Citizen Sailors
The American Citizen Sailor is a concept as old as America itself. From the American Revolution to the War on Terror, American Citizen Sailors/Reservists have performed heroically in service to their nation. Officially formed in 1915, the Navy Reserve has a proud heritage and history built on honor, courage, and commitment.

American Revolution
It was June 12, 1775, when the first Citizen Sailors in American history put to sea. Inspired to act after hearing the news of Minutemen and British regulars battling on the fields of Lexington and Concord, citizens of the seaside town of Machias, Maine, commandeered the British schooner Unity and engaged the British warship HMS Margaretta, boarding her and forcing her surrender after bitter close-quarters combat.

Throughout the battle for American independence, the small size of the Continental Navy often necessitated the service of Citizen Sailors. These brave individuals put to sea manning privateers. Their far-flung raids against the British merchant fleet have been deemed as important as the sea battles of John Paul Jones in establishing the American Navy tradition.

War of 1812
Not only did Citizen Sailors raid British commerce on the high seas, but they also outfitted a fleet of barges called the Chesapeake Bay Flotilla in an effort to defend that vital body of water against British invasion. Though overwhelmed by an enemy superior in numbers, these men, most recruited from Baltimore, continued to wage war on land, joining in the defense of Washington, D.C.

Civil War
Having fought against a foreign power, Citizen Sailors faced a much different struggle with the outbreak of the Civil War, which divided a Navy and a nation. Within days of the attack, President Abraham Lincoln authorized an increase in the personnel levels of the Navy, which assumed an important role in the strategy to defeat the Confederacy with a blockade of the South and a campaign to secure control of the Mississippi River. By war’s end, the Navy had grown from a force numbering 9,942 in 1860 to one manned by 58,296 Sailors. A total of 101,207 men from 21 states enlisted during the war, and volunteers were present during some of the storied Navy engagements of the Civil War, including serving on the Monitor during her battle with CSS Virginia and taking part in the daring mission to destroy the Confederate ironclad CSS Albemarle. The latter resulted in the awarding of the Medal of Honor to six civilian volunteers.

State Militias
The first official use of a reserve source of Navy manpower took place in 1888 when Massachusetts organized a Navy battalion as part of the state militia. By 1897, a total of 16 states had organized Navy units as part of their state militia.

Spanish-American War
Representing the Navy’s manpower reserve, Navy state militias demonstrated their capabilities during the Spanish-American War by assisting in coastal defense and serving aboard ships. All told, some 263 Officers and 3,832 Enlisted men of various state Navy militias answered the call to arms.

A Federal Force
Due to the success of Navy state militias during the Spanish-American War, Secretary of the Navy, Josephus Daniels, and his assistant, a young New Yorker named Franklin D. Roosevelt, launched a campaign in Congress to appropriate funding for an official federal force. Their efforts brought passage of legislation on March 3, 1915, creating the Navy Reserve Force.

World War I
On August 19, 1916, with the prospect of World War I looming, the Navy Reserve Force was formally organized. The first official U.S. Navy Reservists hunted enemy U-boats from the cockpits of biplanes.

World War II
When World War II erupted on September 1, 1939, the Navy Reserve was ready. By the summer of 1941, virtually all of its members were serving on active duty, their numbers destined to swell when Japanese planes roared over Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941.  Over the course of the ensuing four years, the Navy would grow from a force of 383,150 to one that, at its peak, numbered 3,405,525, the vast majority of them Reservists, including five future U.S. presidents.

Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm
In the 1990s, more than 21,000 Navy Reservists supported Operations Desert Shield and Desert Storm.

War on Terror
Whether responding to the ethnic cleansing in the former Yugoslavia or the threat of world terrorism, such as the attacks against the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the Navy Reserve was there as an integral component in carrying out the mission of the U.S. Navy. As Admiral William J. Fallon has stated, “We must remember that the Reserve, which represents 20 percent of our war-fighting force, is absolutely vital to our Navy’s ability to fight and win wars now and in the future.”