Minuteman Minute | Cpl. James Briggs Mobilization Order

Will Roulett, Director of the National Guard Memorial Museum, presents the Cpl. James Briggs mobilization order, an artifact found in the National Guard Memorial Museum. In the days following the battles of Lexington and Concord, as New England’s militias surrounded the British at Boston, Briggs was ordered to gather the enlisted soldiers of Cranston, Rhode Island’s 3rd company of militia to join the fight.

Hi, I’m Will Roulett, Director of the National Guard Memorial Museum, here in DC, and this is YOUR Minuteman Minute! Most veterans remember being issued orders, folding them up, and tucking them into a pocket. That is likely what Cpl. James Briggs did in 1775 when he was issued this militia mobilization order. The order is dated April 20^th, the day after the battles of Lexington and Concord. In it, Capt. Edward Knight commanded Briggs to warn all enlisted soldiers of Cranston, Rhode Island’s 3^rd company of militia to gather the following day. As news of the British defeats at Lexington and Concord spread through the colonies, militia units massed around Boston, trapping the British there for over a year. New England’s standing militias and Minutemen would form the backbone of the Continental Army in the coming American Revolution. An important chapter in the LONG tradition of the citizen-soldier. Come see this and a whole lot more at the National Guard Memorial Museum. I’m Will Roulett and that’s been your Minuteman Minute brought to you by the National Guard Educational Foundation.