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Lexington Militiaman representing John Parker

Minuteman is a name given to teams of select men from the Massachusetts militia who vowed to be ready for battle (against the British during the American Revolution) within (ironically) a two minute notice. These teams constituted about a fourth of the entire militia, and generally were the younger and more mobile, serving as part of a network for early response to any threat. Minuteman and sons of liberty member Paul Revere spread the news that "the regulars are coming out" when the British marched towards the arsenal in Concord, as part of a minuteman network.^[1] Minutemen may refer to: Minutemen, men from the Massachusetts militia Minutemen (anti-Communist organization), headed by Robert DePugh Minutemen (band), a 1980s punk rock group Minutemen (comics), fictional superheroes in the Watchmen comic series Missouri Minutemen, an indoor football team Fictional characters in the 100 Bullets comic series A southern... Image File history File links Broom_icon. ... Photo of Concord Minuteman statue, taken September 1993 by Stan Shebs and licensed under GFDL, 250px across File history Legend: (cur) = this is the current file, (del) = delete this old version, (rev) = revert to this old version. ... John Parker statue known as The Lexington Minuteman John Parker (July 13, 1729 – September 17, 1775) was an American farmer, mechanic, and soldier who commanded the Massachusetts militia at Lexington during the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775. ... For the song by the Beastie Boys, see Paul Revere (song). ...

The term minuteman has also been applied to various later United States' military units to recall the success and patriotism of the originals. Defence of the fatherland is a commonplace of patriotism: The statue in the courtyard of École polytechnique, Paris, commemorating the students involvement in defending France against the 1814 invasion of the Coalition. ...

History

As early as 1645 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, some men were selected from the general ranks of town-based "training bands" to be ready for rapid deployment. Men so selected were designated as Minutemen. They were usually drawn from settlers of each town, and so it was very common for them to be fighting alongside relatives and friends. They were trained to respond "at a minutes warning".^[2] Some towns in Massachusetts had a long history of designating a portion of their militia as Minutemen, with "minute companies" constituting special units within the militia system whose members underwent additional training and held themselves ready to turn out quickly ("at a minute's notice") for emergencies. Other towns, such as Lexington, preferred to keep their entire militia in a single unit. A map of the Massachusetts Bay Colony Capital Charlestown, Boston History  - Established 1629  - New England Confederation 1643  - Dominion of New England 1686  - Province of Massachusetts Bay 1692  - Disestablished 1692 The Massachusetts Bay Colony (sometimes called the Massachusetts Bay Company, for the institution that founded it) was an English settlement on...

Many Minutemen were 25 years of age or younger, and were chosen for their enthusiasm, political reliability, and strength. They were the first armed militia to arrive at or await a battle. Officers, as in the rest of the militia, were elected by popular vote, and each unit drafted a formal written covenant to be signed upon enlistment. The militia typically assembled as an entire unit in each town between two and four times per year for training during peacetime, but as the inevitability of a war became apparent, the militia trained more often. The minute companies trained three to four times per week. It was common for officers to make decisions through consultation and consensus with their men as opposed to giving orders to be followed without question, sometimes even in the midst of battle. A covenant, in its most general sense, is a solemn promise to do or not do something specified. ...

A minuteman statue depicted on the Massachusetts state quarter

Just before the American Revolutionary War, on October 26, 1774, after observing the British military buildup, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress found the colony's militia resources short, and that it, "including the sick and absent, amounted to about seventeen thousand men [...] this was far short of the number wanted, that the council recommended an immediate application to the New England governments to make up the deficiency", resolving to organize the militia better^[3]: Download high resolution version (1106x1105, 276 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Download high resolution version (1106x1105, 276 KB) Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... This article is about military actions only. ...

They recommended to the militia to form themselves into companies of minute-men, who should be equipped and prepared to march at the shortest notice. These minute-men were to consist of one quarter of the whole militia, to be enlisted under the direction of the field-officers, and divide into companies, consisting of at least fifty men each. The privates were to choose their captains and subalterns, and these officers were to form the companies into battalions, and chose the field-officers to command the same. Hence the minute-men became a body distinct from the rest of the militia, and, by being more devoted to military exercises, they acquired skill in the use of arms. More attention than formerly was likewise bestowed on the training and drilling of militia.^[3]

