August and September 1775

In August and September 1775 George Washington was in Boston.  He was organizing troops, addressing supply issues, and planning for the siege of Boston.  Washington was working to bring discipline to the existing colonial militias and integrate them into the newly formed Continental Army.

In September a congressional committee visited his camp, and together they created a plan for a new Continental Army consisting of 26 infantry regiments, a rifle regiment, and an artillery regiment, with unified payment and administration under the Continental Congress.

And as our DAR National Defender explained: Finding gunpowder and weapons was a huge concern: 

 Shortly after taking command of the Continental Army

in July 1775, General George Washington ordered an

accounting of the patriots’ gunpowder stores. When he

learned the total available was a measly 90 barrels, an

eyewitness claimed Washington “did not utter a word

for half an hour.” Things were not much better by

January 1776, when Washington wrote a letter to a

trusted officer bemoaning the lack of supplies. “We are

now without any money in our treasury—powder in our

magazines—arms in our stores.

Equipping his new army and making them into a real army was a challenge.