Let the Drum Beat

Book excerpt: The history of the volunteer militia in Detroit is rich with heroic figures, tales of leadership, bravery, and camaraderie. Author Stanley Solvick provides a fascinating chronicle of the origins and development of Detroit's Light Guard. From their beginnings in Anglo-Saxon England, citizen-soldiers have served in defense of their communities. In the New World, early settlements, far from the mother country, utilized citizen-soldiers drawn from their own population to supplement the small forces of regular troops. Detroit's oldest militia unit, under the leadership of the city's founder, Antoine de la Mathe Cadillac, safeguarded the riverfront community from the area's Indian population. By 1830, a permanent volunteer militia had been organized in the region. Author Solvick details the Guards' origins, tracing their transformation from Brady's Guards to the Light Guard, their involvement in the Civil War, the Spanish-American War, the two World Wars, and their progression into the Space Age. In addition to encountering a number of individuals who shaped and guided the Light Guard in its evolution, readers will come across many whose names have become commonplace in present-day Detroit: Colonel Augustus B. Woodward and Governor Lewis B. Cass. Let the Drum Beat celebrates the Light Guard's tradition of service to the city of Detroit, the state, and the nation and provides a colorful new chapter to the rich history of the region.