on December 18, 1789, he was promoted to the rank of captain lieutenant. When the three-year commitment of Marshall and his fellow soldiers expired, their unit was disbanded; on February 6, 1781, Marshall was designated a supernumerary officer. He ended his military service in 1782, and was rewarded with of land on the western frontier. In 1782, Marshall moved to present-day Kentucky and became deputy surveyor of Fayette County, again serving under his uncle Thomas. Settling in Lexington, he purchased a lot in 1783. On September 18, 1784, he married his cousin, Anna Maria ("Mary") Marshall, Thomas' daughter, . The couple had two sons, Thomas Alexander Marshall, who became a US Congressman; and John Jay Marshall, father of Congressman and Confederate general Humphrey Marshall. They also had a daughter who was killed in infancy by lightning. Shortly after the creation of Woodford County, Marshall moved within its borders and was appointed county surveyor by Virginia Governor Beverley Randolph. In this capacity, he surveyed and claimed significant additional tracts of land, becoming one of Kentucky's most wealthy citizens. According to tradition, Marshall was known to boast that he could ride from Frankfort to Versailles, a distance of some , and never enter a tract of land that he didn't own. He was also supposed to have boasted that he measured his silver coinage by the peck, not having time to count the individual coins. Marshall did not believe in rule by the masses, frequently expressing his disdain for the common people. His sharp wit and lack of tact in writing did little to endear him to his neighbors. Like most of the members of his family, he subscribed to Federalist principles, although the majority of Kentuckians were affiliated with the Democratic-Republicans. He was also ostracized by many of his neighbors for being zealously antireligious. He wrote pamphlets denouncing religion of all kinds and published them at his own expense. His later descendants were so embarrassed of his anti-religious writings that they had his personal papers burned. Early political career A 1788 letter in the Kentucky Gazette indicated that Marshall had unsuccessfully sought election to the Virginia General Assembly, although the year of the contest is not given. The letter continued that the defeat convinced Marshall that he could not win elected office in Fayette County and that he subsequently lobbied for the creation of Bourbon County, hoping that he might gain