250 YEARS OF SERVICE

The USA's standing army maintains traditions and remains prepared for the defence of the country in the 21st century

- WORDS MICHAEL E HASKEW

More than a year before the 13 British colonies in North America put forth their Declaration of Independence, the United States Army had already been organised; by act of the Second Continental Congress, the Continental Army came into being on 14 June 1775.

At that time, the army existed in rudimentary form, consisting of roughly 22,000 militiamen then engaged with the British in the Siege of Boston and a handful of troops, perhaps 5,000, located in New York. Within three weeks, General George Washington had been appointed to command the new army. A Virginian with fighting experience that stretched back prior to the French and Indian War of 1754-63, Washington urged Congress to establish a single force directly recruited from across the colonies and distinct from the individual militias that were common.

As such, Washington envisioned a cohesive army that was equipped and trained in similar fashion rather than an assemblage of citizen-soldier militias. The formation of a small standing army that was capable of dealing with the threat of Native American attacks on the frontiers of the new nation, which achieved independence in 1783, was put forth in Washington's white paper titled Sentiments on a Peace Establishment, issued on 1 May of that year. The regular army would be augmented by a well-organised militia that could quickly be activated in the event of war with a foreign power. The response from Congress was muted. The standing US Army dwindled in peacetime and then expanded when threats arose. By the War of 1812, such conditions had occurred several times, including frontier unrest and the near war with France precipitated by the XYZ Affair. During the War of 1812, the Militia Act of 1792, inadequate though it was, provided for approximately 60,000 soldiers to serve during the period through 1815.