Across the history of the United States of America, there have always been those who
are not only prepared to take arms, but citizens who regard the preservation of freedom as
the basic purpose of their daily life, and who are willing to consciously work and sacrifice
for that freedom.
On the long-ago battlefields of the revolutionary war, they won for themselves a nation, and
the enduring title of “Minutemen”.
But as with so many of the ideals and institutions of the pre-war era, the concept of citizen
soldiers has struggled to survive in the Wasteland.
The Minutemen that established themselves in the war-ravaged Commonwealth represented
an attempt to reignite the legacy of their namesake.
It was a volunteer civilian militia; men and women trained in weaponry, tactics and military
strategy, banding together to protect their communities.
They were known for being flexible and mobile, ready at a minute’s notice.
At its height, the Minutemen could be found across the whole of the Commonwealth; from
the ruins of Boston to the Sanctuary Hills, and the edge of the Glowing Sea.
Communities aligned with the group would provide volunteers, who were in turn trained and equipped
by a core group of full-time Minutemen.
These professionals were based within “The Castle”, a fortress known in the pre-war
era as Fort Independence.
Within could be found workshops, barracks, armories, and aid stations, but most importantly,
a functioning transmitter.
This latter piece of equipment was used to broadcast “Radio Freedom”, a continuous
program of music, news updates, and requests for help that linked the disparate Minutemen
together.
When heavy guns were located within the Castle, the transmitter could also be used to coordinate
artillery strikes, though its range was typically limited.
As an all volunteer force, the morale of its members was especially critical.
The Minutemen adopted much of the terminology and practices of the former National Guard,
but simplified them and introduced elements of democracy.
Each contingent elected by the popular vote a Colonel to lead them, who collectively in
turn appointed a single general to act as the Minutemen’s overall commander.
Due to its decentralized, volunteer nature, the group relied heavily on the General’s
charisma and leadership to prevent the splintering of its members.
How the Minutemen were first established in the Commonwealth is debated, but the group
first rose to prominence in 2180.
Diamond City, one of the largest settlements in the region was attacked by a horde of Super
Mutants, only to be repelled by the decisive intervention of the Minutemen.
The victory cemented their status as a major power within the Commonwealth, and its General
at the time hoped to leverage their success to create a provisional government that could
unite all the settlements of the surrounding Wasteland.
The effort was abruptly ended, when the representatives from dozens of settlements were assassinated
by a synthetic lifeform, believed to have been sent by the mysterious Institute.
Though the Minutemen remained active across the Commonwealth, a regional confederation
was never achieved.
In the following decades, the Minutemen entered a period of slow decline.
The failure to politically unify drained away much of their enthusiasm, while increasingly
hostile forces put a significant strain on their resources.
Their policy of assisting any settlement in need against any enemy was a noble one, but
it forced the Minutemen to confront every major rival power, regardless of their ability
to do so effectively.
In 2240 after decades of attrition against a growing list of adversaries, the Minutemen
suffered a tremendous loss when The Castle was attacked and destroyed by a monstrous
creature from the sea.
General McGann was left trapped inside the fortress and succumbed to dehydration, while
the artillery and transmitter above were completely destroyed.
Bereft of some of their most important assets, the decline of the Minutemen accelerated.
McGann’s replacement, General Joe Becker was seen as the last element keeping the group
together, and his death just two years after the loss of the Castle was a devastating wound.
Without a strong unifying presence, the Colonel’s and their respective contingents fell into
infighting.
The internal squabbles and growing rivalries prevented the election of a new General, and
the ability of the Minutemen to act in a coordinated manner came to an end.
Many members left the group, eroding its already dwindling capabilities.
This would culminate in the disastrous Quincy Massacre.
Acting on a plea for aid from a settlement besieged by a group called “the Gunners”,
Colonel Ezra Hollis led his contingent in an attempt to replicate the famed victory
at Diamond City.
When they arrived in Quincy however, the situation was untenable.
The Minutemen clearly lacked the manpower to deal with the Gunners and every request
sent to other Minutemen groups was ignored.
Colonel Hollis refused to abandon Quincy, and he stood by the principals of the Minutemen
until his death, executed by the Gunners surrounded by the bodies of his volunteers.
The failure of the Minutemen to defend Quincy spread across the Commonwealth and proved
to be the deathblow from which the group would never recover.
They were now seen as a joke by the settlements they had tried to unify, its last members
ridiculed on the streets.
By 2287, Preston Garvey, an idealistic volunteer who had survived the Quincy Massacre, was
left as the last Minuteman in the Commonwealth.
It is possible and even likely that the saga of the Minutemen ends here, left in the dustbin
of history like their namesake and the countless other groups that tried to make a better life
out of the wasteland.
But it is also possible that some of the stories and rumors coming out of the Commonwealth
today might be true.
Preston Garvey is said to have been joined by a lone survivor that emerged from a pre-war
vault and supposedly this stranger now bears the title of General.
Travelers claim that music and bulletins are once again being broadcast from a restored
and fortified Castle, and that it sometimes thunders with the fire of artillery.
Uniformed minutemen again walk the streets of Boston and even the Institute and the Brotherhood
of Steel have been forced to abandon the city.
And for the first time in years, whenever a settlement finds itself in danger, help
is only a minute away.