Led by Preston Garvey, the Commonwealth Minutemen are dedicated to defending settlers from the
many deadly raiders of the wasteland. I mean, in reality Preston mostly just hangs out and
asks you to do stuff for him, but hey, it’s the thought that counts. Like many things
in the Fallout universe, the group find their origins in real American history, in both
obvious and unexpected ways. So today we’re going to take a good close look at one of
Fallout 4’s most idealistic factions. Let's start with the obvious. The Commonwealth
Minutemen get their name from the Minutemen militia of early U.S. history. First formed
in Massachusetts and named after the fact that they could be ready battle at a moment’s
notice, the real-world Minutemen were some of the very first soldiers to fight in the
American Revolutionary War. There are a few connections to Fallout 4’s Minutemen to
be found of course. First up is the fact that Preston Garvey gets his stylin’ ensemble
from the traditional look of the Minuteman. Seriously, did anyone else make him a companion
just so you could barter with him to get his awesome hat? Just me then?
Anyway, some of the references are a bit more subtle. Like the fact that the Minutemen Colonel
at the disastrous Quincy Massacre was named Ezra Hollis, this is thought by some to be
a reference to the small town of Hollis, the site of the Minutemen Monument. Another dead
former leader of the Commonwealth Minutemen was General Becker, whose name may be a reference
to Massachusetts’ historic Becker College, which was founded in 1784. Interestingly,
Becker College is currently ranked as one of the best Video Game Design colleges in
the country, so it’s a pretty safe bet that some of the folks at Bethesda are very aware
of it. Speaking of General Becker, his corpse can
be found in the tunnels of The Castle, the former headquarters of the Minutemen. In the
tunnels you’ll find another dead body, this one belonging to General McGann, who is found
next to two bottles of Amontillado wine. Edgar Allan Poe fans...Edgar-ites? Poe-heads? They
have a name right?...whoever they are, will recognize this immediately as a reference
to one of the writer’s best works: “The Cask of Amontillado”. In the story, an angry
man lures his unsuspecting friend to his cellar by offering him a taste of the rare wine.
In the end, the man traps his former friend in the cellar and walls him in, brick-by-brick.
That makes the skeleton you find in the tunnels near the wine especially interesting... This
small reference is another example of Bethesda’s longstanding love of the author. Other Bethesda
references to the many works of Edgar Allan Poe can be seen in Skyrim, Fallout 3 and Morrowind.
Seriously, they can’t get enough of this guy. Oh and I left out the single coolest
thing about this reference...you see, the legend goes that the inspiration behind this
tale was a story that the Boston-born Edgar Allan Poe heard while he was serving as an
Army private stationed at Fort Independence on Castle Island, which is, of course, the
inspiration behind Fallout 4’s Castle location. So to summarize: Fallout 4’s The Castle
contains a reference to a Poe short story which was itself inspired by something he
supposedly heard while serving at the real-world version of The Castle. That is some deep literary
nerdery right there!
One of the Commonwealth Minutemen’s most
important goal is to recapture The Castle, their former headquarters. This is fitting,
since Castle Island, home to Fort Independence, is one of the oldest forts in America, dating
all the way back to 1634, when it was built to defend the young city of Boston from any
attacks from the sea. During the Revolutionary War, the fort was held by British forces.
Much like Fallout 4’s Minutemen do in the “Taking Independence” quest, the American
militia launched an assault on the fort. You might be wondering why it’s named The Castle
at all...after all, there’s not really a castle on it at all. Well the real Castle
Island holds the name because of how it looked in the early 1600s. Back then the island was
filled with Chestnut trees and many locals claimed this made the island look like a castle
from a distance. Thanks for watching this episode of Fallout
4 Hidden History! Shoutout to our man on the ground in Boston, Michael Sullivan, for helping
us out with some great local facts. We really appreciate you guys watching our nerdy shows
and making this all possible. Be sure to like, subscribe and share so we can keep making
Hidden History until at least 2077! And let us know what other Fallout 4 topics you think
we should cover in the comments below. It’s been awhile since we’ve done a trivia question,
but apparently you guys thought we we’re going a bit too easy on you, so we prepared
a pretty tough one this time around. No googling! We’re going on the honor system here. When
finding the flux sensor from Bedford Station, the numbers seen on the back of the item say
CM-88B 180924609, this is a reference to the make and call sign of the ship from what well-known
sci-fi franchise?