Massachusetts and the U.S. Military: A History of Service

Massachusetts military history timeline

1. Dec. 13, 1636The Massachusetts Bay General Court organizes the colony’s militia into the North, South and East Regiments, the birth of the National Guard.
2. April 1637The East Regiment holds its first muster on Salem Common.
3. April 19, 1775Militia and Minute Men fight British regulars at Lexington and Concord’s North Bridge.
4. June 14-17, 1775Congress creates the Continental Army from the forces around Boston; New England troops fight the Battle of Bunker Hill on Breed’s Hill.
5. July 2, 1775George Washington arrives in Cambridge to lead the army in the Siege of Boston.
6. March 1776The British evacuate Boston.
7. 1789Boston-born Henry Knox becomes the first U.S. Secretary of War in President Washington’s cabinet.
8. 1794Springfield Armory begins production; it serves the nation until 1968.
9. Oct. 21, 1797USS Constitution is launched at Edmund Hartt’s shipyard in Boston.
10. 1800The Charlestown Navy Yard is established.
11. Aug. 19, 1812Constitution defeats HMS Guerriere and earns the name “Old Ironsides.”
12. July 18, 1863The 54th Massachusetts leads the assault on Fort Wagner; Sgt. William H. Carney saves the flag.
13. July 18, 1917The 26th “Yankee” Division is formed; Massachusetts Guard soldiers make up more than half of it, and it becomes the first full U.S. Army division to reach France in World War I.
14. May 14, 1942The Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps Act, written by Massachusetts Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers, becomes law.
15. 1944Congress passes the GI Bill of Rights, a package Rogers sponsored that included tuition benefits for veterans.
16. 1940-1945The MIT Radiation Laboratory develops more than 100 radar systems; the Navy Yard employs more than 50,000 people.
17. 1951MIT Lincoln Laboratory is established to build the SAGE air defense system.
18. 1954The Army’s research facility opens at Natick.
19. 1974The Charlestown Navy Yard closes; part of it joins Boston National Historical Park.
20. Sept. 13, 2026The 104th Fighter Wing at Barnes welcomes the F-35A.

Birthplace of the National Guard: the 1636 militia

On Dec. 13, 1636, the General Court of the Massachusetts Bay Colony ordered the colony’s militia companies organized into three regiments: the North, South and East Regiments. The National Guard counts that day as its birthday, and it celebrates it every year. The colonists had no standing army. Every able-bodied man was expected to train and turn out to defend his town.

The East Regiment gathered for its first muster on Salem Common in the spring of 1637, a moment the Army and the Guard still mark in Salem. The lineage of those first regiments lives on in four Massachusetts Army National Guard units, the 181st Infantry, the 182nd Infantry, the 101st Field Artillery and the 101st Engineer Battalion, which the National Guard Bureau lists as the oldest units in the U.S. military.

That citizen-soldier idea, neighbors who leave their farms and shops to serve and then come home, remains at the core of the Guard today. Massachusetts Guard members still answer the governor’s call during storms and emergencies and deploy overseas with the active-duty force.

Where the American Revolution began: Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill

Before dawn on April 19, 1775, British regulars marched from Boston to seize colonial military supplies stored in Concord. Riders spread the alarm, and militia and Minute Men gathered. Shots were exchanged on Lexington Green, and later that morning militia confronted British troops at Concord’s North Bridge. As the regulars marched back to Boston, thousands of militiamen from towns across Massachusetts fired on the column along the road. Minute Man National Historical Park now preserves the Battle Road and the North Bridge.

Militia from across New England surrounded Boston. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress created the Continental Army from those forces, and the next day chose George Washington of Virginia to command it. Before Washington arrived, New England troops fortified Breed’s Hill in Charlestown, and on June 17 they fought the Battle of Bunker Hill. The British took the hill but suffered heavy losses, and the battle showed that American citizen-soldiers could stand against professional troops.

Washington reached Cambridge on July 2, 1775, and took over command from Massachusetts General Artemas Ward. From July 1775 to April 1776 he used the Vassall House on Brattle Street as his headquarters, a home now preserved as Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters National Historic Site. The British evacuated Boston in March 1776, an early victory for the new army.

USS Constitution and the Charlestown Navy Yard

In 1794, Congress authorized six frigates to protect American shipping. One of them, USS Constitution, was built and launched at Edmund Hartt’s shipyard in Boston’s North End on Oct. 21, 1797. During the War of 1812, on Aug. 19, 1812, Constitution defeated the British frigate HMS Guerriere. British cannonballs appeared to bounce off its thick oak hull, and the ship became known as “Old Ironsides.” In its career, Constitution captured 33 vessels.

Today, Constitution is the world’s oldest commissioned warship afloat, according to the Naval History and Heritage Command. In 2009, it was named America’s Ship of State. It is berthed at the Charlestown Navy Yard, which the Navy established in 1800. The yard built its first ship, the ship of the line USS Independence, in 1814.

The Navy Yard grew with every war. The National Park Service reports that during the Civil War it built, repaired or remodeled more than 170 warships. During World War I it repaired or outfitted more than 450 ships. During World War II, more than 50,000 workers built about 300 craft and served 4,600 more ships. The yard closed in 1974, and part of it is now in Boston National Historical Park.

