A Rabble in Arms : : Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip’s War / / Kyle F. Zelner.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter New York University Press Backlist eBook-Package 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Zelner, Kyle F.,
• Place / Publishing House: New York, NY : : New York University Press, , [2009]; ©2009
• Year of Publication: 2009
• Language: English
• Series: Warfare and Culture ; 5
• Physical Description: 1 online resource

While it lasted only sixteen months, King Philip’s War (1675-1676) was arguably one of the most significant of the colonial wars that wracked early America. As the first major military crisis to directly strike one of the Empire’s most important possessions: the Massachusetts Bay Colony, King Philip’s War marked the first time that Massachusetts had to mobilize mass numbers of ordinary, local men to fight. In this exhaustive social history and community study of Essex County, Massachusetts’s militia, Kyle F. Zelner boldly challenges traditional interpretations of who was called to serve during this period.Drawing on muster and pay lists as well as countless historical records, Zelner demonstrates that Essex County’s more upstanding citizens were often spared from impressments, while the “rabble” - criminals, drunkards, the poor- were forced to join active fighting units, with town militia committees selecting soldiers who would be least missed should they die in action. Enhanced by illustrations and maps, A Rabble in Arms shows that, despite heroic illusions of a universal military obligation, town fathers, to damaging effects, often placed local and personal interests above colonial military concerns.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- List of Figures, Maps, and Tables -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- A Note on Method -- 1 “For the best ordering of the militia” -- 2 The Massachusetts Bay Militia and the Practice of Impressment during King Philip’s War -- 3 Many Men, Many Choices -- 4 Few Men, Few Options -- 5 The Pressed Men of Essex County -- 6 The Effects of Impressment -- Afterword -- Appendix 1 -- Appendix 2 -- Appendix 3 -- Appendix 4 -- Appendix 5 -- Abbreviations Used in the Notes -- Notes -- Selected Bibliography -- Permissions -- Index -- About the Author