Named the Best Book of 1998 in the category of non-combat organization and social history given by the Army Historical Foundation.
Skeen looks beyond the surface problems to address the performance and the reasons for the failure of the militia.... An invaluable contribution for military and American history.
~Bookwatch
As Skeen states, 'There is no book dealing specifically with the militia in the War of 1812. The author fills that void in a work that has comprehensive documentation, excellent analysis, and clear writing.
~Choice
A valuable resource to any scholar investigating the militia system of the United States' first declared war under the Constitution. Not only provides insights into the War of 1812, but also into the broader American militia tradition.
~H-New Reviews
Impressive and properly grounded where it should be—solidly in state and local sources. Until the twentieth century, the state soldiery in whatever guise—militia, uniformed volunteers, National Guard—was a state and local institution and can only be understood from that perspective.
~Jerry Cooper
A useful analysis of militia in a war that was largely fought with volunteer forces.
~Journal of America's Military Past
Skeen's exhaustive research in both state and federal sources provides a more detailed record than hitherto available of the diversity of militia laws and practices, the complexity of federal-state relations, and the actual performance of the amateur soldiers in the field.
~Journal of Military History
An excellent addition not only to our knowledge of the War of 1812 but also to the evolution and development of the American military establishment.
~Journal of the Early Republic
This indexed volume will appeal to those interested in U.S. and military history.
~Library Lane
Rightly concludes that the militia was frequently unreliable, ill-equipped and ill-trained, and generally incapable of standing up to the British forces.
~Michigan Historical Review
A timely, valuable, and by no means unsympathetic treatment of the militia in that conflict.
~New York Military Affairs
Makes a significant contribution to the scholarship on the War of 1812.
~Newsletter of the Army Historical Foundation
