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June 14, 2025 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

250 Years Ago … Continental Army

The colonies are abuzz following the adjournment of the First Continental Congress. As colonists deliberated and implemented Congress’s mandates, they also pondered the future of their relationship with Great Britain. How will the King respond to Congress’s petition? Will the proposed Association (a comprehensive non-importation and non-exportation scheme) force Parliament to repeal the Coercive Acts? Colonists wait only a few short months for an answer.

On February 3, 1775 Abigail Adams wrote to Mercy Otis Warren, reporting among other things, “The die is cast … but it seems to me the Sword is now our only, yet dreadful alternative”.

Forming the Continental Army and Naming Its Commander in Chief

America’s Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775 with exchanges of musketry between British regulars and Massachusetts militiamen at Lexington and Concord, as many delegates were already enroute to Philadelphia, where Congress was scheduled to convene on May 10, 1775.

When the delegates to the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on May 10, they soon learned that armed men commanded by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the British forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Champlain in New York.

The New England colonists reacted to this news by raising four separate armies. With remarkable speed, committees of correspondence spread the traumatic news of Lexington and Concord beyond the borders of Massachusetts.

On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress adopted “the American continental army” after reaching a consensus position in the Committee of the Whole.  This procedure and the desire for secrecy account for the sparseness of the official journal entries for the day.

On June 15, Congress unanimously chose George Washington. Washington had been active in the military planning committees of Congress and by late May had taken to wearing his old uniform.

Preparing the Continental Army to Go to War

Washington was also to prepare and to send to Congress an accurate strength return of that army. On the other hand, instructions to keep the army obedient, diligent, and disciplined were rather vague. The Commander in Chief’s right to make strategic and tactical decisions on purely military grounds was limited only by a requirement to listen to the advice of a council of war.

Within a set troop maximum, including volunteers, Washington had the right to determine how many men to retain, and he had the power to fill temporarily any vacancies below the rank of colonel. Permanent promotions and appointments were reserved for the colonial governments to make.

The record indicates only that Congress undertook to raise ten companies of riflemen, approved an enlistment form for them, and appointed a committee (including Washington and Schuyler) to draft rules and regulations “for the government of the army.”

The delegates’ correspondence, diaries, and subsequent actions make it clear that they really did much more. They also accepted responsibility for the existing New England troops and the forces requested for the defense of the various points in New York. The former were believed to total 10,000 men; the latter, both New Yorkers and Connecticut men, another 5,000.

By the third week in June delegates were referring to 15,000 at Boston. Meanwhile, the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775 forced many delegates to rethink their position on reconciliation. As accounts of the battle reach Philadelphia, Thomas Jefferson and John Dickinson are drafting the Declaration of the Causes and Necessity for Taking up Arms. John Adams calls the document a spirited Manifesto.

When on June 19 Congress requested the governments of Connecticut, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire to forward to Boston “such of the forces as are already embodied, towards their quotas of the troops agreed to be raised by the New England Colonies,” it gave a clear indication of its intent to adopt the regional army.  Discussions the next day indicated that Congress was prepared to support a force at Boston twice the size of the British garrison, and that it was unwilling to order any existing units to be disbanded.

Congress then took steps for issuing paper money to finance the army, and on June 30 it adopted the Articles of War.

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War (1775 – 1783) was an insurrection by which 13 of Great Britain’s North American colonies that won political independence and went on to form the United States of America.

The war followed more than a decade of growing estrangement between the British crown and a large and influential segment of its North American colonies that was caused by British attempts to assert greater control over colonial affairs after having long adhered to a policy of salutary neglect.

By the time the Declaration of Independence was adopted on July 4, 1776, the Thirteen Colonies (New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Georgia) and Great Britain had been at war for more than a year.

At any given time, however, the American forces seldom numbered over 20,000; in 1781 there were only about 29,000 revolutionaries under arms throughout the country.

By contrast, the British army was a reliable steady force of professionals. Since it numbered only about 42,000, heavy recruiting programs were introduced.

Because troops were few and conscription unknown, the British government, following a traditional policy, purchased about 30,000 troops from various German princes.

An estimated 6,800 Americans were killed in action, 6,100 wounded, and upwards of 20,000 were taken prisoner. Historians believe that at least an additional 17,000 deaths were the result of disease, including about 8,000–12,000 who died while prisoners of war.

Unreliable data places the total casualties for British regulars fighting in the Revolutionary War around 24,000 men. This total number includes battlefield deaths and injuries, deaths from disease, men taken prisoner, and those who remained missing. Approximately 1,200 Hessian soldiers were killed, 6,354 died of disease and another 5,500 deserted and settled in America afterward. (Battlefield)

Click the following links to general summaries about the Continental Army:

Click to access Continental-Army-SAR-RT.pdf

Click to access Continental-Army.pdf

© 2025 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: American Revolution Tagged With: George Washington, America250, Continental Army, Second Continental Congress

March 12, 2024 by Peter T Young Leave a Comment

Young Patriots

The British established militias in the colonies after the French and Indian War to alleviate the need to garrison expensive regular soldiers in the colonies.

All military aged males, aged 16 to 45, were required to serve in the militia and maintain the necessary arms and equipment for military service.

Although citizen militias played an important role in the conflict, the fledgling nation fielded a formal military force known as the Continental Army.

Most men who served in the Continental Army were between the ages of 15 and 30.

Over 230,000 soldiers served in the Continental Army during the American Revolution, although no more than 48,000 at any one time. The largest number of troops gathered in a single place for battle was 13,000.

The Continental Army was mustered out of service by early 1784. Only a small token of 80 soldiers remained on active duty.

The following year, the First American Infantry Regiment was created. It consisted of eight infantry companies and two artillery batteries. This unit was enlarged a decade later.

The army accepted volunteers as young as 16. A 15-year-old could join with a parent’s permission.

Some notable younger Patriots (age at the time of the signing of the Declaration of Independence in 1776):

Boys:

Andrew Jackson (age 9) – When he was 13 years old, the future 7th President of the United States served as a patriot courier.

Ebenezer Fox (age 12) ran away from home and was hired as a sailor on an American ship.

Joseph Plumb Martin (age 15) persuaded his grand-parents to let him join the army. He fought for the duration of the war.

James Armistead (age 15) was born a slave but worked as a spy under Marquis de Lafayette.

William Diamond (age 15) signed up as drummer in the Lexington and beat “to arms”, bringing 70 militiamen against the approaching Red Coats.

Peter Salem, (age 16) was a Massachusetts slave who was freed in order to serve in the local militia, then the Army, and was named a hero in the Battle of Bunker Hill.  

James Monroe was 18 and dropped out of college to join the Continental Army; he later became 5th President of the US.

Charles Pinckney (age 18) fought in the American Revolution and was captured. After regaining his freedom, Pinkney practiced law, served in the Continental Congress, signed the US Constitution, and became governor of South Carolina.

Marquis de Lafayette (age 18) traveled from France to America to join the Revolution. He was commissioned as a Major General at age 19.

Girls:

Deborah Sampson (age 15) disguised herself as a man so she could join the Massachusetts military.  She kept her true identity hidden for two years.

Sybil Ludington (age 15) rode her horse for 40 miles to warn American soldiers of an impending British attack. 

Click the following links to general summaries about the Young Patriots:

Click to access Young-Patriots.pdf

Click to access Young-Patriots-SAR-RT.pdf

© 2024 Hoʻokuleana LLC

Filed Under: American Revolution Tagged With: American Revolutionary War, America250, Militia, Continental Army, American Revolution

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