Continental Army

The Continental Army was the fighting force of the thirteen British colonies in the American Revolutionary War. It was created in 1775 by the First Continental Congress. Most of the army was disbanded in 1783 after the conclusion of the war. The army was officially closed by a resolution of Congress in 1784. A Legion of the United States partly replaced it in 1792, and the United States Army replaced it in 1796.

Congress elected George Washington as the commander-in-chief of the Continental Army when it was formed. He led the army until it was disbanded.

Continental Army Media

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  George Washington was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Continental Army on June 15, 1775 by the Second Continental Congress.

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  James Monroe, the last U.S. president to fight in the Revolutionary War, was a Continental Army colonel

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  Infantry of the Continental Army

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  Washington's headquarters in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, which is still standing, is one of the centerpieces of Valley Forge National Historical Park.

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  1778 drawing showing a Stockbridge Mohican Indian patriot soldier with the Stockbridge Militia in Stockbridge, Massachusetts, taken from Hessian officer Johann Von Ewald's war diary

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  1781 drawing of Continental Army soldiers from the Yorktown campaign showing a black infantryman on the far left from the 1st Rhode Island Regiment, one of the regiments in the Continental Army with the largest number of black patriot soldiers. An estimated 4% of the Continental Army were black.

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  Continental Army Plaza in Williamsburg, Brooklyn

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  Major-general Artemas Ward, one of Washington's key officers

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  Rank insignia of General for the Continental Army (1775)

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  Continental Army-Major general