They were called minutemen because they could be ready to defend Massachusetts at any time. There were a total of 104 men and positions in the militia unit, composed largely of farmers. The minutemen were a special militia unit because they were like a brotherhood, since most of these men had grown up in close association with each other. “The small group that Captain Parker assembled at Lexington Common before dawn on April 19, 1775, exhibited some of the characteristics of a family reunion.” Among them, there were a dozen father-son combinations. There was also a slave named Prince Estabrook who was used to gain his freedom. In Massachusetts, every man between the ages of sixteen and sixty was required to carry a firearm so that he could defend himself against the British in the event of an attack. However, not everyone was a minuteman. Of the 117 men in Lexington, men received employment in one of three categories: alarm list, militia, and minutemen. The alarm list included the youngest men, the oldest men and the least agile. Their responsibilities were to be guards and were given specific tasks at the sound of an alarm. The rest of the men were part of the militia. Among the militia, a more innovative group of men formed the minutemen who were made up of the most active men. The militia itself was more of a reserve force. Due to the scarcity of gunpowder, musket practice was out of the question. Moreover, among the states there were difficulties associated not with manpower and organization, but with the scarcity of gunpowder. Since General Gage (the British Commander-in-Chief) had transferred most of the powder stores from Cambridge to Boston. This made gunpowder inaccessible to many settlers. “What the various towns had already removed from the stores before Gage decided to remove them was pitifully small, but