Editing Continental Army (section)

==Demobilization==
{{See also|Newburgh Conspiracy}}
[[File: Cont Army Plz Billyb jeh.jpg|thumb|Continental Army Plaza in the [[Williamsburg, Brooklyn|Williamsburg]] section of [[Brooklyn]] in New York City]]
A small residual force remained at [[West Point, New York|West Point]] and some frontier outposts until Congress created the [[United States Army]] by their resolution of June 3, 1784. Although Congress declined on May 12 to make a decision on the peace establishment, it did address the need for some troops to remain on duty until the British evacuated New York City and several frontier posts. The delegates told Washington to use men enlisted for fixed terms as temporary garrisons. A detachment of those men from West Point [[Evacuation Day (New York)|reoccupied New York]] without incident on November 25. When Steuben's effort in July to negotiate a transfer of frontier forts with Major General [[Frederick Haldimand]] collapsed, however, the British maintained control over them, as they would into the 1790s. That failure and the realization that most of the remaining infantrymen's enlistments were due to expire by June 1784 led Washington to order Knox, his choice as the commander of the peacetime army, to discharge all but 500 infantry and 100 artillerymen before winter set in. The former regrouped as [[1st American Regiment (1783–1784)|1st American Regiment]],  under Colonel [[Henry Jackson (Continental Army general)|Henry Jackson]] of Massachusetts. The single artillery company, New Yorkers under Major [[John Doughty]], came from remnants of the [[2nd Continental Artillery Regiment]].

Congress issued a proclamation on October 18, 1783, which approved Washington's reductions. On November 2, Washington, then at [[Rockingham (house)|Rockingham]] near [[Rocky Hill, New Jersey]], released his ''Farewell Orders issued to the Armies of the United States of America'' to the Philadelphia newspapers for nationwide distribution to the furloughed men. In the message, he thanked the officers and men for their assistance and reminded them that "the singular interpositions of Providence in our feeble condition were such, as could scarcely escape the attention of the most unobserving; while the unparalleled perseverance of the Armies of the United States, through almost every possible suffering and discouragement for the space of eight long years, was little short of a standing Miracle."<ref name="GWFarewell" />

Washington believed that the blending of persons from every colony into "one patriotic band of Brothers" had been a major accomplishment, and he urged the veterans to continue this devotion in civilian life. Washington said farewell to his remaining officers on December 4 at [[Fraunces Tavern]] in New York City. On December 23 he appeared in Congress, then sitting at Annapolis, and [[George Washington's resignation as commander-in-chief|returned his commission as commander-in-chief]]: "Having now finished the work assigned me, I retire from the great theatre of Action; and bidding an Affectionate farewell to this August body under whose orders I have so long acted, I here offer my Commission, and take my leave of all the employments of public life." Congress ended the War of American Independence on January 14, 1784, by ratifying the definitive peace treaty that had been signed in Paris on September 3.