Before the Revolution, the colonial militias were organized along British lines as volunteer, county-based home guards composed of neighbors, usually electing their own officers. In fact, their charters or papers of incorporation, were similar to those of churches or fraternal organizations. They trained perfunctorily a few days a year, and were called out primarily to guarantee the peace and support civil power. Were they to leave their home country, a portion would be required by their charter to remain at home for local protection. Depending on the province and county, this local protection might include defense against Indian incursions and slave uprisings. In New York, for instance, the militia’s charter required one-third of its men to stay behind.

In the battle to come, most of the Americans had no bayonets, these being used only by a small number of units, primarily the aforementioned from Delaware and Maryland, who had standardized weapons. About the only edged weapon the Americans had, apart from officer’s swords or those issued to the cavalry, were tomahawks, which were regulation. The tomahawk, however, was used more as a universal tool (as the GI’s in World War II and Korea used their bayonets) than as a weapon of war. (JJG)