Overview

The Atlantic-facing English colonies were established on a thin strip of coastal land hemmed in on one side by the sea and on the other by the seemingly impenetrable forests and potentially unfriendly native tribes. The colonists in Virginia and New England were remarkably dissimilar in their political, economic, social, and religious attitudes. Yet in their beliefs concerning local defense they were very similar, possibly because they both shared the same English military traditions. Without regard to the region of Britain from which they came, Englishmen came to America armed to the teeth. "The story of the military institutions of the American colonies is an account of efforts to keep as much of the population as possible armed and prepared to fight on short notice."