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The Modern National Guard, 1903-2003:
100 Years of ServiceFaircount Publishing Single copies of this sponsored publication are offered free to the public. Shipping and handling charges apply. (Contact specialstudies@michaeldoubler.com for bulk shipments.)
The year 2003 marks the 100th anniversary of the “Dick Act,” the Congressional legislation which began the process of turning a collection of state militias into a modern, reserve force. But the United States has been employing the services of its citizen-soldiers long before it even became a nation. The militia’s roots were planted early in the 17th century, with units raised to defend early settlements from hostile natives or from other nations bent on taking the newly-settled region for themselves. With the beginning of the Revolutionary War, militias fought the colonies’ first battles and formed the core of the Continental Army. In the years after the war and the gaining of independence, citizen-soldiers enforced federal, state, and local laws, protected the westward movement of settlers, and furnished much of the manpower for the Civil War. The Militia Act of 1903, however, codified these roles and established the “National Guard,” as the militia was re-named, as a federal reserve of the Army while preserving its unique standing as a state force serving at the direction of the governors. The Modern National Guard, 1903-2003: 100 Years of Service recounts militia events of the last hundred years in words and photographs. |
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