Prior to the outbreak of the Revolution the militia of the Province of
Massachusetts Bay was governed by the provisions of an act for
regulating the militia, passed in 1693. Although quaint and antiquated
in its provisions, it seems to have sufficed for all practical purposes;
and no other act was passed regulating the militia until the Provincial
Congress, almost at the beginning of its sittings, took steps to place
the militia of the Province upon a different basis in order to find
themselves prepared for the impending contest with the mother country,
which at that date, October, 1774, was patent to all men as an
unavoidable conflict.
It may be interesting to note some of the provisions and requirements
that governed the militia during the Province period under the old act
referred to. The act provided that all male persons from sixteen years
of age to sixty, with certain exceptions, should bear arms and duly
attend all musters and military exercises of the respective troops and
companies wherein they were listed, allowing three months’ time to every
son, next after his coming to sixteen years of age, and to every servant
for the same period after his time was out, to provide themselves with
arms, ammunition, etc. It also provided that, if any person liable to be
listed as aforesaid—_i.e._, as a member of any troop or company, in the
precinct or town where he resided—should avoid service by shifting from
house to house or place to place, to avoid being listed as a member of a
troop or company, he should be fined ten shillings for every offence,
the money to be paid over to the company to which he belonged.
Regimental musters, except in Boston, were to be held but once in three
years; but the act provided that every captain, or chief officer, of a
company or troop, should draw forth his company or troop four days
annually, and no more; to exercise them in motions, the use of arms, and
shooting at marks, or other military exercises. The punishment for any
disorders or contempt committed by any member of a company on a training
day or on a watch was to be by laying neck and heels, riding the wooden
horse, or ten shillings’ fine. The exemptions from training included the
members of the Council, the Representatives for the time being, the
Secretary, Justices of the Peace, the President, Fellows, students, and
servants of Harvard College, Masters of Art, ministers, elders and
deacons of churches, sheriffs, physicians, surgeons, and professed
schoolmasters, all such as had held commissions and served as field
officers or captains, lieutenants or ensigns; coroners, treasurers, the
Attorney-General, deputy sheriffs, clerks of courts, constables,
constant ferrymen, and one miller to each gristmill. In addition there
were exempted officers employed in connection with the Crown Revenue
service, all masters of vessels of thirty tons and upwards, constant
herdsmen, persons lame or otherwise disabled in body (on production of a
certificate from two surgeons), Indians and negroes. It also provided
that where any person could not provide his own arms, corn or other
merchantable provision or vendable goods, to the extent of one-fifth
part more than the value of the arms and ammunition, might be proffered
to the clerk of the company, who was authorized to sell it and thus
provide the person with the necessary arms. In case any were too poor to
even supply merchandise, the arms were to be provided from the town
stock. It also provided that a stock of powder and ammunition should be
held in every town, and from time to time be renewed by the Selectmen.
The necessary stock of powder, arms, and ammunition, was to be secured
by a rate equally and justly laid upon the inhabitants and estates in
such towns; and the rate for this purpose was collected by the
constables, who were authorized, in case of non-payment, to distrain as
for other rates. Under this act the militia of the Province were
governed, and from the militia so authorized were raised the troops who
formed the contingent of Provincials in the various expeditions against
Canada, and proved their natural military capacity and their inherent
quality as good soldiers at the siege of Louisburg, the expedition
against Crown Point, and upon other occasions, as well as in various
minor engagements with the Indian enemy upon the eastern and western
frontiers of the Province.
After the events of the Stamp Act and when it became a certainty that
the colonists could hope for nothing from the tyrannical ministry of
Great Britain, and all thinking men faced the possibility of armed
resistance to the mother country, it became necessary for those
foreseeing the event and in the forefront of the Revolutionary party to
provide a more elastic instrument and one more responsive to their
urgent needs than could be looked for under the old militia act.
Accordingly, in the first Provincial Congress, on the 26th of October,
1774, a committee appointed to consider what was necessary to be done
for the defence and safety of the Province made a report upon which a
resolve was immediately passed, making provision for the appointment of
a Committee of Safety, who were empowered and directed to alarm, muster,
and cause to be assembled, with the utmost expedition, such and so many
of the militia of the Province, completely armed and equipped, as they
might judge necessary for any contingency they might be called upon to
confront. Provision was made for the pay and subsistence of any force
that might be so assembled, and for the appointment of general officers,
inasmuch as some of the officers holding commissions under crown
appointments might have, and no doubt did hold, what were at the time
conservative opinions concerning the causes that had led to the bitter
feeling between the people of the Colonies and the ministers of Great
Britain. It was resolved that such companies as had not already chosen
officers should do so forthwith; and, where said officers should judge
the districts included within the regimental limits too extensive, they
should divide them and adjust their limits, and proceed to elect field
officers to command the regiments, so called. The effect of this action,
when carried out, was to practically redistrict the whole militia of the
Province, and provide them with company officers and field officers that
were in sympathy with the popular feeling; and this change took effect
upon the initiative of what was practically a convention of delegates
from the people, who had assembled in response to a call to take
measures to save the Province from what they considered violation of
their rights and privileges, and from aggressive militarism.