"....When companies muster, after the Captain has exercise and inspected his company, they will distribute his company into classes, such as the 1st, 2nd and 3rd class. The first class has the honor of being first called into the field.

....No citizen soldier may be ignorant of the manner in which the law requires him to be equipped, he is reminded that is his duty to provide himself with a good musket, with bayonet and belt, or a fusil, two spare flints, a knapsack, powder horn and pouch, with 20 balls, and a quarter of a pound of powder.

.....The great boy of the militia will do their duty...the work is their own - the defense of their own fields and fire sides. They have the character, too, of American to support, and the blessings of a mild system of government to preserve.

Frederick Bates, acting commander in Chief. William Carr, aide de camp. "


Source: War of 1812 papers, Missouri Historial Society, St. Louis
Missouri.