On May 4, 1970, Guard units infamously opened fire onto a crowd of both Vietnam War protestors and simple bystanders on the campus of Kent State University.

Reflecting the Founding Fathers' distrust of a large standing army, it strictly limited the ability of the militia to serve outside of their state borders.

A confederation of Indian tribes with British backing engaged in a campaign of raids and depredations upon the scattered settlements, resulting in full-scale war by the 1790s.

The decisive victory of General "Mad" Anthony Wayne at the Battle of Fallen Timbers (1794), outside of present-day Toledo and the subsequent Treaty of Greenville (1795).

After achieving statehood in 1803 Ohio continued the law creating a body of "state troops" and each significant village or county providing its own local unit.

The monthly militia muster was supposed to train the members in close order drill and marksmanship, but in many cases was more of a social and political event.

Ohio militia also played a role in the efforts of Gen. William Henry Harrison to re-capture Fort Detroit and decisively defeat the British at the Battle of the Thames.

After the end of the inconclusive War of 1812, the militia system in Ohio abandoned its regimental formations and reverted to multiple small units representing the various municipalities throughout the rapidly growing state.

Ohio played a significant role, raising several regiments of infantry and artillery batteries from existing militia units and volunteers.

While subjected to ridicule as a result of the lackluster performance of some poorly trained and armed local units, the Ohio National Guard in actuality played a key role in the ultimate defeat of Gen. Morgan (and his vaunted force of Confederate cavalry).

As events transpired, many units found themselves in the thick of combat, stationed in the path of Confederate Gen. Jubal Early's veteran Army of the Valley during its Raid on Washington.

With the end of the Civil War, the Ohio National Guard was rapidly demobilized and its extensive inventory placed into mothballs maintained by a few non-commissioned officers.

Like the rest of the nation, labor unrest started to spread in the latter part of the century resulting in violent strikes and crippling shutdowns, especially in the railroad industry.

In numerous situations the Guard's intervention resulted in the immediate restoration of peace and order and succeeded in keeping violence and property damage to a minimum.

These common sense reforms were to pay their first dividends in 1916 when Ohio National Guard units were mobilized to serve as part of Gen. John Pershing's punitive expedition against Pancho Villa along the Mexican Border.

Although the expedition failed to capture or dispatch the notorious Villa and his army of bandits, valuable lessons were learned in combined operations and mobile warfare.

The relatively speedy and seamless mobilization and deployment to the desert regions of the southwest also served as a confidence builder for the units and their active duty counterparts.

After the United States joined the war in April 1917, the manpower requirements for a modern field army were so great that only with a draft could the ranks be filled.

During the period between the two World Wars, the Ohio National Guard found itself frequently called upon to perform relief duties during natural disasters.

Although initially perceived as being brought in to aid and assist the mine operators, they won begrudging respect for adopting a fair and even-handed approach.

As the year 1939 brought yet another world war, the Ohio Guard found itself in a moderate state of readiness and under the leadership of Major General Robert S. Beightler.

When President Franklin D. Roosevelt declared a state of emergency and brought the National Guard under federal control in October 1940, the Buckeye Division was among their ranks.

Notably, Company C, 192nd Tank Battalion, from Camp Perry, Ohio, joined a provisional unit sent to the Philippines to bolster the active duty and Filipino forces there.

[4] On April 22, 1951, the 987th Armored Field Artillery Battalion, a National Guard unit from Stark County, Ohio, was assigned by IX Corps, Eight Army, to provide support to a two-divisional attack "Reconnaissance-in-Force" in the north central part of the Korean peninsula, just below the 38th Longitudinal Parallel.

After the Korean War Armistice Agreement of 1953, the Ohio Guard's focus returned to its state mission and reorganization in accordance with federal mandates.

The Berlin Crisis of 1961 resulted in the mobilization of ten Ohio Air and Army National Guard units to help counter the Soviet threat.

[3] After the United States withdrew from Vietnam, the Ohio Guard, like the rest of the military, was faced by the challenges of significantly decreased funding and adapting to new missions.

[citation needed] When Iraq invaded Kuwait in August 1990, the Ohio National Guard provided numerous transportation, logistical and other combat support units to assist in Operation Desert Storm.

[citation needed] On the domestic front the Ohio Guard fulfilled its role in assisting civilian authorities in maintaining order in extraordinary circumstances.

The Ohio National Guard sent 1,500 troops to Louisiana and Mississippi to haul relief supplies such as food, water and ice; the engineering units cleared debris and helped to open roads.