The Pequot War

The first offensive military attack by militias failed when Massachusetts sent Donald Endicott with four companies on an unsuccessful campaign against the Pequot Indians. According to one man's account the expedition only killed one Indian and burned some wigwams. Weeks elapsed between the incidents that caused the march and the arrival of Endicott’s men in the area. Once they got there, they didn’t know which Indians to fight and why. This feeble response encouraged the Indians, and attacks on the settlers in the Connecticut valley increased. In the following year Massachusetts again put a force on the field in collaboration with Plymouth and Connecticut. By the time Plymouth had gotten their force packed and ready to march the campaign had ended. Massachusetts Bay sent 150 militiamen, Plymouth sent 50 and Connecticut sent 90. Lion Gardiner in the Pequot War from a Charles Stanley Reinhart drawing circa 1890 The Pequot War was an armed conflict in 1637-1638 between an alliance of Massachusetts Bay and Plymouth colonies, with Native American allies (the Narragansett, and Mohegan tribe), against the Pequot tribe. ... See Main articles: Mashantucket Pequot Eastern Pequot Tribal Nation. ... Apache wickiup, by Edward S. Curtis, 1903 A wigwam or wickiup is a domed single room dwelling used by certain Native American tribes. ...

New England confederation

In May 1643, a joint council was formed.^[2] They published the articles of the New England confederation. The real power of the confederation was that all four of the colonies promised to contribute soldiers to an alert force that would fight anywhere in the colonies.

In September 7, 1643 the towns were given more tactical control. A new rule allowed any general to call up his militia at any time. On August 12, 1645, 30% of all militia were made into short-notice groups (minutemen). Command and control decentralized to the extent that individual company commanders could put their troops into a defensive battle if necessary. A portion of the militia was well trained and well equipped, and set aside as a ready force.

In May 1653, the Council of Massachusetts said that an eighth of the militia should be ready to march within one day to anywhere in the colony. Eighty militiamen marched on the Narragansett tribe in Massachusetts, though no fighting took place. Since the colonies were expanding, the Narragansetts got desperate and began raiding the colonists again. The militia chased the Indians, caught their chief, and got him to sign an agreement to end fighting.

In 1672, the Massachusetts Council formed a military committee to control the militia in each town. In 1675, the military committee raised an expedition to fight the raiding Wampanoag tribe. A muster call was sent out and four days later, after harsh skirmishes with the Wampanoags, three companies arrived to help the locals. The expedition took heavy losses: two towns were raided, and one 80-man company was killed entirely, including their commander. That winter, a thousand militiamen pushed out the Wampanoags.

In response to the success of the Wampanoags, in the Spring of 1676 an alarm system of riders and signals was formed in which each town was required to participate.

The British and French, each with Indian allies, engaged in various fights beginning in 1689 and dragging on for almost a hundred years. In 1690, Colonel William Phips led 600 men to push back the French. Two years later he became governor of Massachusetts. When the French and Indians raided Massachusetts in 1702, Governor Phips created a bounty which paid 10 shillings each for the scalps of Indians. In 1703, snowshoes were issued to militiamen and bounty hunters to make winter raids on the Indians more effective. The minuteman concept was advanced by the snow shoe men.

The Minutemen always kept in touch with the political situation in Boston and their own towns. From 1629 to 1683, the towns had controlled themselves but in 1689, the King appointed governors. By 1772, James Otis and Samuel Adams used the Town Meetings to start a Committee of Correspondence. This instigated in 1774 a boycott of British goods. The Minutemen were aware of this as well. With a rising number of Minutemen they faced another problem: they didn’t have enough gun powder to support an army for long enough to win freedom. They needed powder badly. The people of an island controlled by the Dutch, Saint Eustatius, decided they had had enough with the British being the major power and having its hand grasping over the entire world. They were quite pleased with the idea of a large rebellion rising up against the British in the New World. As a token of support, they traded gunpowder to the Colonials for other goods needed in Europe. Not only did the Minutemen have political awareness of events in New England, but also of the feelings of other countries such as the Dutch and France. The Colonials knew that other powers in the world were against the British for the amount of power they wielded. Map showing location of Sint Eustatius relative to Saba and Sint Maarten/Saint Martin Sint Eustatius (also Saint Eustace and Statia), pop. ...

American Revolutionary War period

In 1774, General Thomas Gage, the new Governor of Massachusetts, tried to enforce the Intolerable Acts, which were designed to remove power from the towns. Samuel Adams pressed for County Conventions to strengthen the revolutionary resistance. Gage tried to seat his own court in Worcester, but the townspeople blocked the court from sitting. Two thousand militiamen marched to intimidate the judges and get them to leave. This was the first time the militia was used by the people to block the king from doing something they didn’t like. Gage responded by marching to collect gunpowder from the provincials. For 50 miles around Boston, militiamen were marching in response. By noon the next day, almost 4000 people were on the common in Cambridge. The provincials got the judges to resign and leave. Gage backed off from trying to seat a court in Worcester.

