The Continental Army

by Robert K. Wright Jr.

This volume completes the Center of Military History's trilogy of special studies on the War of American Independence (the Revolution). As part of the Army's contribution to the Bicentennial, the center undertook three separate but related projects to produce significant monographs on previously unexplored aspects of the Revolutionary War. Dr. Mary C. Gillette's ‘The Army Medical Department’. 1775-1818 was published in 1981 as was Dr. Erna Risch's ‘Supplying Washington’s Army’. Each has increased the information available on the war by detailing the support furnished to the fighting man. The Continental Army now directs us to the basic military organization used during the war and to the forming of the Army's traditions and first tactical doctrine. This book traces the birth of the Army and its gradual transformation into a competent group of professionals and emphasizes for the first time the major influences of eighteenth century military theorists on that transformation. It should join the other two volumes as a basic reference on the military history of the Revolution.
The Continental Army is the first volume of the Army Lineage Series published under a revised format. Hereafter, lineage volumes will include lengthy, footnoted narratives, along with lineages and bibliographies. In a sense, a study of the Continental Army, the forerunner of today's Regular Army, is a fitting choice for beginning a new series. Later volumes will detail the development of specific branches of the army from those early days to the present. The U.S. Army Center of Military History regards this series as essential to its mission of helping today's Arn1y prepare for tomorrow by better understanding its past. In addition, the narratives herein make accurate information available to those in the Army as well as the general public. Furthermore, the lineages should help to foster unit esprit-de-corps. We hope that this volume with its new format will prove as popular as earlier volumes in the series.
471 pages, photographs, drawings, illustrations and maps, many in full color.
This is a Print Replica that maintains the formatting and layout of the original edition and offers many of the advantages of standard Kindle books.

Genres: History, American Revolutionary War, American Revolution

468 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 1983

Reviews

[Sean Chick · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a dry account, written chronologically but lacking a narrative. Which is fine. This is a book for the specialist, dealing as it does with army organization, logistics, training, and to lesser degree tactical doctrine. Inside the book though is a radical notion. By 1779 the Americans might have been better in a shooting contest than any other army; they were winning fire exchanges with the British, considered the best army in a firefight at this time. The Americans had a streamlined infantry drill. For everything from staffs to engineering and marching they borrowed the best from British, French, and Prussian methods. That they lost battles had to do with problems in morale, discipline, bayonet drill, and of course a general's mistake.

The result was a formidable fighting force that, in its use of columns and skirmishers, anticipated the armies of the French Revolution and Napoleon. That at least is implicit in the text; it is not Wright's main argument. But I wish he had made it.

[Aaron Noll · Rating 4 out of 5]

I give this 4 stars, but not for the enjoyment of reading it. It was pretty dry reading. I read it primarily for genealogical purposes, but much of it was not relevant to my Revolutionary ancestors. Most of the main text has to do with macro-issues such as personnel, army strength, and the difficulties of a weakly funded Continental Congress maintaining an army. But I give four stars for Wright's excellent regiment lineages section. The facts are laid out in clear, unambiguous fashion--something I can't say for all military history of the American Revolution. I'd recommend this source for straightening out the bare facts of where your ancestor was located and when during the war. Armed with these regimental facts, you can begin to fill in more details about what your ancestor might have experienced by looking at other sources.

[Jimmy · Rating 3 out of 5]

About half of the book covers an "organizational history" of the American army, showing how regiments were raised and organized into armies throughout the war; the seventy-page bibliography provides a good basis for further reading. The lineage section is rather less useful in understanding the Continental Army; a large part of each unit's history seems to be little more than a listing of "relieved from [brigade/department/army] and assigned to [other place]".

[Fredrick Danysh · Rating 3 out of 5]

Wright examines the men, equipment, makeup, and motivation of the Continental Army and the role politics played on it.

[Justinian]

2007-04 - The Continental Army. Robert K Wright. (Author) 1983. 451 pages.

From the official source "The Continental Army now directs us to the basic military organization used during the war and to the forming of the Army's traditions and first tactical doctrine. This book traces the birth of the Army and its gradual transformation into a competent group of professionals and emphasizes for the first time the major influences of eighteenth century military theorists on that transformation."

This book is part of an Army Lineage series and was produced by the Center for Military History. This title deals with TO&Es, theory, and force design. The other two books deal with Medical Care and Logistics.

This book is an excellent resource for understanding both the continental Army and for understanding force design and organization. The reader follows the evolution of the Continental Army from pre-war militias through a year by year evolution right through demobilization in 1783.

The choices that were made as to design and organization are not solely dependent on need. These choices reflect the reality and influence of politics, learning, funding, and available manpower. Granted that the Continental Army evolved from a British based militia system into a wholly American organization. It evolved on the notion of Brigades with direct support. Of interest is the growth of Combat Support services as these grew up in general wholly independent of the British model.

George Washington played the major role in force design and he always seemed to maximize the number of available bayonets to total force in his units while also maintaining a higher number of Officers and NCO’s in his unit then was normal in Europe at the time. Washington comes through with a genuine knack for picking people to do important tasks such as Greene, Knox, Hamilton, Steuben etc.

The book is replete with good diagrams, maps, and color plates. The bibliography is an excellent beginning point of reference for those interested in further study. The bibliography is set up by state. It does not cover state militia units but rather state units of the continental Line. It then provides sources under names of principal individuals and the tops (such as theory, medical, various campaigns etc) and includes some sources on enemies (both British, and non-British) as well as the Allied powers of France and Spain.

Well written. A modified version, basically without the bibliographies is available to read on-line at:

http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/RevWar/...

incidentally the book on logistics is also available on line at:

http://www.army.mil/cmh/books/RevWar/...