A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip's War

A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip's War

by Kyle F. Zelner
ISBN-10:
0814797342
ISBN-13:
9780814797341
Pub. Date:
11/01/2010
Publisher:
New York University Press
ISBN-10:
0814797342
ISBN-13:
9780814797341
Pub. Date:
11/01/2010
Publisher:
New York University Press
A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip's War

A Rabble in Arms: Massachusetts Towns and Militiamen during King Philip's War

by Kyle F. Zelner
$30.0 Current price is , Original price is $30.0. You
$30.00 
  • SHIP THIS ITEM
    Qualifies for Free Shipping
  • PICK UP IN STORE
    Check Availability at Nearby Stores
  • SHIP THIS ITEM

    Temporarily Out of Stock Online

    Please check back later for updated availability.


Overview

While it lasted only sixteen months, King Philip’s War (1675-1676) was arguably one of the most significant of the colonial wars that wracked early America. As the first major military crisis to directly strike one of the Empire’s most important possessions: the Massachusetts Bay Colony, King Philip’s War marked the first time that Massachusetts had to mobilize mass numbers of ordinary, local men to fight. In this exhaustive social history and community study of Essex County, Massachusetts’s militia, Kyle F. Zelner boldly challenges traditional interpretations of who was called to serve during this period.
Drawing on muster and pay lists as well as countless historical records, Zelner demonstrates that Essex County’s more upstanding citizens were often spared from impressments, while the “rabble” — criminals, drunkards, the poor— were forced to join active fighting units, with town militia committees selecting soldiers who would be least missed should they die in action. Enhanced by illustrations and maps, A Rabble in Arms shows that, despite heroic illusions of a universal military obligation, town fathers, to damaging effects, often placed local and personal interests above colonial military concerns.


Product Details

ISBN-13: 9780814797341
Publisher: New York University Press
Publication date: 11/01/2010
Series: Warfare and Culture , #5
Edition description: New Edition
Pages: 340
Sales rank: 787,220
Product dimensions: 5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Kyle F. Zelner is Associate Professor of History and a Senior Fellow of the Center for the Study of War and Society at the University of Southern Mississippi.

Table of Contents

List of Figures, Maps, and Tables xi

Acknowledgments xiii

Introduction 1

A Note on Method 15

1 "For the best ordering of the militia": English Military Precedent and the Early Massachusetts Bay Militia 19

2 The Massachusetts Bay Militia and the Practice of Impressment during King Philip's War 40

3 Many Men, Many Choices: Impressment in Essex County's Thriving Towns 70

4 Few Men, Few Options: Impressment in Essex County's Small Towns 109

5 The Pressed Men of Essex County: The Social Identity of the Soldiers of King Philip's War 141

6 The Effects of Impressment: War and Peace in Essex County 181

Afterword: The Military of Massachusetts Bay Transformed 213

Appendix 1 The Soldiers of Essex County in King Philip's War, 1675-1676 219

Appendix 2 Rowley's 1662 Tax List: Ranked by Family with Soldiers' Families Highlighted 229

Appendix 3 Topsfield's 1668 Tax List: Ranked by Family with Soldiers' Families Highlighted 233

Appendix 4 An Examination of the Age of Essex County Soldiers and Officers in King Philip's War, 1675-1676 235

Appendix 5 The Occupations of the Soldiers of Essex County, 1675-1676 239

Abbreviations Used in Notes 241

Notes 243

Selected Bibliography 297

Permissions 313

Index 315

About the Author 325

From the B&N Reads Blog

Customer Reviews