The New Hampshire Militia was first organized in March 1680, by New Hampshire Colonial President John Cutt. The King of England authorized the Provincial President to give commissions to persons who shall be best qualified for regulating and discipline of the militia. President Cutt placed Major Richard Waldron of Dover in command of the Militia. In 1879, the Militia was designated by the state as the New Hampshire National Guard.
The New Hampshire Militia served in all of the Colonial Wars, and was part of expeditions that captured the Fortress of Louisbourg in 1745 and Port Royal, Nova Scotia in 1710. During the last four wars of the French and Indian Wars, the New Hampshire Militia furnished about 5,000 men for six different campaigns, including men who served with Major Robert Rogers and his Rangers. Regiments of the New Hampshire provincial soldiers were at the Battle of Lake George, the Siege of Fort William Henry, the Siege of Louisbourg (1758), the 1758 Battle of Carillon and the fall of Fort Carillon (subsequently Fort Ticonderoga) in 1759, the Battle of the Plains of Abraham and the Battle of Sainte-Foy near Quebec, and were present at the final capitulation of New France at Montreal. They also saw action in countless small battles from the Hudson River to Nova Scotia.