Editing Continental Army (section)

==Origins==
The Continental Army consisted of soldiers from all the [[Thirteen Colonies]] and, after 1776, from all 13 states. The [[American Revolutionary War]] began at the [[Battles of Lexington and Concord]], on April 19, 1775, at a time when the colonial revolutionaries had no standing army. Previously, each colony had relied on [[Patriot (American Revolution)|Patriot]] militias, which were made up of part-time citizen-soldiers for local defense, or the raising of temporary [[Provincial troops in the French and Indian Wars|provincial troops]], as was done during the [[French and Indian War]] between 1754 and 1763. As tensions with [[Kingdom of Great Britain|Great Britain]] increased in the years leading to the war, colonists began to reform their militias in preparation for the perceived potential conflict. Training of militiamen increased after the passage of the [[Intolerable Acts]] in 1774. Colonists such as [[Richard Henry Lee]] proposed forming a national militia force, but the [[First Continental Congress]] rejected the idea.<ref>[[#Wright|Wright, 1983]], pp. 10–11</ref> On April 23, 1775, the [[Massachusetts Provincial Congress]] authorized the raising of a colonial army consisting of 26 company regiments. New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut soon raised similar but smaller forces. 

On June 14, 1775, the [[Second Continental Congress]], meeting in present-day [[Independence Hall]] in [[Philadelphia]], voted to establish the Continental Army to provide for the common defense of the colonies, and incorporated patriot forces already in place outside [[Boston]] (22,000 troops) and [[New York City|New York]] (5,000). It also raised the first ten companies of Continental Army troops on a one-year enlistment, including riflemen from the [[Province of Pennsylvania]], [[Province of Maryland]], and [[Colony of Virginia]], which were used as [[light infantry]]. The Pennsylvania riflemen became the [[1st Pennsylvania Regiment|1st Continental Regiment]] in January 1776. On June 15, 1775, Congress unanimously elected [[George Washington]] commander-in-chief of the Continental Army. Washington accepted, and departed immediately for Boston, where he led the successful [[Siege of Boston]]. 

Washington served as the Continental Army's commander-in-chief throughout the Revolutionary War without any compensation except for reimbursement of expenses.<ref name="Lengel" /> As the Continental Congress increasingly adopted the responsibilities and posture of a legislature for a sovereign state, the role of the Continental Army became the subject of considerable debate. Some Americans had a general aversion to maintaining a standing army, but the requirements of the Revolutionary War against the [[British Army during the American Revolutionary War|British]] was seen as requiring the discipline and organization of an organized central military. As a result, the Continental Army evolved throughout the war, routinely reorganizing its units and ultimately seeking and obtaining support from [[Kingdom of France|France]], which sought to counter British influence in [[North America]].