The Michigan Territory Militia was the predecessor to the

Michigan Army National Guard The Michigan Army National Guard is the Army component of the Michigan National Guard and a reserve component of the United States Army. During the Cold War only the 156th Signal Battalion was federalized on 1 October 1962 at its home stations in ...

and existed from 1805-1837 as an entity concurrent with

Michigan Territory The Territory of Michigan was an organized incorporated territory of the United States that existed from June 30, 1805, until January 26, 1837, when the final extent of the territory was admitted to the Union as the State of Michigan. Detroit w ...

's existence in the United States.

Colonial and pre-Territorial militias

In the French colonial period, a proposal was made in 1708 to organize the first Michigan militia at

Fort Detroit Fort Pontchartrain du Détroit or Fort Detroit (1701–1796) was a fort established on the north bank of the Detroit River by the French officer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and the Italian Alphonse de Tonty in 1701. In the 18th century, Fre ...

which is referenced in the Cadillac Papers. Following the defeat of the French regime, Michigan militias were also organized during British colonial occupation prior to the arrival of the Americans. The earliest evidence of a formally organized American-style

militia A militia () is generally an army or some other fighting organization of non-professional soldiers, citizens of a country, or subjects of a state, who may perform military service during a time of need, as opposed to a professional force of r ...

in pre-Territorial Michigan can be traced back to a militia unit participating in a Detroit parade on May 11, 1803. Michigan Territory was organized on June 30, 1805. File:Milice canadienne francaise 1759 - Mary Elizabeth Bonham.jpg, Pre-Territorial Michigan militias began in the 18th century with the formation of French Canadien civilians to help defend French colonialsettlements such as

which continued into the British colonial period File:Coureur de bois.jpg, Pre-Territorial Michigan militias also consisted of French Canadien frontiersman known as

coureur de bois A coureur des bois (; ) or coureur de bois (; plural: coureurs de(s) bois) was an independent entrepreneurial French-Canadian trader who travelled in New France and the interior of North America, usually to trade with First Nations peoples by ...

who lived with and in the fur trade of the Native Americans in the

Great Lakes region The Great Lakes region of North America is a binational Canadian–American region that includes portions of the eight U.S. states of Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin along with the Canadian p ...

which continued into the British colonial period

Territorial Militia

The official organization of the

in 1805 also included language that allowed for the creation of a militia.Michigan's Early Organized Militias
, ''

Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs The Michigan Department of Military and Veterans Affairs is a principal department of the State of Michigan. It oversees the military components and veterans services for the State. The military components are the Michigan National Guard and Mic ...

'', michigan.gov, accessed May 24, 2009.

War of 1812

The Michigan Territory Militia existed only on paper until the

War of 1812 The War of 1812 (18 June 1812 – 17 February 1815) was fought by the United States of America and its indigenous allies against the United Kingdom and its allies in British North America, with limited participation by Spain in Florida. It bega ...

.Michigan's Early Organized Militias
, ''

'', michigan.gov, accessed May 24, 2009.

Black Hawk War

Creation of Michigan State Militia

Michigan Territory boundaries from 1805-1837

File:Michigan-territory-1805-1818.png, From 1805–1818, the western border was a line through

Lake Michigan Lake Michigan is one of the five Great Lakes of North America. It is the second-largest of the Great Lakes by volume () and the third-largest by surface area (), after Lake Superior and Lake Huron. To the east, its basin is conjoined with that o ...

. File:Michigan-territory-1830-blue.png, Between 1818 and 1833, Illinois and Indiana became states and the unincorporated land from their territories, plus a handful of other townships, was made part of Michigan Territory. File:Michigan-territory-1834-blue.png, Between 1833 and 1836, all the remnants of the old Northwest Territory were part of the Michigan Territory along with portions of the

Louisiana Purchase The Louisiana Purchase (french: Vente de la Louisiane, translation=Sale of Louisiana) was the acquisition of the territory of Louisiana by the United States from the French First Republic in 1803. In return for fifteen million dollars, or app ...

. File:Michigan-territory-1836.png, Michigan shrank in 1836 with the creation of the Wisconsin Territory. Wisconsin Territory was established in 1836 with the present boundary in the Upper Peninsula.

References

*Au, Dennis M.
"BEST TROOPS IN THE WORLD": THE MICHIGAN TERRITORIAL MILITIA IN THE DETROIT RIVER THEATER DURING THE WAR OF 1812", GEORGE ROGERS CLARK Selected Papers From The 1991 And 1992 George Rogers Clark Trans-Appalachian Frontier History Conferences, Center for French Colonial Studies, U.S. National Park Service
U.S. National Park Service, 1992. *Rosentreter, Roger.
Michigan's Early Military Forces: A Roster and History of Troops Activated Prior to the American Civil War
Detroit, MI: Wayne State University Press, 2003. {{Black Hawk War (1832) Michigan Territory Military history of Michigan Militia in the United States 1812 establishments in Michigan Territory Black Hawk War .