

and participated in the battles of Monmouth Courthouse (June 28, 

1778), Hobkirk's Hill (April 25, 1781) and the siege of Yorktown 

(September 28–October 19, 1781) among a host of other battles.135 136 Additionally, Carrington

served as General Nathaniel Greene’s Chief of the Quartermaster Department during Greene’s

Southern Campaign of 1781 and after the siege of Yorktown through the end of the war 

(September 3, 1783).137 After the American Revolution, Carrington initially returned to his 

private life as a lawyer and manger of his estates, but returned to public service as a Virginian 

delegate to the Continental Congress from 1786-1788.138 139 

Because of his long and honorable history of public service, and because they had become such 

close friends and confidants, President Washington appointed Carrington as the first U.S. 

marshal for Virginia in September 1789. As such, Carrington was charged with the monumental 

task of ensuring that his 68 deputies counted Virginia’s population in a timely manner.140 

Unfortunately, the 1790 Census schedule for Virginia was destroyed when the British burned 

Washington D.C. in 1814, so there are few details of actual enumeration process. However the 

final report shows that Carrington and his deputies completed their enumeration by October 

 

134 “History - The First Generation of United States Marshals/The First Marshal of Virginia: Edward Carrington,” U.S. 

marshals Service, last estimated release October 23, 2019, 

https://www.usmarshals.gov/history/firstmarshals/carrington.htm. (Accessed October 23, 2019).

135 Ibid.

136 “Carrington, Edward, (1748 - 1810),” Biographical Directory of the United States Congress, last estimated 

release October 23, 2019, http://bioguide.congress.gov/scripts/biodisplay.pl?index=c000183. (Accessed October 

23, 2019). 

137 “Lieutenant Colonel Edward Carrington/Carrington, Edward. 1749-1810,” National Park Service, last estimated 

release February 26, 2015, https://www.nps.gov/york/learn/historyculture/carringtonbio.htm. (Accessed October 

23, 2019). 

138 “History - The First Generation of United States Marshals/The First Marshal of Virginia: Edward Carrington.” 

139 “Carrington, Edward, (1748 - 1810).”

140 "Summary of population of Virginia, by counties: 1790," in Heads of Families/1790/A Century of Population 

Growth Virginia (Washington, D.C,: Government Printing Office, 1908), NA:9.
24, 1791 and Virginia was the most populous state, with a population of 747,610 people.141 142

 

For the monumental task of overseeing the enumeration of the largest state, Carrington also 

made the largest paycheck—500 dollars.143 

Carrington served as a marshal for a bit more than two years, before becoming Virginia’s 

Supervisor of Revenues—a more lucrative federal appointment—in 1791.

144

 In 1794, 

Carrington retired from federal service and returned to his life as a private citizen, although 

President John Adams appointed him to the position of Quartermaster General of the U.S. 

Army in 1798.

145

 In 1807, Carrington entered public service for the last time as the foreman of 

the jury that acquitted Aaron Burr during his treason trial.146 147 He died in Richmond, VA on 

October 28, 1810.

 

141 “Virginia”. Return of the whole number of persons within the several districts of the United States: according to 

"An act providing for the enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States," passed March the first, one 

thousand seven hundred and ninety-one, pg. 50. PDF. Retrieved from

https://www.census.gov/content/census/en/library/publications/1793/dec/number-of-persons.htm. (Accessed 

October 23, 2019).

142 “Schedule of the whole number of persons within several districts of the United States...,”Return of the whole 

number of persons within the several districts of the United States: according to "An act providing for the 

enumeration of the inhabitants of the United States," passed March the first, one thousand seven hundred and 

ninety-one, pg. 3.

143 Gazette of the United-States. [volume] (New-York [N.Y.]), 10 March 1790.

144 “Spirits, Foreign and Domestic, Communicated to the Congress, November 1, 1791,” American State Papers, NA, 

Finance 1: 110. Retrieved from https://memory.loc.gov/cgibin/ampage?collId=llsp&fileName=009/llsp009.db&Page=110. (Accessed October 23, 2019). 

145 The U.S. was on the brink of war with France, when relations normalized, it eliminated the need for this 

position. 

146 “History - The First Generation of United States Marshals/The First Marshal of Virginia: Edward Carrington.” 

147 “Carrington, Edward, (1748 - 1810).”