Who Fights American Wars?
The U.S. soldiers in today’s fights are strictly volunteers. But the American armed forces haven’t always been staffed that way. Here’s how various American armies–with a mix of volunteers and conscripts–came to be. Revolutionary War (1775-83) It’s one of the best-known stories of the Revolutionary War. Upon getting word that the British were on the move, hundreds of “minutemen” grabbed their weapons and scrambled to Lexington and Concord. Citizen-soldiers, lined up to fight for their freedom–this was exactly what the nation’s founders envisioned when they pictured who would wage the war for independence. The problem was, the militiamen were a little too independent themselves. When harvest or planting time rolled around, they headed home to take care of their farms. Commander-in-chief George Washington complained that the volunteers “consume your provisions, exhaust your stores, and leave you at last in a critical moment.” So, while militias certainly did their part, the hard slog
