The Minutemen was a militant

Militant

The word militant, which is both an adjective and a noun, usually is used to mean vigorously active, combative and aggressive, especially in support of a cause, as in 'militant reformers'. It comes from the 15th century Latin "militare" meaning "to serve as a soldier"...

 anti-Communist organization formed in the United States in the early 1960s. The founder and head of the right-wing group was Robert Bolivar DePugh, a biochemist from Norborne, Missouri

Norborne, Missouri

Norborne is a city in Carroll County, Missouri, United States. The population was 805 at the 2000 census.Norborne was founded in 1868 by Norborne B. Coates, a civil engineer for the railroad...

. The Minutemen believed that Communism

Communism

Communism is a social, political and economic ideology that aims at the establishment of a classless, moneyless, revolutionary and stateless socialist society structured upon common ownership of the means of production...

 would soon take over all of America. The group armed themselves and were preparing to take back the country if necessary. The Minutemen organized themselves into small cells and stockpiled weapons for an anticipated counter-revolution.

In February 1968, DePugh was indicted by a federal grand jury

Grand jury

A grand jury is a type of jury that determines whether a criminal indictment will issue. Currently, only the United States retains grand juries, although some other common law jurisdictions formerly employed them, and most other jurisdictions employ some other type of preliminary hearing...

 in Seattle, Washington

Seattle, Washington

Seattle is the county seat of King County, Washington. With 608,660 residents as of the 2010 Census, Seattle is the largest city in the Northwestern United States. The Seattle metropolitan area of about 3.4 million inhabitants is the 15th largest metropolitan area in the country...

 for conspiracy to commit bank robbery. Also in 1968, he was arrested for violation of federal firearms laws. He skipped bail

Bail

Traditionally, bail is some form of property deposited or pledged to a court to persuade it to release a suspect from jail, on the understanding that the suspect will return for trial or forfeit the bail...

 and went underground for over a year until he was caught in 1969 in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Truth or Consequences, New Mexico

Truth or Consequences is a spa city and the county seat of Sierra County, New Mexico, United States. As of the 2000 census, the population was 7,289. It is commonly known within New Mexico as T or C....

. He was released from prison in May 1973. DePugh later wrote a survival manual, Can You Survive?, and was associated briefly with Liberty Lobby

Liberty Lobby

Liberty Lobby was an American political advocacy organization founded in 1958 that went bankrupt in 2001. It was founded by Willis Carto. In their own words,-Antisemitic world-view:...

.

DePugh, 86, died at home June 30, 2009.

Publications

The Minutemen's publication was a newsletter called "On Target".

• Principles of Guerrilla Warfare, Robert DePugh. Published by the Minutemen, San Diego, CA, 1961. 10 pages.
• Blueprint for Victory, Robert DePugh. 1966.
• Can You Survive? Robert DePugh. Published by Desert Publications, El Dorado, AZ, 1973. 214 pages. ISBN 0-87947-442-4