King Charles I issued the Royal Charter that established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1629. In April of the following year Governor John Winthrop set sail from England with a flotilla of 11 ships containing approximately 700 Puritan settlers who sought to flee the tense religious and political climate at home.
Although the first settlers established broadly cordial relations with the native tribes of Southeastern New England, the rapid arrival of colonists in the early 1630s created conflict as they competed for control of land and resources. The settlers around Massachusetts Bay had a particularly tense relationship with the nearby Pequot people and began organising local militias in their small villages, but they operated independently and lacked an overall command structure.
In response, on 13 December 1636, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in Salem ordered the numerous militia companies to form three regiments – North, South and East. Furthermore, in line with the English militia system, all able-bodied men between the ages of 16 and 60 were required to join and be ready to defend the fledgling community. They would all be trained to the same standard by attending regular drills, and would provide a formal guard detail each evening.
The Massachusetts militia was the first to engage in the American Revolutionary War, while the creation of the formal militias laid the foundations for the later United States National Guard. Some modern-day Massachusetts regiments are even able to trace their history back to the Massachusetts Bay Colony of 1636.
