Washington the Soldier

The American Army, after 1776, never equalled thirty-eight thousand Regulars, at any one time. Small, temporary, and unorganized detachments of minute men were often employed to meet sudden forays; but the aggregate of those who afterwards claimed Revolutionary service was far beyond the actual numbers subject to Washington’s orders, or under control by Congress.

In stating these aggregates as credited to their respective States, under their designated quota, it is to be taken into account, that each enlistment received a special credit, and generally, by years or term of service. Hence, many who served from April 19, 1775, until the nineteenth of April, 1783, counted as eight, in the aggregate.

In the American Civil War of 1861–’65, the same rule followed. Nine Ohio regiments, for example, and those militia, marched to West Virginia for three months, reënlisted for three years, and then reënlisted for the war. Several “One Hundred Day” regiments, including the Sixtieth Massachusetts, and many in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois, became credits to their respective States. The same men were sometimes counted three times—that is, for each reënlistment.

The contributions of the States, during the Revolutionary War, on this basis, were as follows: