Records of the enrolled militia and of the active

militia are so scarce and so ineomplete that it is impracticable to get any exact ratio between those who were actually at work and those who merely had their names on the records. The following comparison, gathered from the Adjutant-General's report in Massachusetts, may be taken as a fair example of this

If Massachusetts can be taken as a fair average, the men actually in the Active militia may be approximated by gaining the relation between the Active and the Enrolled in Massachusetts, and applying this to the total number reported from the various states. By pursuing this process, the result obtained is approximately 140,000. This, of course, cannot be taken at anything more than a guess, but it will serve to give some idea as to the number of men whom President Polk could possibly collect, among the volunteers, who had had any sort of recent training.

By an Act of Congress on May 13, 1846 the President was authorized to call out militia to serve for twelve months

36. Adjutant-General's Report, Massachusetts, 1852 p. 15.

37

or until the end of the war. Of course they came as volunteers and not as organized bodies. There was no militia to speak of. As soon as the troops were sworn in to serve in the United States Army they ceased to be Militia. During the Mexican War there was less organization than at any other time during the period under consideration; all the able bodied men with military. taste had joined the army. The condition of the militia after the Mexican War will be discussed in chapter four.

37. United States Statutes at Large, 1846 Vol. IX, p.9.