Mrs. Vail refers to either Sarah (1737-1792) or Elizabeth Vail (1739-1804), two unmarried daughters of merchant Jeremiah Vail who resided in New Bern, North Carolina. Through their sister Mary Dorothy, both Sarah and Elizabeth were sisters-in-law to Colonel Joseph Leech, an officer in the local militia. Sarah and Elizabeth both owned enslaved people. In the absence of further documentation it is impossible to be certain which one of them hired out an enslaved person for the use of the Craven County Regiment of the North Carolina Militia during the War of Regulation in 1771.