Mobilization in the War for Independence is the process by which America raised and organized the military forces to wage war against the British Empire. After the conclusion of the French and Indian War (1756–1763), a decade of political controversy between Americans and Great Britain prompted Americans to reinvigorate their local militias in preparation to defend their property rights and civil liberties. Americans ousted royalist officers from their militia companies, stepped up training exercises, and collected military stores. Volunteers from the militia formed minuteman companies that were to be ready to march at a minute's notice in the event that British troops threatened to use force against Americans. When political disagreements transformed into actual hostilities in 1775, the American people mobilized as citizen-soldiers in the colonial militia tradition of universal male citizen service.

The First Mobilization and the New England Army

On April 19, 1775, alarm...