The Massachusetts National Guard is the National Guard component for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Founded as the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia on December 13, 1636, it contains the oldest units in the United States Army. What is today's Massachusetts National Guard evolved through many different forms. Originally founded as a defensive militia for Puritan colonists in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, the militia evolved into a highly organized and armed fighting force. The Massachusetts militia served as a central organ of the New England revolutionary fighting force during the early American Revolution and a major component in the Continental Army under George Washington.
First muster of the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia, spring of 1637
The Lexington Minuteman monument
Veterans of the 'Minutemen of 1861', those among the first to answer President Abraham Lincoln's call to arms on April 15, 1861, in a group photograph on the 36th anniversary on April 15, 1897
Massachusetts National Guardsmen north of Bütgenbach, Belgium during World War II
Camp Edwards is a United States military training installation located in western Cape Cod in Barnstable County, Massachusetts. It was named after Major General Clarence Edwards, commander of the 26th Division in World War I. The base is currently the home of portions of the 3rd Battalion, 126th Aviation Regiment, of the Massachusetts Army National Guard.
Tactical Training Base Kelley, Camp Edwards, 2018
Training at Camp Edwards, c. 1942. Soldiers climb a 5-foot-tall (1.5 m) fence in an obstacle course.
Barracks being built in 1940
Early aerial image of Camp Edwards, notice the beginnings of Otis Field in the foreground