Fayetteville Independent Light Infantry Company The Fayetteville
Independent Light Infantry Company (FILI) was formed on 23 Aug.
1793, when European countries were involved in a war growing out
of the French Revolution. The reason for its organization may
have been fear that the Spanish in Louisiana would incite the
Indians to attack, but recent scholarship supports the view that
alarm over slave rebellions in Haiti was more likely. In 1825
the company attended the Marquis de Lafayette on his visit to
Fayetteville (named in 1784 in honor of the French nobleman who
fought with the American revolutionaries). Construction of the
U.S. arsenal in Fayetteville in 1838 increased the importance of
the company. When the Civil War began, the FILI joined the 1st
North Carolina Volunteers, called the "Bethel" Regiment, as
Company H. It was the first regiment organized in North Carolina
and fought in the Battle of Bethel, the first engagement of the
war. Some of its members were among the troops who surrendered
at Appomat