W&M ScholarWorks Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects 1980 Organization and doctrine in the Continental Army, 1774 to 1784 Robert K. Wright College of William & Mary - Arts & Sciences Follow this and additional works at: https://scholarworks.wm.edu/etd Part of the United States History Commons Recommended Citation Wright, Robert K., "Organization and doctrine in the Continental Army, 1774 to 1784" (1980). Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects. Paper 1539623722. https://dx.doi.org/doi:10.21220/s2-162n-y224 This Dissertation is brought to you for free and open access by the Theses, Dissertations, & Master Projects at W&M ScholarWorks. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations, Theses, and Masters Projects by an authorized administrator of W&M ScholarWorks. For more information, please contact [email protected]. INFORMATION TO USERS This was produced from a copy of a document sent to us for microfilming. While the most advanced technological means to photograph and reproduce this document have been used, the quality is heavily dependent upon the quality of the material submitted. The following explanation of techniques is provided to help you understand markings or notations which may appear on this reproduction. 1. The sign or “target” for pages apparently lacking from the document photographed is “Missing Page(s)”. If it was possible to obtain the missing page(s) or section, they are spliced into the film along with adjacent pages. This may have necessitated cutting through an image and duplicating adjacent pages to assure you of complete continuity. 2. When an image on the film is obliterated with a round black mark it is an indication that the film inspector noticed either blurred copy because of movement during exposure, or duplicate copy. Unless we meant to delete copyrighted materials that should not have been filmed, you will find a good image of the page in the adjacent frame. 3. When a map, drawing or chart, etc., is part of the material being photo­ graphed the photographer has followed a definite method in “sectioning” the material. It is customary to begin filming at the upper left hand comer of a large sheet and to continue from left to right in equal sections with small overlaps. If necessary, sectioning is continued again—beginning below the first row and continuing on until complete. 4. For any illustrations that cannot be reproduced satisfactorily by xerography, photographic prints can be purchased at additional cost and tipped into your xerographic copy. Requests can be made to our Dissertations Customer Services Department. 5. Some pages in any document may have indistinct print. In all cases we have filmed the best available copy. Universe Micrdfilms International 300 N. ZEEB ROAD. ANN ARBOR. Ml 48106 18 BEDFORD ROW, LONDON WC1R 4EJ, ENGLAND 8103719 W r ig h t , R o b e r t K e n n e t h , J r . ORGANIZATION AND DOCTRINE IN THE CONTINENTAL ARMY, 1774 to 1784 The College of William and Mary in Virginia PH.D. 1980 University Microfilms International300 N. Zeeb Road, Ann Arbor, MI 48106 Copyright 1980 by Wright, Robert Kenneth, Jr. All Rights Reserved ORGANIZATION AND DOCTRINE IN THE CONTINENTAL ARMY, 1774 TO 1784 A Dissertation Presented to The Faculty of the Department of History The College of William and Mary in Virginia In Partial Fulfillment Of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy by Robert Kenneth Wright, Jr. 1980 APPROVAL SHEET This dissertation is submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Author Approved, May 1980 John E. Ludvhsll H. Johnson, II Edward M. RiAey Thomas F . Sheppard Richard H, Kohn, Rutgers University Charles W. Royster, University of Texas at Arlington li TABLE OF CONTENTS Page PREFACE .............................................................. iv LIST OF T A B L E S ................................................viii LIST OF F I G U R E S ...............................................ix ABSTRACT ............................................................ X CHAPTER I. THE ARMY OF OBSERVATION: NEW ENGLAND IN ARMS .... 2 CHAPTER II. THE CONTINENTAL ARMY: WASHINGTON AND THE CONTINENTAL CONGRESS ........................................ AO CHAPTER III. THE CONTINENTAL REGIMENTS OF 1776: BOSTON AND QUEBEC ............................................. 78 CHAPTER IV. AN ARMY TRULY CONTINENTAL: EXPANDING PARTICIPATION . H A CHAPTER V. AN ARMY FOR THE WAR: 1777 ............................ 151 CHAPTER VI. PROFESSIONALISM: NEW INFLUENCES FROM EUROPE .... 191 CHAPTER VII. PERSEVERANCE TO VICTORY ............................ 251 APPENDIX ............................................................. 300 GLOSSARY............................................................. 302 BIBLIOGRAPHY ....................................................... 306 ill PREFACE The subject of this dissertation is the development of the Continental Army's organizational forms and the evolution of its doctrine on the employment of military force. As such it combines institutional and Intellectual history, rather than using the tra­ ditional orientation of military history toward battles. I believe that understanding of the nature of opposing forces and their innate capabilities is a requirement for assessing generalship and campaigns. Military organization takes place on two levels. A superior command structure includes a specialized staff and subordinate groupings of units. The staff functions as a collection of technical advisors to the army's leader and relieves him of much of the burden of detailed planning. The lower echelons of organization permit independent actions by field armies and a responsive internal arrange­ ment of a large force on the battlefield. On a unit level, organization means the formulation of a "flexible organization, permitting full application of the principle of economy of force," reduction of "headquarters and other overhead to speed up command," and devotion of "strength as fully as possible to elements which can be made effective offensively against the enemy."1 1. Lieutenant General Leslie J. McNair's Army Ground Forces Letter, subject: Orientation with Reference to Revised Organization, 21 Jul 1943, quoted in Kent Roberts Greenfield, _et al.. The Organization of Ground Combat Troops (Washington: Government Printing Office, 1947), pp. 374-5. iv This dissertation concentrates only on the Continental Army, the forerunner of today's Regular Army. Two other military forces existed during the War of American Independence: regular state troops and the militia. The former were directly under the control of their respective state governments and tended to perform garrison duties at important ports or local fortifications, although at times they cooperated with the Continentals for extended periods. The latter were quintessentially local forces. John Shy and a host of other historians have recently paid close attention to the militia, high­ lighting its local defense mission and the institution's political implications. I hope that my work will complement theirs by explaining the nature of the other major component serving in the Revolution. The War of American Independence was not a war of national liber­ ation in the Maoist sense. It did involve a struggle for popular support in which the militia played a critical role, but it also in­ cluded a very conventional eighteenth century military conflict. That contest between a regular British army with assistance from German auxiliaries and a regular American force with French aid relates directly to this dissertation. I have examined the creation of that American force and its evolution into a professional fighting machine which was among the most modern of the era. Many compromises had to be made during this process as a result of various financial, logistical, and manpower crises. Although the army in the field seldom matched the plans made for it, the very existence of that planning reveals a great deal about the nature of the war. Unfortunately, the transfor­ mation in 1778 of a local war into a global conflict obscured some of v the changes. British commanders, now concerned with France's actions, could no longer offer battle in the same way that they had in 1776 and 1777. No military institution exists in a vacuum. Organizations are designed within a context of doctrinal assumptions on the nature of military force and its most effective means of expression. The types of weapons and equipment available, conditions of terrain in which the fighting will take place, and the opponent to be faced are all factors weighing heavily on planners. Less obvious but equally important are political and ideological conditions. Extensive research over the last two decades into the ideological nature of the American Revolution and the development of American political institutions now makes it possible to place the Continental Army in perspective. Militants in the political opposition to Great Britain carried certain fundamental assumptions about military force in their ideological baggage which influenced the organization of the Continentals during the early years of the war. As the conflict went on a more cautious political element, allied with army leaders, altered the nature of the army. This dissertation traces the emergence of a new American military institution from a combination of European roots and New World influences. It traces the transformation of an extemporized force into a national army. I tell the