News/Press

Guard Marks 386th Birthday

On Dec. 13, 1636, the Massachusetts Bay Colony’s General Court, the colony’s legislature, organized the North, South and East regiments from the independent militia in 14 villages around Boston to better defend the colony. Today, the descendants of these first regiments — the 181st Infantry, the 182nd Infantry, the 101st Field Artillery and the 101st Engineer Battalion of the Massachusetts Army National Guard — share the distinction of being the U.S. military’s oldest units. Other states and Puerto Rico claim earlier militia heritages, but none of their current force structures have continuous lineage to those early units.