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Saturday is the 389th anniversary of the National Guard’s birth.
On Dec. 13, 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s General Court, the colony’s legislature, organized the North, South and East regiments from the independent militia in 14 villages around Boston to better defend the colony.
The colonists had adopted the English militia system that obligated all males between the ages of 16 and 60 to possess arms and participate in the defense of the community. They drilled once a week and provided guard details each evening to sound the alarm in case of attack.
But the growing threat of the Pequot Indians to the Massachusetts Bay Colony required the militia to be in a high state of readiness. The organization of the three increased the efficiency and responsiveness of the militia.
Today, the descendants of these first regiments — the 181st Infantry, the 182nd Infantry, the 101st Field Artillery and the 101st Engineer Battalion of the Massachusetts Army National Guard — share the distinction of being the U.S. military’s oldest units.
Other states and Puerto Rico claim earlier militia heritages, but none of their current force structures have continuous lineage to their early units.
While it was a stroke of the pen that created the force, men bearing arms in a field in 1637 have become the enduring symbol of the Guard’s birth.
That representation comes from a 1984 painting, “The First Muster,” which is part of the National Guard Heritage Series.
The artwork depicts men in 17th century military attire training with their muskets on the drill field in Salem, about 20 miles outside Boston, sometime the year after the order from the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s General Court.
Other men holding long pikes stand in the image's background. The training assembly even attracts a curious feline.
Militia units in the region spanning Salem, Saugus, Ipswich and Newbury formed up for the first time as the East Regiment. VIDEO: The Minuteman Minute: The First Muster – Birth of the National Guard.
To mark the Guard’s birthday each year, many state joint force headquarters and deployed units overseas hold cake-cutting ceremonies.
NGAUS and the National Guard Bureau will host a shared reception for the Guard’s birthday Dec. 16 on Capitol Hill.
Gen. Steve Nordhaus, the NGB chief, and retired Maj. Gen. Francis M. McGinn, the NGAUS president, are scheduled to speak. Many Guard supporters in the House and Senate are expected to attend.
—By John Goheen
