On this day 250 years ago in York, Pennsylvania, the “Officers of Minutemen in York County” wrote to the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety

Five companies are already raised and most of the officers chosen. Several of the companies are large, about 100 each, partly in order to be at full strength even if all the men cannot appear, and partly to permit removing whatever “improper Persons may push themselves in,” as well as those who have no settled residence.

The men are in the prime of life and for the most part good marksmen. 

The letter was signed by Richard McCalister, Thomas Hartley, and David Grier. Hartley had been the First Lieutenant and Grier the Second Lieutenant of the York County Associators that had formed before Lexington and Concord. McCalister, Hartley and Grier would all end up having distinguished service as officers in the Continental Army, and Hartley would serve in the United States House of Representatives.

Sources: “The Officers of Minutemen in York County to the Pennsylvania Committee of Safety, 31 August 1775: résumé,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Franklin/01-22-02-0117. [Original source: The Papers of Benjamin Franklin, vol. 22, March 23, 1775, through October 27, 1776, ed. William B. Willcox. New Haven and London:: Yale University Press, 1982, pp. 188–189.]; https://allthingsliberty.com/2025/06/a-curious-agreement-among-friends-pennsylvanias-york-county-militia-1775/