Includes index.

The English background -- Militia in the colonies -- The American revolution -- Militia in the early national period -- Jeffersonian militia and the War of 1812 -- Decline of the militia ; rise of the volunteers -- Civil War -- Reconstruction ; birth of the National Guard -- The war with Spain -- Reorganization, 1900-1916 -- The National Guard in World War I -- The National Guard between World Wars -- World War II -- The immediate postwar period -- The Eisenhower administrations -- The turbulent 1960s -- The Guard in the 1970s -- Conclusion.