An Act for Forming and Regulating the Militia Within This State, and for Repealing All the Laws Heretofore Made for That Purpose, N.H. REV. STAT. (John Melcher 1792) (Law Passed 1786).

"An ACT for forming and regulating the militia within this State, and for repealing all the laws heretofore made for that purpose.

WHEREAS it is the duty and interest of every State, to have the militia thereof properly armed, trained, and in complete readiness to defend against every violence or invasion whatever: And whereas the laws now in force respecting the regulation of the militia, are insufficient for those purposes:

    BE it therefore enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General-Court convened, and by the authority of the same, That the several laws, clauses and paragraphs of laws relative to regulating the militia, be, and hereby are repealed and declared null and void.
    And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the training band, so called, shall consist of all the able bodied male persons within the State, from sixteen years old to forty, excepting members of congress, members of the senate and the house of representatives for the time being, secretary of the State, all civil officers, students of colleges and academies, ministers of the gospel, elders and deacons of churches, church wardens, grammar school masters, masters of arts, people denominated quakers, selectmen for the time being, all commissioned officers, and all non-commissioned officers of more than thirty-five years of age, who have served as such three years, shall not be compelled to serve in the training band unless they have the offer of serving in the same, or a higher rank than they formerly held: Also, all persons employed as masters of vessels, of more than thirty tons burthen, other than fishing vessels, and vessels coasting to and from this to the other American States, constables, sheriffs, deputy sheriffs, negroes, indians and mulattoes: Also, all such physicians, surgeons, ferrymen and millers, as the selectmen in the several towns where they reside, may think proper to excuse, and furnish with a certificate that they ought to be excused from common and ordinary trainings...

    ...And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That all male persons from forty to sixty years of age, and capable of bearing arms, who are exempted by the first section of this act, from common and ordinary training, and are not included in that part of the militia called the training band, shall constitute an alarm list (excepting only members of congress, of the senate and house of representatives, secretaries, ministers of the gospel, president, officers and students of colleges, preceptors and assistants of academies, and their students for the time being, people called quakers having certificate from the clerk of their societies, ferrymen, indians, negroes and mulattoes) and shall, in all respects, be equipped with arms and accoutrements, as is by this act directed for those of the training band...

    ...And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That the commanding officers of each alarm company, shall once in every six months call his company together, and examine their arms and accoutrements, and every deficiency of arms or accoutrements, neglect of duty, or disobedience of orders, in any of the person which compose the alarm list, shall be punished in the same manner as by this act is provided against those of the training band.
    And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That every non-commissioned officer and soldier, both in the alarm list and training band, shall be provided, and have constantly in readiness, a good musket^[1] and a bayonet fitted thereto, with a good scabbard and belt, a worm, priming-wire and brush, a cartridge-box that will hold, at least twenty-four rounds, six flints, and a pound of powder, forty leaden balls fitted to his gun, a knap-sack, a blanket, and a canteen that will hold one quart. Such of the training band as are under the care of parents, masters, or guardians, are to be furnished by them with such arms and accoutrements; and such of the training band, or alarm list, as shall be unable to furnish themselves, shall make application to the selectmen of the town, who are to certify to his captain, or commanding officer, that he is unable to equip himself; and the said selectmen shall, at the expense of the town, provide for, and furnish such person with arms and equipment;^[2] which arms and equipment^[3] shall be the property of the town at whose expense they are provided...

    ...And be it further enacted, That all captains and subalterns be furnished with a half-pike, an espontoon, or fusee and bayonet; and also with a sword, or hanger; and that they provide themselves with those arms, within one month after receiving their commissions, under penalty of being cashiered by sentence of a court-martial...

    ...And be it further enacted by the authority aforesaid, That there shall be a stock of powder, and other ammunition, in each town provided, and constantly kept, which shall be, one barrel of gun powder containing a hundred pounds weight, three hundred pounds of leaden balls of different sizes, and buck shot, and three hundred flints for every sixty soldiers, and the same proportion for any greater or lesser number."