Worcester came up with a new militia plan in their County Convention. The Convention required that all militia officers resign. Officers were then elected by their regiments. In turn, the officers then appointed 1/3 of their militia regiment as Minutemen. Other counties followed Worcester’s lead, electing new militia officers and appointing Minutemen.

Gage marched out hundreds of regulars nearly every week, mainly because he wanted to show the provincials he was the more powerful among them. The Minutemen would respond by mustering to their town centers, standing there with guns and calling them “lobsterbacks.” When it came to practicing formations with their weapons, the British mainly only practiced on formations and marching. Their men really never got a chance to shoot because they were crowded into Boston with no room to shoot without ruining buildings or hitting civilians. The British had worked it into their minds that no civilian force could stand against them, so they thought there would be no reason for them to practice shooting. The New Englanders were facing a large imperial army, and they had the room and the insight to practice not only marching in formations but shooting from long distances and shooting for accuracy. In gathering and standing around their town centers, a sort of bonding between the Minutemen began. Regular practice in musters increased their militia’s effectiveness, and the Minutemen got additional practice from responding to the British marches into their territory.

Battles at Lexington and Concord

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Having learned from spies about arms stockpiled in Concord, Gage decided on April 19, 1775 to send a 700-man force on a march to Concord to seize arms, gunpowder, cannons, and provisions from the provincials. The march was a spoiling attack. Gage underestimated the Minutemen. Image File history File links Emblem-important. ...

Preparations of longboats alerted the Minutemen to an impending attack, and alarm riders went out right away to warn all the towns close and far. The towns sent more and more groups of Minutemen. Gage decided not to tell his own men about the attack, so no stray words would affect the provincials knowing about the march.

The British marched from Boston to Lexington, getting wet and not resting. They marched in attack formation half the way there, causing them to feel worried and annoyed. Meanwhile the British generals received information that more and more militia were gathering in Lexington, with estimates up to 1000 men.

Captain John Parker, of the Lexington Minutemen, thought the British were going to just march past Lexington. He decided to keep all his men on the green. The British, thinking a large militia would be there, marched out onto Lexington green in full battle formation. Parker did not want full conflict, and decided to back his men out of the way. The British marched forward on Parker’s men, and never got an order to stop. A shot was heard, and the British regulars went berserk, charging on the Minutemen and shooting them as they ran. When the smoke had cleared, the British suffered only one man wounded; however, the Minutemen had suffered 8 dead and 9 wounded; 6 of these men died.

The British march to Concord kept on going. They marched all the way to Concord without any disturbance, but they saw more Minutemen arriving in the woods, and there were some snipers taking a few easy shots.

In Concord the light infantry and grenadiers split up to secure the bridges and search the town, though they were hungry and tired from marching for a day. The British could see the Minutemen gathering into a large group on a hill above Concord, and they proceeded with their duties of burning powder and weapons that they found. The Minutemen mistook the smoke rising from town and thought they were burning down the town, so they decided to move on the British regulars on North Bridge. The surprised British retreated. The Minutemen advanced. The scared British fired, but due to fright and a lack of firing practice, they fired too high: there were only three casualties among the Minutemen. The Minutemen were not only firing accurately, but they had three times as many men firing on the British. Two officers and many of their men died. Surprised by this, the British immediately broke ranks and ran as fast as they could. The Minutemen chased after them and retook the bridge, as the British began their long march back to Boston.

