HISTORY OF THE TOWN OF MEDFORD, Middlesex County, Massachusetts, FROM ITS FIRST SETTLEMENT, IN 1630, TO THE PRESENT TIME, 1855.
Charles Brooks, Ed.

[190] this Commonweath; and the officers so elected shall be commissioned by the Governor. Provided, always, that no such cadet company or corps shall be raised in any of said divisions, when, by means thereof, any of the standing companies within the same would be reduced to a less number than sixty privates.

And be it further enacted, by the authority aforesaid, That the said companies or corps, when raised and organized, shall be under the command of the Major-General of the division in which they shall be respectively formed, and shall be subject to the rules and regulations that are already, or may hereafter be, provided by the Legislature, or the Commander-in-chief of the militia of this Commonwealth, for the general government of the militia.

It will be observed that these companies might be raised by the recommendation of the Major-General, and the officers and members composing them may be scattered in the different towns within the division. Cases occurred where the three superior officers lived in separate towns. On this account, these corps were called divisionary companies. Another peculiarity was, that they were subject to the order of the Major-General alone, and were never commanded by a Brigadier-General. They were not connected with any brigade, but took the place of a brigade; and on the field, at a general review, they took the right, because they were commanded only by the Major-General. This right, or assumption, often caused trouble on great muster-days; and once, when the Brigadier-General ordered the Medford Light Infantry to take the left, the Captain marched his company off the field, and returned to Medford without being reviewed. They maintained their cause, and never yielded their priority. The Weston Infantry was organized under the same law, but always gave precedence to the Medford on account of its greater age.

1789: When General Washington made his visit at Cambridge, he was attracted by the superior appearance of the Medford company on parade, and took great pains to ask General Brooks what corps it was. He passed a high compliment on it.

There were many companies organized in the Commonwealth under the law; some artillery, some cavalry, but generally infantry. On general review-days, the Major-General and his staff would ride and stop in front of a brigade, and there go through with their examinations and reviews: when they came to the Medford Light Infantry, they would all stop, and go through the same examinations