Freedom Fighters:
The U.S. Army

Spurned by the laws enacted by the British government in response to the Boston Tea Party, colonists in Massachusetts asserted governance beyond Boston and prepared for military action by acquiring arms. On April 19, 1975, the first shots of the Revolutionary War were fired at Lexington and Concord, as the British attempted to rid the colonists of the means to resist. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Army was formed by an act of the Second Continental Congress. This first organized, American soldiering force was composed of 10 companies from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, which soon joined the forces already in action in Massachusetts. On the very next day, June 15, 1775, George Washington was unanimously chosen by the Second Continental Congress as the Commander in Chief.

For more on the historic origins of the U.S. Army, see:

• 250 Years of the U.S. Army—An Interactive Timeline

• U.S. Army Revolutionary War 250th Commemoration

• George Washington Commissioned: Commander in Chief

• "George Washington's Commission as Commander in Chief: Primary Documents in American History" (Library of Congress)