The Civil War and the 54th Massachusetts

Massachusetts sent regiments, ships and supplies to preserve the Union. One regiment became especially famous: the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry, one of the first official African American units in the Union Army, raised under Gov. John Andrew and led by Col. Robert Gould Shaw. On July 18, 1863, the 54th led the assault on Fort Wagner, which guarded the approach to Charleston, South Carolina. Shaw and many of his soldiers were killed.

During the attack, Sgt. William H. Carney, born in Norfolk, Virginia, in 1840 and later living in New Bedford, Massachusetts, picked up the regiment’s flag after its bearer fell. Though badly wounded, he carried the colors back to Union lines. Carney received the Medal of Honor on May 9, 1900. The National Park Service notes that, by date of action, he is the first African American Medal of Honor recipient. The courage of the 54th helped open the door for more than 180,000 African Americans to serve in the Union Army, about 10% of its strength. The Robert Gould Shaw and 54th Regiment Memorial faces the State House on Boston Common.

Springfield Armory, MIT radar and the arsenal of democracy

From 1794 to 1968, the Springfield Armory made and developed weapons for American soldiers. It is now Springfield Armory National Historic Site, run by the National Park Service.

In World War II, Massachusetts science became a weapon. The MIT Radiation Laboratory, founded in the fall of 1940, developed more than 100 radar systems before it closed on Dec. 31, 1945. In 1951, MIT Lincoln Laboratory was established to build SAGE, the first U.S. computer-based air defense system, which became operational in 1963 and served until 1983. Lincoln Laboratory still does research and development for national security today.

Massachusetts in Washington, D.C.: shaping national defense

Massachusetts leaders helped build America’s military institutions in the nation’s capital.

• Henry Knox, a Boston bookseller who became Washington’s chief of artillery, hauled about 60 tons of cannon from Fort Ticonderoga to fortify Dorchester Heights in March 1776. He founded the arsenal at Springfield in 1777 and served as the first Secretary of War under President Washington from 1789, according to the National Park Service.
• Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers represented a Massachusetts district for 35 years. She wrote the 1942 law that opened Army service to up to 150,000 women volunteers, sponsored the 1944 GI Bill of Rights and chaired the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee in two Congresses, according to the House History, Art & Archives office. The VA hospital in Bedford bears her name.
• The Yankee Division: the 26th Infantry Division, still a major Massachusetts Army National Guard formation, fought across France in both world wars, the second time in Gen. George Patton’s Third Army, according to the U.S. Army.

Today, Massachusetts members of Congress sit on the Armed Services committees in Washington. See the current list on our Military hub’s Washington, D.C. section.

Visit Boston’s military history: Freedom Trail and beyond

Boston and the towns around it let visitors walk where American service began. Most of these sites are run by the National Park Service; check each official page for hours.

Massachusetts military bases and units today

The tradition continues across the state. Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford manages Air Force cyber, command and control and other programs, and hosts the Massachusetts National Guard’s Joint Force Headquarters. Westover Air Reserve Base in Chicopee is home to the 439th Airlift Wing and its C-5 Super Galaxy airlifters. At Barnes Air National Guard Base in Westfield, the 104th Fighter Wing began a new chapter with the F-35A in September 2026. Joint Base Cape Cod includes Otis Air National Guard Base, home of the 102nd Intelligence Wing. At Natick, the Army’s DEVCOM Soldier Center develops equipment for soldiers. Learn more on our Military hub and follow deployments on the Military Deployments Tracker.

Massachusetts veterans by the numbers

About 243,596 veterans live in Massachusetts, according to Census Bureau estimates for 2020-2024, the largest number in New England.

Massachusetts veterans can find state benefits, VA health care, housing and jobs help on our Massachusetts Veterans Resources hub and at VA.gov. Veterans in crisis: call 988 and press 1, or text 838255.

Sources

• National Guard: How We Began
• U.S. Army: National Guard’s first muster in Salem
• National Park Service: April 19, 1775
• National Park Service: The Battle of Bunker Hill
• Naval History and Heritage Command: USS Constitution fact sheet
• National Park Service: Charlestown Navy Yard
• National Park Service: William H. Carney
• U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: Massachusetts veterans
• U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs

Additional sources

• National Park Service: Henry Knox
• House History: Rep. Edith Nourse Rogers
• House History: The WAAC Act
• U.S. Army: Yankee Division celebrates 100 years
• National Park Service: Boston African American NHS
• National Park Service: Minute Man NHP
• National Park Service: Longfellow House-Washington’s Headquarters
• National Park Service: Springfield Armory
• National Park Service: USS Constitution
• MIT Lincoln Laboratory: History
• Mass.gov: Executive Office of Veterans Services
• Massachusetts National Guard

Photo credits: Photo: Oscar Sosa, U.S. Navy, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Photo: Airman 1st Class Elijah Harris-Lariviere, U.S. Air Force, via Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Minute Man statue by Daniel Chester French. Photo via Wikimedia Commons (public domain) Photo: Rhododendrites via Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0 Photo: Daderot via Wikimedia Commons (public domain)