Celebrating Our Independence: The History of the Continental Army

In celebrating our country’s Independence Day, we should recognize our nation’s very first veterans – the servicemembers of the Continental Army.  The Army fought first for the Thirteen Colonies, then, once formed, the United States of America, against the British during the American Revolutionary War.

Prior to the Revolutionary War, the colonies had no standing army, with each separate colony having militias, consisting of part-time volunteer soldiers.  With the rise in dissatisfaction with the British, several colonies raised standing armies, including: Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut.  The Continental Congress decided to do likewise and the Continental Army was formed June 14, 1775, in Philadelphia.  General George Washington was appointed as the Commander-in-Chief.  

Gen. Washington would eventually preside over soldiers from all thirteen colonies.  Initially, however, the Army comprised of the New England Army.  By 1776, the initial one-year enlistment period of the first soldiers had expired.  With Great Britain’s plans to send a substantial militia to quell the Revolution, Congress ordered each state to contribute soldiers proportionate to their population.  Additionally, enlistment periods were extended from one-year, to three, or until the “length of the war.” 

Soldiers were supposed to be at least 16-years-old, but records show drummers as young as 7-years-old, and the youngest enlisted soldier as 10-years-old.  Additionally, an unknown number of women disguised as men fought for the Continental Army.  The Army was also racially integrated, with an estimated 6,600 African-American, indigenous, and mufti-racial soldiers.  After the Revolutionary War, the United States Army would not be integrated again until the last segregated Army units were dissolved in 1954. 

At its height in 1776, the Continental Army consisted of 46,000 troops.  The United States Army, which today consists of over 450,000 troops, took its place after the Treaty of Paris formally ended the War in 1783.