The Continental Army was the national army of first the Thirteen Colonies, and then the independent United States, during the American Revolutionary War, established by a resolution of the Congress on June 14, 1775, three days before the Battle of Bunker Hill, where it saw its first action under that title. The Continental Congress took a number of steps in the spring of 1775 to create the army in response to the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April and the seizure of Fort Ticonderoga in May. The units composing the Continental Army changed frequently, especially in the first two years of the war. From 1777 to the close of the war, the organization of the Continental Army became progressively more systematic and sophisticated. The Continental Army that served at Yorktown in 1781 bore very little resemblance to the Continental Army that blockaded Boston in 1775.
The Continental Congress was hostile to maintaining standing armies. Under the Articles of Confederation the Congress did not have the power to raise national troops by means of a draft. Enlistment in the Continental Army was voluntary; and throughout the war there were Americans who elected to fight for King George III rather than for Congress. Further, under the Articles of Confederation, the Continental Congress could not raise its own revenue directly. Because of the resulting shortages in money and manpower, the Continental Army was often expected to work in conjunction with state-controlled militia units. These units were called out as needed for short periods. On several occasions the militia performed well, but Washington frequently noted the inefficiency of the militia in his correspondence.
First establishment, 1775.
On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress assumed responsibility for the regular troops that had been raised by the colonies of New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut in response to the Battles of Lexington and Concord. This date is considered to be the founding date of the United States Army. Most of these troops were besieging the British garrison in Boston. The force adopted by the Continental Congress amounted to 39 regiments of infantry, and 1 regiment and 1 separate company of artillery.
On the same date the Continental Congress for the first time ordered troops to be raised for national defense. It ordered that ten companies of "expert riflemen" be raised in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, specifying their organization, pay, and term of enlistment. Before this date, the Congress had merely adopted units already raised by the states or, as in New York, simply promised financial support for a stated number of troops, leaving further action to the state.
In July 1775, a second force in New York under Major General Philip Schuyler was designated the New York Department, which would later be called the Northern Department. Schuyler's smaller army was created to defend New York, but he was authorized by the Continental Congress to launch a preemptive (and ultimately disastrous) invasion of Canada, which began on August 31, 1775.
The Continental regiments in the Southern colonies saw active service before the year ended, fighting forces raised by Virginia's royal governor, Lord Dunmore, at Great Bridge in December. In this action the 2nd Virginia Regiment was commanded by William Woodford, who later became a brigadier general in the Continental Army.
Second establishment, 1776.
At the end of 1775 the Siege of Boston was no nearer to resolution than it had been in April, and the attempt to capture Quebec had received a significant setback with the loss of the Battle of Quebec. To continue the war the Continental Congress voted to reraise the army at Boston and to maintain Continental units elsewhere. Before the Siege of Boston ended in March 1776 the Continental Congress was supporting troops from every colony except Maryland. The new units were to serve from January 1 to December 31, 1776. British troops withdrew from Boston in March 1776, after which commander in chief George Washington sent most of them to New York City where the British were expected to attack. The invasion of Quebec ended with an ignominious retreat to Fort Ticonderoga in July, and Continental troops participated in the defense of Charleston, South Carolina in the Battle of Sullivan's Island, and in North Carolina at the Battle of Moore's Creek Bridge.
Washington commanded forces moved from Boston and Ticonderoga in the failed defense of New York, losing at Long Island, White Plains and most seriously at Fort Washington, where nearly 3,000 soldiers were captured. Forced to retreat all the way across New Jersey to Pennsylvania, Washington closed the campaign season with major victories in the battles of Trenton and Princeton at the close of the year and early in 1777. The fact that his army was disbanding at the critical moment between Trenton and Princeton was the result of the unfortunate fact that its one-year term of service was then expiring, but Washington convinced a significant number of soldiers to overstay their enlistments.
Main Army.
The bulk of the newly organized Main Army consisted of 27 infantry regiments, numbered in order of the seniority of the colonel of each regiment. These regiments were created by reorganizing existing units and by encouraging soldiers to reenlist for another year. Each new regiment comprised eight companies, which at full strength fielded a total of 728 men. Of these, 640 provided the firepower (privates and corporals with muskets); the remaining were officers and staff, including three field officers (a colonel, lieutenant colonel, and major), a captain for each company, a surgeon, a quartermaster, drummers, etc.
Washington announced a new organization of the Main Army in General Orders, January 24, 1776. The organization was similar to the organization of 1775, but with new regiments.
Canadian Department.
Established January 17, 1776. Discontinued July 8, 1776.
In January 1776, Congress reorganized the New York Department, designating the force that had invaded Canada as the Canadian Department. Units were consolidated, and a second regiment of Canadians was recruited. After Washington learned of Brigadier General Richard Montgomery's death and defeat at the Battle of Quebec, three New England units originally intended as militia were instead raised as Continental regiments, commanded by Colonels Bedel, Porter, and Burrall, and sent to Canada.
