snippet = new Array() snippet[0] = "
Sudbury was established on September 4, 1639, and encompassed what is now Maynard and Wayland. The town's name is credited to Reverend Edmund Brown, a highly influential man, who had arrived on the ship 'Confidance' from Sudbury, England." snippet[1] = "
Sudbury was only the nineteenth settlement of Massachusetts Bay Colony but only the second inland from the coast. Initially, the population was only sixty men, women, and children." snippet[2] = "
During the 1600s, each town near the frontier, including Sudbury, was required to arm and equip men at all times to protect any part of the colony against Indian attack. The reason was simple. Troops from the Mother Country, England, were too expensive to garrison across the vast territory." snippet[3] = "
In late 1774, training bands of men drilled at night in barns as part of secret military preparations. 'The young Men in the Winter months made a Practis of calling on their officers Evenings and going through the Manual Exercise in Barn Flours,' wrote one provincial. 'I have exercised many a Night With my Mittens on." snippet[4] = "In March of 1775, supplies were moved from Concord. Divided by thirds among Concord, Sudbury and Stow were fifty barrels of beef, one hundred of flour, twenty casks of rice, fifteen hogsheads of molasses, ten hogsheads of rum, five hundred candles, fifteen thousand canteens, fifteen thousand iron pots, spades, pickaxes, billhooks, axes, hatchets, crows, wheelbarrows and other articles." snippet[5] = "
At the Sudbury muster of March 27, 1775, it was reported that Captain Moses Stone's Company had 92 men. 18 did not possess guns and one third with firelocks (muskets) unfit for service." snippet[6] = "
At the Sudbury muster of March 27, 1775, it was reported that Captain Joseph Smith's Company had 75 men yet only 40 were well-equipped. 20 promised to equip themselves immediately, while another 15 did not have guns." snippet[7] = "
On April 19, 1775, two men from Sudbury died in battle. They were 81 year old Josiah Haynes and Asahel Reed, in his twenties." snippet[8] = "
Wayland was represented on April 19, 1775, by two Companies of Militia and Minute. The militia consisted of seventy-five men commanded by Captain Joseph Smith, and the minute company totaled 40 persons lead by Captain Nathaniel Cudworth." snippet[9] = "
A Minute company is a fighting group typically of younger, unattached men who could march under short notice and move quickly. It's those soldiers that we now refer to as Minutemen." snippet[10] = "
A Militia soldier was any able-bodied man in your community between the age of 16 and 62. Called in time of need, these men defended your plantation, village, or town. Brothers, fathers, and grandfathers often served side-by-side." snippet[11] = "While the reason for The American Revolution cannot be simplified, many historians count the French and Indian War as a significant factor. This 3rd war between England and France of the 1700s was the most expensive and only ended in 1763. Parliament passed several acts believing that American Provincials should bear the burden of the costs. These taxes raised rancor against Mother England which festered for twelve years." snippet[12] = "
In the Autumn of 1774, Sudbury was training 400 militiamen for potential hostilities against the crown. This force was by far the largest in Massachusetts. At least 302 served on April 19, 1775." n = 12