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In The Militia
In The Militia
In The Militia
Civil-Military Relations
Military forces often try to maintain civilian control.
Civilians viewed the state as an oppressive force.
Civilians thought the military was the greatest civil threat.
There was a distrust of standing armies as tyrannical instruments.
In Europe, there was a history of the use of military to suppress dissent.
Citizen-soldiers were thought superior because they had something worth fighting for.
Natives V Colonists
From 1622-1644, there existed a set of conflicts collectively called the Tidewater Wars.
The TW Ws occurred in Virginia, starting when there was a sudden, brutal native attack.
Roughly twenty percent of the colonist population was killed.
This resulted in a war of attrition, and panic-induced retaliation and retribution prevailed.
The captured natives were sold as slaves, and this was the first total war for the natives.
Pequot War occurred in 1637 and came to a head at Pequot Fort on Mystic River.
The colonists, with the aid of native allies, attacked and burned fort, killing most inside.
This represented a near-genocide of the Pequot people.
In 1975-76, a Native confederation led by King Phillip engaged in combat with the
colonists, a conflict called King Phillip’s War.
This lead to a brutal massacre of the Native populations, and ended as a near-genocide.
The loss of only a few militia men could lead to devastating effects on their community.
Soon the possibility of more profit and the present prosperity caused the Crown to step in.