Equipment, training, and tactics

Minutemen monument in Hollis, New Hampshire

Most Colonial militia units were provided neither arms nor uniforms and had to equip themselves. Many simply wore their own farmers' or workmans' clothes, while others had buckskin hunting outfits. Some added Indian-style touches to intimidate the enemy, even including war-paint. Most used hunting rifles^{[citation needed]} , which did not have bayonets but were accurate at long range. The Continental Army regulars received European-style military training later in the American Revolutionary War, but the militias did not get much of this. Rather than fight formal battles in the traditional dense lines and columns, they were better when used as irregulars, primarily as skirmishers and sharpshooters. Their experience suited irregular warfare. Most were familiar with frontier hunting.^{[citation needed]} The Indian Wars, and especially the recent French and Indian War, had taught both the men and officers the value of irregular warfare, while many British troops fresh from Europe were less familiar with this. The wilderness terrain that lay just beyond many colonial towns, very familiar to the local minuteman, favored this style of combat. The rifled musket used by most minutemen was also well suited to this role. The rifling (grooves inside the barrel) gave it a much greater range than the smoothbore musket, although it took much longer to load. Because of the lower rate of fire, rifles were not used by regular infantry but were preferred for hunting. When performing as skirmishers, the minutemen could fire and fall back behind cover or other troops before the British could get into range. The increased range and accuracy of the rifle, along with a lifetime of hunting to develop marksmanship, earned minutemen sharpshooters a deadly reputation.^{[citation needed]} Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 254 KB) I took this picture myself. ... Image File history File linksMetadata Download high-resolution version (1024x768, 254 KB) I took this picture myself. ... Hollis is a town located in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire. ... For other uses, see Rifle (disambiguation). ... For other uses, see bayonet (disambiguation). ... Illustration depicting uniforms and weapons used during the 1779 to 1783 period of the American Revolution by showing four soldiers standing in an informal group General George Washington, was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on June 15, 1775. ... For other uses, see Army (disambiguation). ... This article is about military actions only. ... Skirmishers are infantry soldiers who are stationed ahead or to the sides of a larger body of friendly troops. ... A marksman (also designated marksman) is a profession which is mostly to be found in military context. ... Combatants Native Americans Colonial America/United States of America Indian Wars is the name generally used in the United States to describe a series of conflicts between the colonial and federal government and the indigenous peoples. ... Combatants France First Nations allies: Algonquin Lenape Wyandot Ojibwa Ottawa Shawnee Great Britain American Colonies Iroquois Confederacy Strength 3,900 regulars 7,900 militia 2,200 natives (1759) 50,000 regulars and militia (1759) Casualties 3,000 killed, wounded or captured 10,040 killed, wounded or captured The French and... Muskets and bayonets aboard the frigate Grand Turk. ... Rifling of a Canon de 75 modèle 1897 A 35 caliber Remington, with a microgroove rifled barrel with a right hand twist. ... Smoothbore refers to a firearm which does not have a rifled barrel. ... Shooting is the act of causing a gun to fire at a target. ... A marksman is mostly to be found in a military context. ...

The historian M. L. Brown identifies a contrary view, that while a few of these men mastered the difficult handling of a rifle, few became expert. Brown quotes the Continental Army soldier Benjamin Thompson, who expressed the 'common sentiment' at the time which was that minutemen were notorious poor marksmen with rifles:^[4]

"Instead of being the best marksmen in the world and picking off every Regular that was to be seen...the continual firing which they kept up by the week and the month has had no other effect than to waste their ammunition and convince the King's troops that they are really not really so formidable."^[5]

Ammunition and supplies were in short supply and were constantly being seized by British patrols. As a precaution, these items were often hidden or left behind by minutemen in fields or wooded areas. Other popular concealment methods were to hide items underneath floorboards in houses and barns. A barn in southern Ontario, Canada A barn in Wisconsin A barn in Poland Barn redirects here, for other uses, see Barn (disambiguation). ...

Legacy

The Minuteman depicting a typical minuteman

In commemoration of the centenary of the first successful armed resistance to British forces, Daniel Chester French, in his first major commission, produced one of his best-known statues (along with the Lincoln Memorial), the Concord Minuteman. Inscribed on the pediment is the opening stanza of Ralph Waldo Emerson's 1837 Concord Hymn with the immortal words, "Shot heard 'round the world." The statue's likeness is not based on Isaac Davis, the Captain of the Acton Militia and first to be killed in Concord during the Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, but rather on the typical minute man of the day, according to the sculptor, Daniel Chester French. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Daniel Chester French Signature, Daniel Chester French (April 20, 1850 – October 7, 1931) was an American sculptor. ... The Lincoln Memorial, in Washington, D.C., is a United States Presidential memorial built to honor 16th President Abraham Lincoln. ... A pediment is a classical architectural element consisting of a triangular section or gable found above the horizontal superstructure (entablature) which lies immediately upon the columns. ... Ralph Waldo Emerson (May 25, 1803 – April 27, 1882) was an American essayist, poet, and leader of the Transcendentalist movement in the early nineteenth century. ... The Concord Hymn is a song written by Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1837 for the dedication of the Obelisk, a battle monument in Concord, Massachusetts that commemorated the contributions of area citizens at the Battle of Lexington and Concord (April 19, 1775), the first battle of the American Revolution sparked... The stanza is inscribed at the base of The Minute Man statue by Daniel Chester French The shot heard round the world is a well known phrase that has come to represent several historical incidents throughout world history. ... Isaac Davis (1745 - April 19, 1775) Isaac Davis led the first attack on the British Regular army during the American revolutionary war, and was the first to die in that battle. ... Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1639 Incorporated 1735 Government  - Type Open Town Meeting  - Town Manager Don P. Johnson  - Board of    Selectmen Peter Berry Dore Hunter Paulina Knibbe Andy Magee Lauren Rosenzweig Area  - Town  20. ... Location in Middlesex County in Massachusetts Coordinates: , Country State County Middlesex Settled 1635 Incorporated 1635 Government  - Type Open town meeting Area  - Total 25. ... The Battle of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775 was the first battle of the American Revolutionary War and was described as the shot heard round the world in Emersons Concord Hymn. ... is the 109th day of the year (110th in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar. ... Year 1775 (MDCCLXXV) was a common year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a common year starting on Thursday of the 11-day slower Julian calendar). ...

