List of Continental Army units

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.

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.

Because of the resulting shortages in money and manpower, the Continental Army was often expected to work in conjunction with state-controlled militia units.

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.

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.

[1] 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.

Before the Siege of Boston ended in March 1776 the Continental Congress was supporting troops from every colony except Maryland.

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.

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,[6] and sent to Canada.

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.

When British Major General John Burgoyne arrived in Quebec with reinforcements, the Americans withdrew to Fort Ticonderoga by July 1776.

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.

He left a Continental garrison at Boston, under Major General Artemas Ward, in case the British should return.

[8] The Middle Department was originally created as a military administrative district embracing New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland.

[20][21] 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.

Congress created the third establishment on September 16, 1776, voting to raise an army of 88 regiments of infantry.

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.

[22] In later years this ambitious program was reduced to one that was more sustainable, through consolidation or elimination of surplus units.

The Continental Army of 1777 was a result of several critical reforms and political decisions that came about when it was apparent that the British were sending massive forces to put an end to the Revolution.

[23] On September 16, 1776, the Continental Congress passed the "eighty-eight battalion resolve," which called for each state to contribute regiments in proportion to their population.

[23] The decisions implemented in 1777 determined the basic organizational structure of the Continental Army for the duration of the war.

The new regiments were smaller by one-third to cut expenses, and for the first time included a permanent light infantry company.

Because this reorganization was proposed just as the campaign of 1778 was about to begin, it was implemented gradually over the next ten months, and finalized on March 9, 1779.

The few Additional Continental Regiments that had survived to this late date were either allotted to a state line or disbanded.