Commonwealth Minutemen

The Commonwealth Minutemen is one of the four fractions that appears in Fallout 4. They are a group of standard militia whose intention is to protect the people of the commonwealth "in a minute's notice".

History
The Minutemen were founded in the year 2187 A.D., 110 years after the thermonuclear bomb was dropped on the commonwealth and 100 years before the events of the Fallout 4. They were formed after a defenseless community was attacked by a group of super mutants, during which several volunteers stood up and defeated the mutants. As a result, these volunteers formed a local militia whose intention was to protect the people of the commonwealth from various threats "in a minute's notice".

Although it is unknown whom the original general the Minutemen was, there have been at least two generals prior to the events of Fallout 4:  General McGann, who served until 2240, and General Becker, who served until 2282.

Prior to 2287, the Minutemen had a long, successful run; but after Becker's death in 2282, the groups luck and respect began to turn against them.

In 2287, Colonel Hollis and Preston Garvey received a call for help from a man named Sturges, who requested assistance against an attack by a mercenary group known as the Gunners, an event foreseen by the local "oracle" named Mama Murphy. Upon reaching the community, it was revealed that a fellow Minutemen named Clint betrayed the group and sided with the Gunners, which eventually overran the town, killing Hollis, and forcing Preston Garvey and nineteen other survivors of the massacre to flee.

Eventually the group began to dwindle in numbers. By the time the group had left the nearby Jamaica Plain, there were only ten survivors remaining. They eventually made their way to Lexington and finally Concord, were the survivors were pinned to the local Museum of Freedom, where they were ambushed by raiders. The day prior to the Sole Survivor's arrival, the Minutemen's numbers dropped eight, and at the time of the Survivor's arrival, only five remain: Preston Garvey, Sturges, Mama Murphy, and Marcy and Jun Long.