In the days following Southern rebels firing on Fort Sumter, President Lincoln called upon the states to send their militias to defend Washington, DC, and put an end to the rebellion. A handful of states answered the call, but none as swift and as robust as Massachusetts. Within a week, the Commonwealth sent over 3,800 men from the 3rd, 4th, 5th, 6th, 8th Massachusetts Volunteer Militia Regiments, 3rd Battalion Massachusetts Rifles, and 1st Massachusetts Battery of Light Artillery.
In the early days of the war the 6th was attacked by a riotous mob in Baltimore in the first blood of the War, the 8th secured Annapolis and provided defenses for the USS Constitution, and the 5th served in the thick of the First Battle of Bull Run. For their service and swift action, these men would become known as the Minutemen of 1861 in the same spirit as their predecessors in 1775.
In 1902, over 40 years since Lincoln’s call, the Commonwealth authorized the Minuteman of 1861 Medal to be issued to these men or their families. Given the time between their service and the medals being struck, hundreds of these medals were never claimed. Today, over 700 medals are in the possession of the Massachusetts National Guard Museum. Through a partnership with Camp Charles H. Bond #54, Sons of Union Veterans of the Civil War, Department of Massachusetts, these medals can now be claimed by descendants of these men.
