|
Chartered in 1638-The First Military Company
Chartered in the Western Hemisphere
As the settlements, which followed the landing at Plymouth
increased and spread, there was no organized military force
for protection. There were only local volunteer companies
and there was no join action or centralized authority. Many
of the settlers of Boston had been members in England, of
the Honourable Artillery
Company of London (organized and chartered in 1537) and
it was natural that the military training they had received
in that Company should lead them to form a similar organization
in the new country. In 1637 the Company was formed for instruction
in discipline and tactics. Governor Winthrop granted a Charter
in March 1638, and on the first Monday in June following,
an election of Officers was held on Boston Common. Since that
time, the Company has maintained the tradition of holding
their annual elections on the Boston Common on the first Monday
in June by casting their votes on the Drum Head.
Since 1746, the
Headquarters of the Ancient's had been located in Faneuil
Hall - an historic citadel known to all Americans.
In its Armory,
the Company maintains a
Military Museum and Library,
which is without equal in the United States. Here are relics
of every war in which this Country has been engaged, since
its settlement. The Armory is open to the public daily, and
many thousands of visitors from every part of the world register
every year in the Guest Book.
The members of the Company trod the fields of every battlefield
of New England; they fought for freedom on foreign soil; they
judged the courts; they pleaded at the bar; they instituted
town government and leveled forests; and they were active
in settling the towns of the frontier.
Ancient and Honourable Artillery Company members served on
every battlefield from Bunker Hill to Yorktown, the War of
1812 and the Civil War, both World Wars, Korea, Vietnam and
Desert Storm.
This is the Company that Washington knew, that Franklin saw
march through the streets of Boston, that John Adams and John
Quincy Adams visited; that has had eight members who received
our nation's highest military decoration - the
Medal of Honor - and has had four of its members serve
in the worlds' most important office,
President of the United States; President James Monroe,
Chester Alan Arthur, Calvin Coolidge and John F. Kennedy;
the same Company which has always stood for, and always will
stand for, the best in citizenship.
More historical information is available on the following
pages:
Timeline | Charter
| Presidential Members
| Medal of Honor Recipients
| Living Past Commanders
|