Criticism

A euphoria over the Minutemen's early victory in the Revolutionary War has bred some historically inaccurate myths. Paul Revere's Ride, a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, is criticized by historians as being historically inaccurate^[6]. The success at Lexington has been seen to overshadow the long history of failures of the colonial militia. Even Samuel Adams, who was at Lexington on the day of the famous clash, later said: "Would any man in his sense, who wishes war may be carried on with vigor, prefer the temporary and expensive drafts of militia to a permanent and well-appointed army?" General Charles Lee, who had desired to lead militia forces, complained: "As to the minutemen, no account ought to be made of them." George Washington is also well known for a long series of scathing opinion of the failures of the militia forces.^[7] This Paul Revere Statue in the North End of Boston, Massachusetts, was made by Cyrus Dallin and unveiled on September 22, 1940. ... Henry Wadsworth Longfellow (February 27, 1807 – March 24, 1882) was an American poet whose works include Paul Reveres Ride, A Psalm of Life, The Song of Hiawatha and Evangeline. He also wrote the first American translation of Dante Alighieris Divine Comedy and was one of the five members... For other uses, see Samuel Adams (disambiguation). ... Charles Lee Charles Lee (February 6, 1732 – October 2, 1782) was a British soldier turned Virginia planter who was a Major General of the Continental Army in the American Revolutionary War. ... George Washington (February 22, 1732 – December 14, 1799)[1] led Americas Continental Army to victory over Britain in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and in 1789 was elected the first President of the United States of America. ...

References

This article incorporates text from the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition, a publication now in the public domain. Encyclopædia Britannica, the eleventh edition The Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition (1910–1911) is perhaps the most famous edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica. ... The public domain comprises the body of all creative works and other knowledge—writing, artwork, music, science, inventions, and others—in which no person or organization has any proprietary interest. ...

• Dupuy, R.. Ernest; , Dupuy, Trevor Nevitt. The Harper encyclopedia of military history : from 3500 BC to the present. New York, NY : HarperCollins ISBN 0-06-270056-1
• Tuchman, Barbara W. (1990). The First Salute. Random House. ISBN 0517050684

1. ^ Wills, Garry (1999). A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government, Page 33. New York, NY; Simon & Schuster
2. ^ ^{a b} Galvin, John R. (c1989). The minute men : the first fight : myths & realities of the American revolution. Washington : Pergamon-Brassey’s International Defense Publisher. ISBN 008036733X
3. ^ ^{a b} Sparks, Jared: "The Life of George Washington", page 134-135. F. Andrews, 1853.
4. ^ Brown, Martin L. (1981). Firearms in Colonial America: The Impact on History and Technology, 1492-1792, Page 306. Washington D.C., The Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 9780874742909
5. ^ Brown, Martin L. (1980). Firearms in Colonial America: The Impact on History and Technology, 1492-1792, Page 306. Washington D.C., The Smithsonian Institution. ISBN 9780874742909
6. ^ Fischer, David Hackett (1994). Paul Revere's Ride. Oxford University Press ISBN 0195098315
7. ^ Wills, Garry (1999). A Necessary Evil: A History of American Distrust of Government, Page 34. New York, NY; Simon & Schuster

External links

• Captain Robert K. Wright, Jr.. Massachusetts Militia Roots: A Bibliographic Study. (1986) 116th Military History Detachment Virginia Army National Guard
• Who Were the Minutemen? (ushistory.org)
• Organization of the Minute-Men.