Reddit reviews Paul Revere's Ride

First thing that should be noted is that your perception of the way the American Revolution progressed is incorrect, especially in New England.

In New England the tradition of having all adult males between the ages of 16 and 60 serve in the militia goes back to almost the founding of the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The militia were integral parts of the colony's defensive and offensive capabilities, protecting against hostile Indian attacks and conducting raids of their own.

The earliest Ranger battalions were formed of the best of the militia units, and what became known as the minute men was a concept that was discussed far earlier than the Revolution.

Regarding the build up to the Revolution itself, the New England colonists began preparing for war as early as 1773, after passage of the Intolerable Acts.

By spring of 1774 the colonial militias had purged their ranks of all untrustworthy officers (i.e. anybody with the least bit of sympathy to the Crown forces), and were continuing on conducting their regular militia training.

On September 1, 1774 a major event took place which became known as the Powder Alarm. (The Wikipedia article is a pretty good summary of the action.) The end result of this was tens of thousands of New England militia on the road or near Boston within the space of 24 hours (there may have been as many as 40,000 men on the road).

That same month the town of Worcester Massachusetts told it's representative to the Provincial Congress (Timothy Bigelow) to go ahead and press the Provincial Congress for independence, and to work towards that goal. Worcester was the first town to shut down British courts, but by the end of 1774 the only places that royal authority had any sway was Boston itself, and it's immediate vicinity (basically wherever troops could be marched to quickly).

The Provincial Congress set up a war board that started to prepare supplies, weapons, ammunition, etc. for an army of 15,000 men (what they estimated would be the number of militia that would be called out as needed). They also recommended reorganizing the militia companies so that each town had a minute company and a regular company (or more than one depending on size). Not all towns had completed this by April 19, 1775. For example Lexington had no minute company.

Worcester was one major supply depot for the Provincial Congress, and Concord was the other. We're talking about literally tons of material here. Powder, food, various trenching tools, cannon, even muskets (Concord history has it that Captain Barret had some muskets buried in the furrows of his fields to hide them from the British.)

Lexington was targeted because there was suspicion that four brass cannon were there. These four brass cannon had been stolen from under the noses of the British in Boston, and Gage wanted them back.

Once the fighting began and Boston was under siege by the Massachusetts militia, the Continental Congress passed a resolution adopting that army as the national army. It was mostly comprised of New Englanders at that point, although units were arriving from all over the colonies. One of the things Washington had to do was do a massive reorganization, in addition to everything else.

As for training, the militia tended to use the same manuals as the British army. In the 18th century training was done on a regimental level, and each commander conducted it the best way he saw fit. As long as certain expectations were met, that was fine. American militia units either used the same manuals the British used, or used manuals that were written by Americans (but largely based on the British model), or in some cases were trained by men who had served in the British Army in the French & Indian War.

So the training was very similar. There are several examples of the Continental Army standing up to well trained British soldiers in traditional 18th century warfare. There are a couple of instances during the Saratoga campaign, but particularly during the Battle of Brandywine. Unfortunately Brandywine ended as a loss, causing Washington to retreat to winter quarters.

Von Steuben arrived in America shortly after Brandywine and made his way to Washington. Steuben had an enormous impact on the Continental Army because of the training he conducted. It's not that the Continental Army wasn't being trained, but again they were using the British model.

Steuben streamlined the training, and standardized the manual so every unit was using the same manual. His method of training was to take someone from every company, train those men up to speed, and then have those men go back and train the rest of their company.

There are some places where the militia wasn't nearly as militant and organized as New England. The Middle States were very lukewarm politically, so weren't preparing for any sort of conflict. Pennsylvania didn't even establish a militia until after the beginning of hostilities because of the control of the Quakers. The Southern states were also slow to adopt general militia requirements.

As for examples of people rising up to organize themselves for war in the absence of government forces, you might want to look at the militias in the Spanish Civil War (paging /u/tobbinator and /u/domini_canes), or for more recent conflicts look at the YPG/YPJ in the Syrian conflict.

Edit:

If you want sources or additional reading material I'll be happy to provide them later.

Sources:

Powder Alarm 1774 by Robert Richmond which is the best single account of the event and includes eye witness accounts of the scene that night?

Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer. He discusses it, but he's got the best account of the night of April 19, 1775 of anything I've read on the subject.

The First American Revolution: Before Lexington and Concord by Ray Raphael

[The Minute Men: The First Fight: Myths and Realities of the American Revolution] by John R. Galvin. Most informative account of the development of the militia in Massachusetts.

I'll list more later. I need to put my son to bed.

We don't get our info from Wikipedia. The core of the history we tell is from Paul Revere's Ride by David Hackett Fischer. And that book is like 50% references.

If you're looking for popular history, check out David Hackett Fisher:

Paul Revere's Ride:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B003V8AFBW/

Washington's Crossing:

https://www.amazon.com/Washingtons-Crossing-Pivotal-Moments-American/dp/019518159X/

Thanks, I actually just ordered it on Kindle, I'll start reading as soon as I have dinner made.

If you have the time, I strongly recommend Paul Revere's Ride as well, it's focused primarily on the events of April 19, 1775, but does a great job spelling out the larger themes that event was borne of, and the motivations of the primary actors. (Also, how stupidly wrong most people get the story)