Adjutant General of North Carolina

Head of the North Carolina National Guard

Adjutant General of North Carolina
Seal of the North Carolina National Guard
General officer flag
Incumbent Major General Todd Hunt, NCARNG since December 1, 2019 (2019-12-01)
Militia of North Carolina
Member of	National Guard
Reports to	The Governor
Seat	Raleigh, North Carolina
Appointer	The Governor with Senate advice and consent
Term length	No fixed term
Inaugural holder	Brigadier General Benjamin Smith, North Carolina Militia
Formation	1806

The adjutant general of North Carolina, also known as the Adjutant General of the North Carolina National Guard, is the head of the North Carolina National Guard. The position was established in 1806, when the Militia Acts of 1792 required each U.S. state to establish the position to better train the militia. The adjutant general is appointed by the North Carolina governor and requires five years prior military service.

History

In its early history, North Carolina's militia lacked organization.^[1] The Militia Acts of 1792 and 1795 by the U.S. Congress, required the North Carolina legislature in 1806 to create the Adjutant General's Office to better organize and train the state militia.^[2] The statutory duties of the adjutant general were to pass orders from the governor to the militia, supplying forms to militia officers, attending reviews of forces, and reporting to the governor, the General Assembly, and the president of the United States.^[1]

Shortly after North Carolina seceded from the United States in 1861 and joined the Confederate States, the General Assembly passed a new militia law which authorized the adjutant general to serve as quartermaster and paymaster general and chief of ordnance of North Carolina's forces. The defeat of the Confederacy left the militia and the Department of the Adjutant General disorganized.^[3] In 1877 the General Assembly reorganized the militia into the North Carolina State Guard, still under the leadership of the adjutant general.^[4] During the Spanish–American War of 1898, state guard forces were not called into federal service, but the Department of the Adjutant General reorganized the North Carolina forces to allow members to leave and volunteer for federal duty.^[3] In 1903 the name of the North Carolina State Guard was changed to North Carolina National Guard in compliance with federal legislation.^[4]

The adjutant general assisted with federal deployments of the National Guard during the Pancho Villa Expedition and World War I, and helped administer the Selective Service System. The Department of the Adjutant General also assisted with a post-war reorganization of the National Guard.^[3] In 1941 the General Assembly passed a law mandating that the adjutant general reestablished the State Guard while the state National Guard units were pressed into federal service, which had occurred due to the outbreak of World War II. The State Guard was disbanded in 1947 as the National Guard was relinquished from federal duty, and the adjutant general assisted with the post-war reorganization.^[3]

Duties

The adjutant general, appointed by the governor, is director of the North Carolina National Guard.^[2] A candidate for the office is required to have at least five years of active service in the U.S. Armed Forces.

List of adjutants general of North Carolina

This is a list of persons who have held the office of adjutant general of North Carolina.^[5]


Name	County	Term
Benjamin Smith	Brunswick County	1806–1807
Edward Pasteur	Craven County	1807–1808
Calvin Jones	Wake County	1808–1812
Robert Williams	Surry County	1812–1821
Beverly Daniel	Wake County	1821–1840
Robert W. Haywood^[6]	Wake County	1840–1857
Richard C. Cotten	Chatham County	1857–1860
John Franklin Hoke	Lincoln County	1860–1861
James Green Martin	Pasquotank County	1861–1863
Daniel Gould Fowle	Wake County	1863
Richard Caswell Gatlin	Lenoir County	1864–1865
John Alexander Gilmer	Guilford County	1866–1868
Abiel W. Fisher	Bladen County	1868–1872
John C. Gorman	Wake County	1872–1877
Johnstone Jones^[7]	Burke County	1877–1888
James Dodge Glenn	Guilford County	1889
Francis Hawkins Cameron	Wake County	1893–1896
Andrew Duvall Cowles	Iredell County	1897–1898
Beverly S. Royster	Granville County	1898–1904
Thomas R. Robertson	Mecklenburg County	1905–1909
Joseph Franklin Armfield	Iredell County	1909–1910
Roy Lutterell Leinster	Iredell County	1910–1912
Gordon Smith	Wake County	1912–1913
Lawrence W. Young	Buncombe County	1913–1916
Beverly S. Royster	Granville County	1916–1917
Lawrence W. Young	Buncombe County	1917–1918
Beverly S. Royster	Granville County	1918–1920
John Van Bokkelen Metts	Wake County	1920–1951
Thomas B. Longest	Wake County	1951
John H. Manning	Durham County	1951–1957
Capus Miller Waynick	Guilford County	1957–1961
Claude T. Bowers	Halifax County	1961–1970
Ferd Leary Davis	Lenoir County	1970–1973
William M. Buck	Robeson County	1973–1975
Clarence Bender Shimer	Dare County	1975–1977
William Emmett Ingram Sr.	Pasquotank County	1977–1983
Hubert M. Leonard	Montgomery County	1983–1985
Charles E. Scott	Wake County	1985–1989
Nathaniel H Robb Jr.	Wake County	1989–1993
Gerald A. Rudisill Jr.	Stanly County	1993–2001
William E. Ingram Jr.	Pasquotank County	2001–2010
Gregory A. Lusk^[8]	Sampson County	2010–2019
Marvin Todd Hunt^[9]^[10]	Wake County	2019–present

References

Citations

^ ^a ^b Walker 1968, p. 1.
^ ^a ^b Howard 2006, p. 3.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Walker 1968, p. 2.
^ ^a ^b Williams 2006, p. 777-78.
^ Brown, Richard M. (August 17, 2015). "Adjutant Generals of North Carolina". North Carolina Military Historical Society. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
^ Haywood 1851, p. 140.
^ Jones 1879, p. 1.
^ "NC DPS: Major General Gregory A. Lusk". www.ncdps.gov. Retrieved March 31, 2018.
^ "Governor Cooper Announces Brig. Gen. Todd Hunt as the Adjutant General of North Carolina". governor.nc.gov. Retrieved December 30, 2019.
^ "NC DPS: Major General M. Todd Hunt". www.ncdps.gov. Retrieved December 30, 2019.

Sources

Haywood, Robert W., ed. (1851). Muster Rolls of the Soldiers of the War of 1812: Detached from the Militia of North Carolina, in 1812 and 1814 (Report). Raleigh: Charles C. Raboteau. OCLC 1049666962. OL 22887233M. Retrieved July 3, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
Howard, Jeffrey Allen (2006). "Adjutant General". In Powell, William S. (ed.). Encyclopedia of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.
Jones, Brig. Gen. Johnstone, ed. (1879). Report of the Adjutant-General (Report). Raleigh, North Carolina: The Observer. OCLC 1051739713. Retrieved July 3, 2024 – via Internet Archive.
Walker, Jim (February 8, 1968), General Records. 1807-1950, Adjutant General's Department, North Carolina Army National Guard
Williams, Wiley J. (2006). "National Guard". In Powell, William S. (ed.). Encyclopedia of North Carolina. Chapel Hill, North Carolina: University of North Carolina Press.