Semiquincentennial of a New General

The loose amalgam of colonial regiments besieging Boston in mid-June, 1775, were under no formal, congressional command. That changed on June 14th, when Congress took charge of the troops and created the Continental Army. An army deserves a general, and that same day delegate John Adams nominated George Washington—also a delegate, a man widely known as “Colonel Washington” and as widely admired for his impressive service in Virginia’s militia—to be the Continentals’ leader.