Christian Times Magazine Issue 109

In the 15 years of peace between the fall of Quebec and 1759 and the crisis in American-British relations in 1774, the militia of Massachusetts had deteriorated from a military organization to a social club. Annual training days were largely an excuse to get drunk and play jokes, such as firing blanks at an officers feet. The Minutemen changed this casual style. They took seriously the injunction to train regularly. Not even the brutal cold of the Massachusetts winter would lessen their dedication. "I have spent many an evening going through the exercise [Drill] on the barn floor with my mittens on," wrote one Framingham minuteman. At Marblehead, companies would drill themselves as many as four times a week. Lincoln called for four hours of drill exercises twice a week. Concord drilled it's Minutemen 2 1/2 days a week and required them to enlist for 10 months, paying them one shilling four pence a week - the equivalent in modern money of about $2.50. Drills consisted of a company's learning to obey 50 separate orders to maneuver as a unit on a battlefield. The men also practiced rallying in three ranks, the front rank kneeling and the next two standing, reloading and firing as rapidly as possible until a drumbeat stop. Although they did not use any of these tactics on the battlefield on April 19, 1775, performing them gave the men confidence and got them used to obeying orders - and officers acquired a habit of command. Each minuteman was supposed to be equipped with a musket, bayonet, cartridge box and 36 rounds of ammunition. On April 14, 1775, records show that approximately half of them had bayonets. But many of them carried hatchets, a weapon they had effectively discovered fighting the Indians. About one-third of the minutemen were veterans of the French and Indian War. The Massachusetts Provincial Congress also directed the Minutemen and the rest of the militia to elect their own officers. This order toppled from high ranks a great many prominent citizens who were suspected of Toryism - too much readiness to obey the King and his representatives. Into their places stepped men who had been agitating against British policies, guaranteeing the Minutemen a top-to-bottom cohesion. The Minutemen became, in the words of one Concord man, "a unified family of Sons of Liberty." And it was God Himself, Who brought forth the freedom and liberty for all; due largely to the strength, dedication and unison of "a few good men to the rescue." God Bless America!

Pages: 64, Paperback, Christian Times Magazine & North Texas Freedom Rally