The firearms of the American Colonial militia, pre-1776

By Chris Eger

Today when we think of the modern and mighty US military safeguarding these United States, it may be hard to imagine that close to 250 years ago a very different looking armed force protected a country in a very different place. Before 1776 the United States did not even exist, rather it was a series of 13 colonies all in allegiance to the British throne. But there were then, as there are now, American soldiers. Moreover, they were usually at war.
Militia madness
Going back as far as the 16th century there were the English muster laws under Queen Elizabeth I. In the 1570s these edicts organized all able-bodied men into what we would recognize today as town militias. This law was brought to America from England and the Massachusetts Bay Colonial Militia was founded on December 13, 1636. Explicitly, every man was to have access to a musket or fowling piece (what we would think of today as a shotgun) and a supply of ball and powder. The militia law ordered all men to appear with, “a Gun, fit for service, a Cartouch Box, and a Sword, Cutlass, or Hanger, and at least Twelve Charges of Powder and Ball, or Swan

Source: Guns.com