Hogwash!:)
Lawmakers from Massachusetts managed to outflank their Virginia counterparts on the House floor last week, powering through a bill that officially designates Salem as the birthplace of the U.S. National Guard — based on the town’s claim to having the country’s first militia starting in 1629.
But Rep. Morgan H. Griffith, a freshman Republican from Virginia, thought the claim sounded suspicious, given Jamestown’s founding more than a decade before the Massachusetts Bay Colony.
After some digging, the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation provided him data that a militia was formed in Jamestown in 1624, which is five years before Salem’s claim. Armed with the information, he issued a call to the old gang from Virginia, Kentucky and West Virginia — which were part of the Virginia colony — and asked them to stand up for their history.
“The real problem is that Massachusetts has first-colony envy,” Mr. Griffith told The Washington Times.
His effort fell a little short: The bill handing the claim to Massachusetts passed by a vote of 413-6, with four lawmakers voting “present.”
More @ The Washington Times
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