Militia Regiments Formed: U.S. National Guard Born

Colonial militiamen assembled on the village green, organized into three regiments, and unknowingly created what would become the oldest component of the United States armed forces. On December 13, 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony's General Court ordered the organization of the colony's scattered militia companies into the North, South, and East Regiments, establishing a formal military structure that the National Guard traces as its founding. The immediate threat was the Pequot Nation. Tensions between English settlers and the Pequot people had been escalating throughout 1636, fueled by trade disputes, territorial expansion, and retaliatory killings on both sides. The General Court recognized that the colony's disorganized militia bands, each answering to its own town, were inadequate for a coordinated defense. Consolidating them under regimental command gave colonial leadership the ability to mobilize forces across town boundaries. The Pequot War erupted in full the following year, culminating in the devastating attack on the Pequot fort at Mystic in May 1637, where colonial forces and their Mohegan and Narragansett allies killed hundreds of Pequot men, women, and children. The militia structure established in December 1636 provided the organizational framework for that campaign. The citizen-soldier model born in Massachusetts became foundational to American military tradition. The Continental Army drew heavily on colonial militia during the Revolution. The Militia Act of 1903 formally organized state militias into the National Guard system, but the lineage traces directly back to those three Massachusetts regiments. Today the National Guard comprises over 440,000 soldiers and airmen serving in every state and territory, deploying for both domestic emergencies and overseas combat operations. The 101st Field Artillery Regiment of the Massachusetts Army National Guard claims direct descent from the East Regiment of 1636.