Continental Army

The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775 by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Congress, meeting in Philadelphia after the war's outbreak. The Continental Army was created to coordinate military efforts of the colonies in the war against the British, who sought to maintain control over the American colonies. General George Washington was appointed commander-in-chief of the Continental Army and maintained this position throughout the war.

Continental Army

Second Continental Congress

George Washington

June 14, 1775 (1775-06-14) – 1783 (1783)

Thirteen Colonies (1775–1776)
United States (1776–1783)

80,000 at peak^[1]

British government, British Army, Hessian mercenaries

Dark blue

The Continental Army was supplemented by local militias and volunteer troops that were either loyal to individual states or otherwise independent. Most of the Continental Army was disbanded in 1783 after the Treaty of Paris formally ended the war. The Continental Army's 1st and 2nd Regiments went on to form what was to become the Legion of the United States in 1792, which ultimately served as the foundation for the creation of the United States Army.

The Continental Army of 1775, comprising the initial Army, was organized by Washington into three divisions, six brigades, and 38 regiments. Major General Philip Schuyler's ten regiments in New York were sent to invade Canada.

New England

The Continental Army of 1776, was reorganized after the initial enlistment period of the soldiers in the 1775 army had expired. Washington had submitted recommendations to the Continental Congress almost immediately after he had accepted the position of Commander-in-Chief, but the Congress took time to consider and implement these. Despite attempts to broaden the recruiting base beyond New England, the 1776 army remained skewed toward the Northeast both in terms of its composition and of its geographical focus. This army consisted of 36 regiments, most standardized to a single battalion of 768 men strong and formed into eight companies, with a strength of 640.

rank-and-file

The Continental Army of 1777–1780 evolved out of several critical reforms and political decisions that came about when it became apparent that the British were sending substantial forces to put an end to the . The Continental Congress passed the "Eighty-eight Battalion Resolve", ordering each state to contribute one-battalion regiments in proportion to their population, and Washington subsequently received authority to raise an additional 16 battalions. Enlistment terms extended to three years or to "the length of the war" to avoid the year-end crises that depleted forces (including the notable near-collapse of the army at the end of 1776, which could have ended the war in a Continental, or American, loss by forfeit)

American Revolution

The Continental Army of 1781–1782 saw the greatest crisis on the American side in the war. Congress was bankrupt, making it very difficult to replenish the soldiers whose three-year terms had expired. Popular support for the war reached an all-time low, and Washington had to put down mutinies both in the and in the New Jersey Line. Congress voted to cut funding for the Army, but Washington managed nevertheless to secure important strategic victories.

Pennsylvania Line

The Continental Army of 1783–1784 was succeeded by the United States Army, which persists to this day. As peace was restored with the British, most of the regiments were disbanded in an orderly fashion, though several had already been diminished.

The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all the Thirteen Colonies and, after 1776, from all 13 states. The American Revolutionary War began at the Battles of Lexington and Concord on April 19, 1775, at a time when the colonial revolutionaries had no standing army. Previously, each colony had relied upon the militia (which was made up of part-time citizen-soldiers) for local defense; or the raising of temporary provincial troops during such crises as the French and Indian War of 1754–1763. As tensions with Great Britain increased in the years leading to the war, colonists began to reform their militias in preparation for the perceived potential conflict. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the Intolerable Acts in 1774. Colonists such as Richard Henry Lee proposed forming a national militia force, but the First Continental Congress rejected the idea.^[2]

On April 23, 1775, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress authorized the raising of a colonial army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar but smaller forces. On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress decided to proceed with the establishment of a Continental Army for purposes of common defense, adopting the forces already in place outside Boston (22,000 troops) and New York (5,000). It also raised the first ten companies of Continental troops on a one-year enlistment, riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia to be used as light infantry. The Pennsylvania riflemen became the 1st Continental Regiment in January 1776. On June 15, 1775, Congress elected by unanimous vote George Washington as Commander-in-Chief, who accepted and served throughout the war without any compensation except for reimbursement of expenses.^[3] Supporting Washington as commander-in-chief were four major generals (Artemas Ward, Charles Lee, Philip Schuyler, and Israel Putnam) and eight brigadier generals (Seth Pomeroy, Richard Montgomery, David Wooster, William Heath, Joseph Spencer, John Thomas, John Sullivan, and Nathanael Greene). As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, the role of the Continental Army became the subject of considerable debate. Some Americans had a general aversion to maintaining a standing army; but on the other hand, the requirements of the war against the British required the discipline and organization of a modern military. As a result, the army went through several distinct phases, characterized by official dissolution and reorganization of units.

Broadly speaking, Continental forces consisted of several successive armies or establishments:

Siege of Boston

Battle of Long Island

Battle of Harlem Heights

Battle of Trenton

Battle of the Assunpink Creek

Battle of Princeton

Battle of Brandywine

Battle of Germantown

Battles of Saratoga

Battle of Monmouth

Siege of Charleston

Battle of Camden

Battle of Cowpens

Battle of Guilford Court House

Siege of Yorktown

Pluckemin Continental Artillery Cantonment Site

History of the United States Army

Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States

Revolutionary War soldier and hero

Peter Francisco

Middlebrook encampment

First Middlebrook encampment

near Morristown, New Jersey, winter of 1779–80

Jockey Hollow

adjacent to Jockey Hollow, winter of 1779–80

New Jersey Brigade Encampment Site

List of infantry weapons in the American Revolution

List of George Washington articles

George Washington in the American Revolution

Billias, George Athan, ed., George Washington's Generals (1980)

Bodle, Wayne. The Valley Forge Winter: Civilians and Soldiers in War (2002)

Carp, E. Wayne. To Starve the Army at Pleasure: Continental Army Administration and American Political Culture, 1775–1783. (U of North Carolina Press, 1984). 0-8078-1587-X.

ISBN

Cox, Caroline. A Proper Sense of Honor: Service and Sacrifice in George Washington's Army (2004).

Ferling, John. Whirlwind: The American Revolution and the War That Won It (2015).

Fleming, Thomas. The Strategy of Victory: How General George Washington Won the American Revolution (Hachette UK, 2017).

Gillett, Mary C. The Army Medical Department, 1775–1818. (Washington: Center of Military History, U.S. Army, 1981).

Higginbotham, Don. The War of American Independence: Military Attitudes, Policies, and Practice, 1763–1789 (1971) .

on line

Lengel, Edward G. General George Washington: A Military Life. (2005).

Martin, James Kirby, and Mark Edward Lender. A Respectable Army: The Military Origins of the Republic, 1763–1789. (2nd ed. Harlan Davidson), 2006. 0-88295-239-0.

ISBN

Mayer, Holly A. Belonging to the Army: Camp Followers and Community during the American Revolution. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press, 1999. 1-57003-339-0; ISBN 1-57003-108-8.

ISBN

Neimeyer, Charles Patrick. America Goes to War: A Social History of the Continental Army (1995)

complete text online

Palmer, Dave Richard. George Washington's Military Genius (2012).

Risch, Erna (1981). . Washington, D.C.: United States Army Center of Military History. Archived from the original on June 17, 2010. Retrieved June 10, 2010.

Supplying Washington's Army

Royster, Charles. A Revolutionary People at War: The Continental Army and American Character, 1775–1783. (U of North Carolina Press, 1979).

online

Wright, Robert K. (1983). . Center of Military History, U.S. Army. ISBN 9780160019319., 451 pages, eBook Archived October 9, 2019, at the Wayback Machine

The Continental Army

Archived May 8, 2013, at the Wayback Machine compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History

Bibliography of the Continental Army

a video

Continental Army