Revolutionary War
As the Revolution neared, Bland's Whig views aligned him with the rebels. He or his father published letters criticizing Lord Dunmore in the Virginia Gazette under the pseudonym "Cassius". In 1775 Bland joined the local "Committee of Intelligence" as well as helped locate arms and munitions for the patriot cause. In June 1776, Bland accepted a commission as captain in Virginia's cavalry. He rose quickly to Colonel and commanded the 1st Continental Light Dragoons, often cited as "Bland's Virginia Horse" in Revolutionary dispatches and correspondence. In the latter capacity Bland reported directly to General Washington. He would retire in 1779 from active cavalry service due to poor health, which he had suffered from his youth.
Bland's observations at Brandywine supplied General Washington with the correct location of Lord Cornwallis's and Howe's main armies; Bland wrote two separate dispatches, and Col. James Ross of the 8th Pennsylvania wrote another dispatch reporting on British troop movements. Both men's dispatches supported that of Col. Hazen. However, their dispatches were initially misinterpreted, until it was almost too late. Without the accurate contributions of Bland, Ross, and Hazen, a worse result might have befallen Washington's army at Brandywine.
Some later accounts have Bland's Virginia Horse subsequently assigned to scouting duty. In his 1922 biography of John Randolph, the historian William Cabell Bruce suggested that the Brandywine incident encouraged Washington to use his cavalries more for scouting rather than sitting in formation on the front lines, as they had at Brandywine. However, the lack of scouting had led to the Brandywine errors.
At Gen. Washington's request, when Bland returned to Virginia to recuperate in 1779, he also served as Warden at Charlottesville over British officers taken prisoner. He also worked to keep Washington's officers and cavalry supplied with quality horses both from his own stables and from others. As a participant in the early American horse-racing community, Bland owned a large stable and had access to other horses through relatives and friends. Bland had earlier retired from his active medical practice for the same health issues in the late 1760s, nearly a decade before the war had begun, and finally was allowed to retire from the military for health reasons in late 1779. He did, however, in 1785, accept a commission from Gov. Patrick Henry as the Prince George County Lieutenant, with military responsibilities.
