Where the Minute Men and the Virginia Militia one in the same?

The Minutemen in Virginia were volunteers called forth from the Virginia militia. They trained more often then the regular militia to enhance unit cohesion and effectiveness to mass firepower as was the standard tactic of 18th century warfare. The Minutemen were merely better trained than the regular militia. In Virginia the militia and the Minutemen were required at all times to be armed and ready to immediately repel invasions and insurrections. The Minutemen were actually a reconstituted form of the Independent Companies started by George Mason and came into existence after the Independent companies were under the central control of the Virginia Committee of Safety. The state of Virginia was divided into 16 military districts and the minutemen were formed. They only lasted one year from July 1775 to October 1776 as the severe military manpower shortage in the Continental line drew down the available men required to constitute the companies. They were then folded back into the regular militia. George Mason Jr. was a member of the Minutemen. For actual Acts of the Colony of Virginia creating the Minutemen see http://www.virginia1774.org/MilitiaActs.html Rudolph DiGiacinto Founder &c. Virginia1774.org