Associators

Associators
A 1764 illustration of the Pennsylvania Associators assembling in Philadelphia after news of the Paxton Boys marching on the city
Active1689-1784
Country British America
 United States
Allegiance Great Britain
 United States
Branchcolonial militia, independent volunteers, military association, refugees, partisans, (auxiliary troops)
Typeinfantry, dragoons (mounted infantry), artillery
Sizecompany-regiment
EngagementsMaryland Protestant Rebellion (1689)

King George's War (1744-1748) French and Indian War (1754-1763)

American Revolutionary War (1775-1783)
Commanders
Notable
commanders
English Puritans in the Province of Maryland, known as "Protestant associators", revolted in the Maryland Protestant Rebellion; this was part of the Glorious Revolution of 1689. They were led by John Coode, who overthrew the colonial Catholic government within the colony
Benjamin Franklin, in 1747, during King George's War, wrote and published the pamphlet, Plain Truth, calling for a voluntary association to defend Philadelphia.
Joseph Brant, a Native American led Brant's Volunteers an irregular British Loyalist associators unit, of mixed Mohawk Indians and white soldiers raised during the American Revolutionary War who fought on the British side in the Province of New York.
2nd Battalion, "Associators", Pennsylvania National Guard, U.S. Army 111th Infantry Regiment insignia patch

Associators were members of 17th- and 18th-century volunteer military associations in the British American thirteen colonies and British Colony of Canada. These were more commonly known as Maryland Protestant, Pennsylvania, and American Patriot and British Loyalist colonial militias. But unlike militias, the associator military volunteers were exempt from regular mandatory military service. Other names used to describe associators were "Associations", "Associated", "Refugees", "Volunteers", and "Partisans".

The term Non-Associators was applied to American colonists who refused to support and sign "military association" charters. They were not affiliated with associators, or would choose instead, to pay a fine and suffer possible retaliation. During the American Revolutionary War, some associator units were said to operate more like, or were in fact loose-knit criminal gangs, taking advantage of the disruption of warfare.

The present-day U.S. Army 111th Infantry Regiment Pennsylvania Army National Guard's 56th Stryker Brigade Combat Team, 28th Infantry Division is nicknamed the "Associators", helping to preserve the volunteer associators' ancestral legacy in Pennsylvania.