At Quebec, Major General John Thomas took command of Canadian Department in May 1776. Additional reinforcements from the Main Army led by Brigadier General William Thompson arrived in mid-May, but were immediately disabled by an outbreak of smallpox. After General Thomas succumbed on June 2, Brigadier General John Sullivan, who had arrived with a second group of reinforcements on May 31, took command of the department. When British Major General John Burgoyne arrived in Quebec with reinforcements, the Americans withdrew to Fort Ticonderoga by July 1776. Major General Horatio Gates arrived to take command of the Canadian Department, but with no troops in Canada, the department ceased to exist. Gates, under Schuyler's Northern Department, organized 15 Continental units as the "Northern Army" in the Fort Ticonderoga area. The remaining units, some of them in poor shape after service in Canada, were retained by Schuyler as a rear echelon guarding the Mohawk River valley.
Northern Department.
Established from Middle Department, April 14, 1776. Continued to January 15, 1783.
Eastern Department.
Established April 4, 1776. Discontinued November 1779.
Following the British evacuation of Boston, Massachusetts, on March 17, 1776, Washington led the Continental Army (the Main Army) to New York City. He left a Continental garrison at Boston, under Major General Artemas Ward, in case the British should return. In the summer of 1776 it became clear to Washington that the main British effort would be directed against New York City and northern New York, and he reached the conclusion that the Continental regiments at Boston were more urgently needed elsewhere. He therefore ordered them to reinforce either his own army or the Northern Army under Major General Philip Schuyler. The Eastern Department became a secondary theater until the Battle of Rhode Island in 1778.
Two regiments of Rhode Island state troops served with the Continental Army in 1776, but were not placed on the Continental establishment.
Middle Department.
Established February 27, 1776. Continued to close of war.
The Middle Department was originally created as a military administrative district embracing New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland. When the Main Army moved from Boston to New York in April 1776 and Washington opened his headquarters in New York City, he assumed direct command of the department. As a result, the Main Army became, for the remainder of the war, the field army associated with the Middle Department. At the same time New York and the Northern Department became practically coextensive; only the Hudson Highlands and parts of New York to the south remained in the Middle Department. These changes left Washington holding three posts at once: Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army, Commanding General of the field army under his immediate command, the Main Army, and Commanding General of the Middle Department.
Southern Department.
Established February 27, 1776. Continued to close of war.
The Continental Congress raised troops in the southern colonies before the Southern Department was created. It had called for troops from the Southern colonies eight months before the department was established. On the date that the Southern Department came into existence the Continental Congress had accepted or authorized a dozen Southern infantry regiments, a number that would double within the next six months.
"North Carolina Continentals"
As early as June 26, 1775, some eight weeks after the Battles of Lexington and Concord, the Continental Congress voted to support 1,000 men in North Carolina. These were organized as the 1st and 2d North Carolina Regiments of 1775. A third North Carolina regiment was raised in January 1776 and two more regiments were raised in March. A sixth North Carolina regiment was authorized in April. All six of these regiments had become a part of the Continental Army by the summer of 1776.
"Virginia Continentals"
The Continental Congress assumed responsibility for the two existing Virginia provincial regiments on November 1, 1775. These were the 1st and 2d Virginia Regiments of 1775. On December 28, 1775 the Continental Congress requested four more regiments from Virginia. In January 1776 the colony authorized these six regiments for the Continental Army and authorized three more regiments as state troops. All nine of these regiments had become a part of the Continental Army by the summer of 1776. A separate company of artillery was authorized by Virginia on December 1, 1775. In March the Continental Congress adopted this company and authorized one more.
"South Carolina and Georgia Continentals"
On November 4, 1775 – the same date on which it authorized the 27 numbered Continental regiments of 1776 – the Congress authorized two battalions from South Carolina and one battalion from Georgia for the Continental Army. South Carolina then transferred the 1st and 2d South Carolina Regiments to the Continental Army. Two more South Carolina provincial regiments (5th and 6th regiments of rifles) were adopted by the Continental Army on March 25, 1776, followed by the 4th Regiment of Artillery on June 18, 1776. The 3rd Regiment of mounted rangers was adopted on July 24, 1776.
"Establishment of the department"
In February 1776 a superior headquarters was urgently needed to administer the rapidly growing number of Continental regiments being raised in the South. The Southern Army, as the troops in the Southern Department were known, met its first major test successfully when it repulsed the British attack on Charleston, South Carolina, on June 28, 1776.
Third establishment, 1777–1784.
Despite its antipathy to standing armies the Continental Congress was forced by the loss of New York and the prospect of a permanent British presence there to raise a standing army of its own. Congress created the third establishment on September 16, 1776, voting to raise an army of 88 regiments of infantry. Each of the thirteen states was assigned a quota based on its population. Enlistments in this army were to be for either three years or the duration of the war. This program was augmented in December 1776 when Washington was given authority to raise an additional 16 regiments of infantry (see "Additional" regiments). The army of 1777 was also a better-balanced force than the two which preceded it. Besides the infantry, the artillery was increased to a brigade under Henry Knox, a cavalry brigade was organized, originally under Casimir Pulaski, and eventually the Continental Army included partisan units, engineer troops, military police, and invalids. In 1777, 119 regiments were fielded.