The Road North
| This is how an army begins. On June 14, 1775, in response to the events of Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress in Philadelphia voted to create the Continental Army out of the militia units surrounding Boston. To lead it, they unanimously appointed George Washington of Virginia to be its commanding general. Washington, a wealthy man, refused to take a salary, saying, “I beg leave to assure the Congress, that, as no pecuniary consideration could have tempted me to have accepted this arduous employment, at the expense of my domestic ease and happiness, I do not wish to make any profit from it. I will keep an exact account of my expenses.” From this point forward, we have a record of all his purchases, which resides today in the Library of Congress. Shortly thereafter, Washington spent 39 pounds on some horses from a James Mease, who would later be the Commissary to Pennsylvania and the Clothier-General to the entire Continental Army. On June 22, Washington bought a harness and alterations for a phaeton, a sporty carriage with high wheels and either one or two rows of seats, for 7£. This included leather work, a “chair saddle”, bridle stirrups, and a portmanteau, a hinged suitcase made from Russian leather. On June 23, Washington left Philadelphia, accompanied by stableman Benjamin Hemmings, Major-Generals Charles Lee and Philip Schuyler, and aides-de-camp Samuel Griffin, Thomas Mifflin and Joseph Reed. They crossed into New Jersey at Trenton, traveled north via New Brunswick, Newark and Hoboken, and made it to New York City on June 25. The rest of the trip is took them through New Rochelle, New Haven, Hartford, Wethersfield, Springfield, Worcester, and Watertown. They arrived in Cambridge on July 2, amid the fallout of the tactical defeat and death of General Joseph Warren at Bunker/Breeds Hill, just two weeks previously. Washington took command of the Continental Army on July 3, 1775. |
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