In 1771, Governor William Tryon named Eaton a colonel in the Bute County militia during the War of the Regulation.

The militia organization supported the governor against the agrarian uprising in the piedmont region of North Carolina.

In between his terms as a councillor, Eaton served with the militia in the southern theater against the British Army and its local Loyalist tributaries,[1] but was primarily a politician, and had less military experience than many of his colleagues.

[4] On March 3, 1779, Eaton was in command of a regiment of militia at the Patriot defeat at the Battle of Brier Creek in Georgia.

During a dinner party after the revolution, Hamilton reportedly attempted to return the boots to their owner, only to be rebuffed violently.

[6] Eaton, as well as Butler, attempted to stop the men under their command from fleeing the field early during that battle, but could not prevent a large number of North Carolina militia from routing.