Governor's Guards

The Governor's Guards of Connecticut are four distinct units of the Connecticut State Militia. There are two foot guard units and two horse guard units. In colonial times, one foot guard unit and one horse guard unit served the Hartford area and the other two in the New Haven area. The First Company Governor's Foot Guard was created in 1771 with a Second Company raised in 1775. The First Company Governor's Foot Guard is the oldest American military formation in the United States with an unbroken lineage. The First Company Horse Guard was created in 1788 as the Independent Volunteer Troop of Horse Guards in Hartford. The Second Company Governor's Horse Guard was created in 1808 in New Haven. Both were created to serve and protect the governor between his travels between New Haven and Hartford.

The First Company Governor’s Foot Guard was organized in Hartford in October 1771 as the Connecticut Governor's Guard, and is the oldest military organization in continuous existence in the United States. Although other organizations may have been formed at an earlier date, the First Company is unique in its record of unbroken service.

Hartford, in 1771, was remote from larger towns. It was a small town of 3,000 inhabitants, with few churches and schools. The journey to New York or Boston took three days in a stagecoach which ran but once a week. Small as it was, Hartford was not lacking in public spirit. A group of leading young men in Hartford decided it was time to organize a select company for the purpose of escorting the Governor and General Assembly at the General Elections after an unfortunate incident in 1768, when a “trainband” made a farce out of the escort duty. Certainly another reason for the decision was that a company from East Hartford actually did escort duty in 1769 and 1770. Accordingly, Samuel Wyllys and others petitioned the General Assembly. The petition was granted by the Assembly, and Samuel Wyllys, a young man of 32, was elected Captain, William Knox, Lieutenant, and Ebenezer Austin, Ensign. The company was known at this time as the Governor’s Guard.

As Connecticut had two capitals at this time, it was not long before citizens of New Haven, its other capital, felt the need to establish a unit of Governor's Guards composed of their own citizens. The Second Company was organized in New Haven primarily by Benedict Arnold who was elected the company's captain. This caused the original unit to take the name First Company Governor's Guard and the new organization to take the name Second Company Governor's Guards. It was in 1778, with the establishment of a unit of Governor's Horse Guards, that the original unit changed its name for the final time to "First Company Governor's Foot Guard" and the newer unit adopted the name "Second Company Governor's Foot Guard". Both units of Foot Guard are recognized by the state of Connecticut as separate and distinct entities.

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