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13 unusual facts about Continental Army


1783 in the United States

June 20 – Continental Army soldiers mob Independence Hall demanding back pay from the Congress of the Confederation in the Pennsylvania Mutiny of 1783.

March 15 – Newburgh Conspiracy: A potential uprising in the Continental Army stationed at Newburgh, New York, is defused when George Washington asks the officers to support the supremacy of the United States Congress.

Bodo Otto

Dr. Bodo Otto (1711–1787) was a Senior Surgeon of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Columbia University traditions

A troop of students dressed in Continental Army soldiers carry the eponymous log from the sun-dial to the lounge of John Jay Hall, where it is lit amid the singing of seasonal carols.

Continental Army

The command would be based on the 18th-century military works of Henry Bouquet, a professional Swiss soldier who served as a colonel in the British army, and French Marshal Maurice de Saxe.

However the United States military realised it needed a well-trained standing army following St. Clair's Defeat on November 4, 1791, when a force led by General Arthur St. Clair was almost entirely wiped out by the Western Confederacy near Fort Recovery, Ohio.

The following Spring the newly named Legion of the United States left Legionville for the Northwest Indian War, a struggle between American Indian tribes affiliated with the Western Confederacy in the area south of the Ohio River.

Throughout the winter of 1792-93, existing troops along with new recruits were drilled in military skills, tactics and discipline at Legionville on the banks of the Ohio River near present-day Baden, Pennsylvania.

Earl of Stirling

The titles became dormant upon the death of the fifth Earl in 1739, although one William Alexander of New York, known to history as Major General Lord Stirling of the Continental Army, years before the American Revolutionary War pursued a claim to succeed to the dormant earldom.

Marion County, Oregon

On September 3, 1849, the territorial legislature renamed it in honor of Francis Marion, a Continental Army general of the American Revolutionary War.

Mary Draper

Mary Draper (1719–1810) is known for the help she gave members of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Philadelphia Pepper Pot

The origins of the stew are steeped in legend, with one story attributing the dish to Christopher Ludwick, baker general of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.

Sullivan County, Missouri

By the same act, it was renamed Sullivan County in honor of John Sullivan, a major general in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War.


3rd North Carolina Regiment

The 3rd North Carolina Regiment was raised on 16 January 1776 at Wilmington, North Carolina for service with the Continental Army.

4th Georgia Regiment

The 4th Georgia Regiment was authorized for service with the Continental Army by the Continental Congress on 1 February 1777.

4th North Carolina Regiment

The 4th North Carolina Regiment was raised on January 16, 1776 at Wilmington, North Carolina for service with the Continental Army under the command of Thomas Polk.

Christopher Gist

The couple had three sons, Richard (1727–1780) who was killed at the Battle of King's Mountain, Nathaniel who led Gist's Additional Continental Regiment in the Continental Army, and Thomas.

Clintonville, Columbus, Ohio

The community of Clintonville developed as the center of Clinton Township (named for the U.S. Vice President George Clinton), part of the land grants given to Continental Army soldiers in lieu of pensions in what used to be Wyandotte Indian territory.

Commentaries on the Laws of England

The book was famously used as the key in Benedict Arnold's book cipher, which he used to communicate secretly with his conspirator John André during their plot to betray the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

Drums Along the Mohawk

Ambushed en route to attack the enemy, the force of militia and Continentals barely manage to defeat the enemy at Oriskany.

Farmer's Delight

Lane, a member of the Virginia General Assembly in 1792-1793, was a colonel in the U.S. Army during the Whiskey Rebellion, and had been a member of the Continental Army during the American Revolution.

James Peale

Peale worked in his brother's studio until January 14, 1776, when he accepted a commission in the Continental Army as an ensign in William Smallwood's regiment.

King's Royal Regiment of New York

Johnson soon left Montreal to chase the retreating Continental Army southwards down the Richelieu Valley towards Lake Champlain.

Lewisberry, Pennsylvania

Over the course of the war, the town became known for producing guns, and the Committee of Safety for York County contracted with area gunsmiths to supply the Continental Army; guns made in Lewisberry were in use by the US Army as late as the Siege of Veracruz during the Mexican–American War of 1846.

Louis Lebègue Duportail

Promoted to lieutenant colonel in the Royal Corps of Engineers, Duportail was secretly sent to America in March 1777 to serve in Washington's Continental Army under an agreement between Benjamin Franklin and the government of King Louis XVI of France.

Lydia Darrah

Lydia Darragh (1729 – December 28, 1789) was an American woman said to have crossed British lines during the British occupation of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania during the American Revolutionary War, delivering information to George Washington and the Continental Army that warned them of a pending British attack.

Maryland in the American Revolution

General George Washington was impressed with the Maryland regulars (the "Maryland Line") who fought in the Continental Army and, according to one tradition, this led him to bestow the name "Old Line State" on Maryland.

General George Washington counted the "Maryland Line" regiment who fought in the Continental Army as among his finest soldiers, and Maryland is still known as "The Old Line State" today.

Maryland Route 178

The highway is indirectly named for George Washington, who traveled the highway in 1783 on his way to Annapolis to resign his commission in the Continental Army at the conclusion of the American Revolutionary War.

Miquon, Pennsylvania

The Marquis de Lafayette and 2,200 Continental troops escaped capture by some 16,000 British troops by retreating through Miquon, fording the river, and returning to Valley Forge.

Peter T. Curtenius

On May 31, 1775, the New York Provincial Congress appointed him Commissary General, with the rank of colonel, being in charge of the purchase of provisions for the Continental Army.

Rhode Island Army National Guard

On April 22, 1775, following the Battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts, the Rhode Island General Assembly created a 1,500 man "Army of Observation" under the command of Brigadier General Nathanael Greene and sent them to Boston to serve in the new Continental Army under General George Washington.

Ringwood State Park

During the American Revolution, Robert Erskine managed ironmaking operations from Ringwood, and became George Washington's first geographer and Surveyor-General, producing maps for the Continental army; Washington visited the Manor House several times.

Robert Weakley

Weakly joined the Revolutionary Army at the age of sixteen and served until the close of the American Revolutionary War, fighting in the battles of Alamance and Guilford Courthouse.

Saratoga, New York

It is best known as the location that British General John Burgoyne surrendered to American General Horatio Gates at the end of the Battles of Saratoga on October 17, 1777, often cited as the turning point for the United States during the American Revolutionary War.

Thiells, New York

During the American Revolution, Thiells was known as Haverstraw Forge, where General "Mad" Anthony Wayne, leading 1,350 Continental Army troops, was able to watch the area of Stony Point.

Whitney's Regiment of Militia

Whitney's Regiment of Militia also known as the 2nd Worchester County Militia Regiment was called up at Harvard, Massachusetts on October 2, 1777 as reinforcements for the Continental Army during the Saratoga Campaign.

Yorktown campaign

These forces were first opposed weakly by Virginia militia, but General George Washington sent first the Marquis de Lafayette and then Anthony Wayne with Continental Army troops to oppose the raiding and economic havoc the British were wreaking.