Commonwealth Minutemen The Commonwealth Minutemen is a faction in the Commonwealth in 2287 . History . The Minutemen were a civilian militia founded as a result of the efforts by various small communities to protect themselves against the numerous threats present within the Commonwealth . Settlers armed and trained themselves and pledged to help defend each other . As the organization expanded , acquiring dividends in both soldiers and resources , they first gained recognition after successfully defending Diamond City from a super mutant attack in 2180 . Upon gaining enough resources , the organization eventually assumed control of Fort Independence , transforming it into their main base of operations . Renamed as ' The Castle , ' the group re - purposed a large portion of the fort into an armory ; in addition , they erected a large radio tower in the courtyard to broadcast the signal for ' Radio Freedom , ' a radio station with the purpose of notifying all members of the Minutemen about communities in distress . After operating for a significant amount of time , in 2240 , the Minutemen were forced to abandon the fort , the reason being mirelurks suddenly assaulting the Castle with the intent to nest in and around it . Thinking it was a super mutant attack , General McGann locked himself deep into the armory behind a myriad of defenses . With this last - ditch effort to protect the armory from being entered , he effectively doomed himself to die by dehydration , a demise hastened by his consuming a fair portion of the bottles in a case of wine . Despite this , his act of defiance prevented the mirelurks from nesting within the armory bastion , preserving it well until the quest Old Guns . The last leader of the Minutemen , General Becker , was killed at some point after his appointment / election as leader . Upon his death , the Minutemen began to experience internal strife , as the various groups couldn ' t agree upon a successor . The loss of the Castle only exacerbated the problem , and this disagreement on a new leader caused the political landscape to become incredibly fragile . The entire situation came to a head following the Quincy Massacre , many of the militias making up the group disbanding in disgust or turning to banditry , following the almost inevitable loss of popular ( and its attendant material ) support . Following the whole ordeal , only remnants of the Minutemen and their supporters remained . With the exception of Preston Garvey , one of the few survivors to escape the massacre and thus still loyal to the cause of the organization , the Minutemen had effectively ceased to exist as a cohesive group . Some small mention of a battle / series of battles between the Minutemen and the Institute is mentioned by Piper and Desdemona , but there are no other references of this event or chain of events in the game . Interactions with the player character . Soon after escaping Vault 111 , the Sole Survivor comes across the Museum of Freedom under attack by raiders . They must fight their way upstairs , where they are introduced to Preston Garvey , who is leading a group against the raiders . The Sole Survivor later meets with Preston who then invites them to join the Minutemen and the Minutemen questline starts . Throughout this questline , the Sole Survivor will be asked to lead the Minutemen and complete tasks to align more settlements with the Minutemen . Eventually , this will lead to Taking Independence , in which the Minutemen take back their former headquarters , the Castle . With all the Minutemen quests completed , new quests assigned by Preston Garvey will begin to cycle back through previously completed quests . This entails completing the same quests again . The Minutemen are benign as factions go , and will stay friendly to the player character should they ally with the Institute , Brotherhood of Steel or the Railroad . However , the Sole Survivor can opt out of any of those factions and work specifically with the Minutemen for the main quest . Upon completion of The Nuclear Option , soldiers from the army will patrol the Commonwealth ' s military checkpoints . The Sole Survivor will occasionally obtain the quest " Defend the checkpoint . " This quest consists of mainly helping a Minutemen patrol defend a checkpoint against synth attackers , raiders , ghouls or the Brotherhood of Steel , if hostile to them . Faction war . Depending on the actions of the Sole Survivor , they may initiate the War of the Commonwealth against other factions : Appearances . The Commonwealth Minutemen appear only in " Fallout 4 " .