CHAPTER XVI. 



THE MILITIA AND THE WAR OF l8l2. 



AFTER the close of the Revolution many of the 

 officers and soldiers who returned to their homes, 

 kept some of the habits of military drill in companies of 

 militia organized under the State laws. 



The citizen soldiers had been the only standing army 

 of our colonies previous to our independence. As early 

 as the year 1641 the Massachusetts Colony had re- 

 quired the " trainband " of every town to be exercised 

 eight days of the year, each man with a musket. Trees 

 had been left standing on the Common in Hingham for 

 the militiamen to dodge behind, in mock warfare with 

 Indians. The use of these semi-soldiers in the wars 

 against France in our colonies has been already noticed. 



Their service in fighting the battles of the Revolution 

 was in some cases most illustrious. They were of course 

 much inferior to regular soldiers in the art of obedience, 

 for they had a tendency to treat military matters too 

 much in the spirit of a town meeting, where every one 

 was accustomed "to have his own say." 



During the Revolution our State militia were at first 

 the only regular soldiers ; but as soon as Washington was 

 appointed general by the Congress at Philadelphia in 

 1775, he organized the Continental army. 



The militia forces operated frequently in company with 

 the Continentals ; but they were subject to the authority 

 of the State and not of the Congress. 



The highest rank obtained by any one from Cohasset 

 in our State militia during the Revolution was that of 

 a lieutenant colonel, Thomas Lothrop gaining that dis- 

 tinction. This man was not, however, an officer in the 



