ONE The Minutemen and Militias The minutemen of Colonial America before and during the Revolutionary War were part of a long tradition of militia stretching back to the mother country of England A militia is a military force made up not of professional soldiers but rather ordinary citizens Most of the time they would live like regular civilians Occasionally they would train for battle In times of need these men could be mustered or called up to fight In the Anglo-Saxon common law system in England as far back as the fifth century ce two traditions allowed for common citizens without any particular military training to be called for service One called the posse comitatus Latin for power of the community was organized by a sheriff or other law enforcement official to hunt The minuteman known for his ability to be ready for a fight at a minute’s notice became a symbol of American liberty 5
down a wanted criminal The word posse would later be widely used in the American Wild West when people banded together to hunt outlaws The other kind of civilian call-up in Anglo Saxon times was called the fyrd All men even noblemen of each particular shire or county were obligated to take up arms when needed They might have to help prevent civil unrest within their own area Or more likely they would have to respond to the main threat of the time Viking raiding parties The English Militia Grows The obligation to be part of a militia continued throughout English history By the sixteenth century the militia of England was well organized but badly trained Each region had to provide not only a list of eligible men for possible muster but also an inventory of any weapons armor or horses people owned that could be used in times of crisis They even kept a record of how much money people had so they could force them to buy their own weapons if necessary On paper it looked very efficient However the militia rarely met and almost never trained The nation’s leaders began to worry that they wouldn’t be prepared for real trouble So in the seventeenth century they organized several 6 The Colonial Minuteman
Civilian militia such as these reenactors pictured fought on the side of Parliament in the english Civil war of 1642 1651 elite militia forces These were mostly centered in the city of London The special militias met for frequent training and became very skilled Some took part in the English Civil War All this time the main military force still consisted of professional soldiers who did that as their primary job Militias were the backup force The Minutemen and Militias 7
