Young Cabell received a private education suitable to his class, then was sent to the former capital at Williamsburg for higher studies at The College of William & Mary.
The American Revolutionary War interrupted his studies, in part as the College of William & Mary closed during much of the conflict and troops occupied the campus.
However Nicholas Cabell was then appointed a commissioner to settle various claims in Virginia's "southern district" (Pittsylvania, Augusta, Botetourt and Bedford Counties).
However, at the Siege of Charleston on May 12, 1780, Col. Cabell was captured and in British custody at Haddock's Point until the war's end, returning home on August 21, 1781.
Samuel Cabell then persuaded fellow Anti-Federalist and Continental Army veteran James Monroe to run against James Madison for the position of U.S. Representative for the extensive district that ran from Amherst County in southwest Virginia to Spotsylvania County in the Northeast, thus extending the future President's political experience.