I was hoping someone else would pop in on this, but instead I'll stick my neck out & hope if I'm off base on anything I'll be corrected. I haven't spent much time studying militias per se, but from what I've read of letters etc of peripheral folks [mostly MA, NJ, & NY] there are lots of different answers to how militias were raised, supplied, manned & 'officered'. Time and place might narrow down the possibilities, but reading about the individual town, officers, and militia group is the only way to know what was done in any particular case. Diane Graham <meregra@cableone.net> wrote: -snip- >I wonder if you or any of the other list members can tell me, if it was >customary to join the militia of your "home" county (Northampton), even if >the soldier was actually residing in another county and had begun to make >home there? Or, would they have actually have had to be residing in >Northampton at that time? I've never noted a residency requirement. From what I've seen the militias were often nearly social clubs at the upper levels. The person who had the money and gumption to 'raise a regiment' got to be named Colonel & he picked his Majors and Captains. In at least one case [one of the Signers of the Declaration] the title 'Colonel' was strictly an honorable title. He hired a man with some military experience to run the Regiment. I *have* seen a couple cases where men had recently moved to a new town, and were asked to be Captains of Companies in their old home town. [and once bounties became the norm, Privates were as likely to enlist in one town as another, based on who was paying the best bounty] > >Also, would it have taken quite a bit of service to attain the rank of >Major, as it would today, or were the title of rank given more easily at >that time? If you were a community leader with some experience in running a business & managing a group of men you could be a Major with no previous military experience. Also note *when* he became Major. In Feb. of 1776, John Adams [who really *wanted* to be a soldier, but thankfully was too busy being Statesman] wrote to Abigail; "I suppose, if I could have made interest enough to have been chosen more than a lieutenant, I should march too, upon some such emergency; and possibly a contingency may happen when it will be proper for me to do it still, in rank and file. I will not fail to march, if it should. In the beginning of a war, in colonies like this and Virginia, where the martial spirit is but just awakened and the people are unaccustomed to arms, it may be proper and necessary for such popular orators as Henry and Dickinson to assume a military character. But I really think them both better statesmen than soldiers, though I cannot say they are not very good in the latter character. " > >Thanks for any more insights anyone may have about this. You're welcome. And I invite public corrections in case my impressions of the militias are incorrect, colored too much by my narrow focus on the elite, or only apply to certain areas/times. Jim