Provincial troops in the French and Indian Wars

Provincial troops were raised by the colonial governors and legislatures for extended operations during the French and Indian Wars. The provincial troops differed from the militia, in that it was a full-time military organization conducting extended operations; differing from the regular British Army in that it was recruited only for one campaign season at the time. These forces were often recruited through a quota system applied to the militia. The officers were appointed by the provincial governments. During the eighteenth century militia service was increasingly seen as a prerogative of the social and economic well-established, while provincial troops came to be recruited from different and less deep-rooted members of the community. The first provincial forces in British North America were organized in the 1670s. The major operations during King William's War were conducted by provincial troops from Massachusetts Bay. During Queen Anne's War provincial troops from Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Hampshire made up the bulk of the English forces. During King George's War the land forces that took Louisbourg was entirely supplied by Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island. During the French and Indian War the imperial government in London took an increasingly more leading part, relegating the provincial troops to a non-combat role, largely as pioneers and transportation troops, while the bulk of the fighting was done by the regular British Army. However the contributions of Connecticut, Massachusetts Bay, New Hampshire, and Rhode Island were essential.

During the French and Indian Wars, provincial troops separate of the militia were raised by the colonial governors and legislatures for extended operations. These forces were often recruited through a quota system applied to the militia; drafts would only be used when enough volunteers didn't sign up. Bounties were used to boast volunteer enlistment. The officers were appointed by the provincial governments; the field officers were mostly men of political importance and members of the legislatures with many years service in the militia, while the junior officers were efficient and popular militia officers. The provincial troops were enlisted for specific campaign seasons, and organized anew each spring, yet most of the officers served year after year. The colonial governments also appointed persons in charge of logistics, often prominent merchants that had the business acumen and knowledge to run the extensive logistic operations required. The distinction between the militia and the provincial troops was not always understood in contemporary Britain, and Benjamin Franklin tried to explain the differences in a 1756 letter to his English friend Peter Collinson. The men serving on the frontier, Franklin clarified, were not militia but full-time soldiers enlisted to fight for a specific period of time, and paid by the colonial governments. In contrast, the militia were men following their normal business, mustering on specific days to train, and ready to fight only in case of an emergency.Massachusetts Bay was the colony that made the largest contribution to the war effort during the French and Indian Wars. In the seventeenth century provincial forces were first raised for offensive operations through volunteers from the militia regiments. After King William's War, the colonial legislature enacted new laws that embodied the basic principles that would govern the colony's military forces during a century of warfare. The militia's role was relegated from a prospective combat force, to "a combination of home guard, draft-board, and [...] supply network," forming the base from which the provincial troops were recruited and supplied.

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