Celebrating the 246th Birthday of America’s Army

When the Second Continental Congress delegates voted for a resolution on June 14, 1775, they had no idea they also founded America’s Army. On Monday, June 14, that Army turns 246.

The delegates directed “six companies of expert riflemen be immediately raised in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia.” Each company consisted of “a captain, three lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, a drummer or trumpeter and sixty-eight privates.”

“Each company … shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief Officer in that army.”

Today, a company consists of 80 to 150 soldiers led by a captain.

The fledgling nation found itself in dangerous times when the Revolutionary War erupted at Lexington and Concord on April 19 that year.

By June—the month the Army formed—New Hampshire, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island militias had contained the British troops in Boston, but the New Englanders needed soldiers and supplies. The Continental Congress sent a small force to Boston.

The six authorized companies were the basis for the Continental Army, which evolved into the U.S. Army. The next day, Congress put George Washington, who later became the first U.S. president, in charge of the Army.

For more than 246 years, the Army has played a vital role in the history of the United States. The Army defends the nation by fighting wars, its most well-known contribution.

When the Army fights a major campaign, it adds a streamer—a narrow ribbon—to the Army flag. The Army flag has 190 campaign streamers today, ranging from the well-known Battle of Normandy that occurred from June to July 1944, to the more obscure Battle of Peking, which occurred during the 1900 China Relief Expedition.

Although the streamers are just pieces of cloth, their symbolism, especially to Army veterans, is immeasurable. The streamers represent dedication, sacrifice, and courage in ways most people can only dimly understand.

Countless Americans have served as national examples through their sacrifice and bravery in the Army, including George Washington and Mary Hays—known as “Molly Pitcher”—in the Revolutionary War, Alvin York in World War I, and Audie Murphy in World War II.

Molly Pitcher carried water to cool the cannon and soldiers in her husband’s battery. She allegedly took her husband’s place in the gun crew at the Battle of...

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