The U.S. Army was founded on June 14, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized enlistment of expert riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year.
America’s Revolutionary War began on April 19, 1775 with exchanges of musketry between British regulars and Massachusetts militiamen at Lexington and Concord. As their fellow citizen soldiers from New Hampshire, Connecticut and Rhode Island responded to the alarm, a state of war existed between the four colonies and the British government. Called the Army of Observation, a force of New Englanders surrounded Boston and had the British troops who occupied it under siege, but they needed help. They appealed to delegates who represented all thirteen colonies to join them in the struggle for American liberty.
When the delegates to the Second Continental Congress convened in Philadelphia on May 10, they soon learned that armed men commanded by Ethan Allen and Benedict Arnold had captured the British forts at Ticonderoga and Crown Point on Lake Champlain in New York. The constitutional crisis, in which Americans sought a redress of grievances from the British king and Parliament, had become open hostilities. The delegates realized that even though many desired reconciliation, they would now have to address the new military situation. The Congress took the next step that eventually transformed a local rebellion into a war for independence when it established the Continental Army: the force we know today as the U.S. Army.
The Army Reserve of today can trace its roots as a national Citizen-Soldier force as far back as the French and Indian War (1756-1763) on through the Civil War (1861-1865) to the Spanish-American War and Philippine Insurrection (1898-1902). From its birth in 1776 through the nineteenth century, the United States remained a regional power, protected from invasion by the vast expanses of the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. A large standing army was not required, and the nation’s defense was based primarily on the militias of individual states.
The United States Congress created an official Army Reserve in order to place a large portion of American Citizen-Soldiers under federal control during times of peace and war. Financially, this was the best option for maintaining and projecting a land force that rivaled those of other world powers. This decision came into play during World War I (1917-1919) when the Army mobilized nearly 90,000 Reserve officers, one-third of which were medical doctors. More than 80,000 enlisted Army Reserve Soldiers served. The individual Army Reserve Soldiers were placed into newly organized units, trained, and then deployed.
Branch Birthdays
Since 1775, Congress has also authorized the establishment of certain branches within the Army. Today, these are represented by the Army’s basic and special branches. Below is information about the legal authority for the Army’s branches and additional information about each branch’s birthday.
Army Birthdays
The U.S. Army was founded on June 14, 1775, when the Continental Congress authorized enlistment of expert riflemen to serve the United Colonies for one year. For more on the history of the U.S. Army birthday, click here: the Army birthday.
Since 1775 Congress has also prescribed the organization and structure of the Army. This includes various branches into which Soldiers can be assigned. In many cases these branch distinctions are reflected in the Army’s system for designating units and in the U.S. Army Regimental System.
The Army Organization Act of 1950 (enacted June 28, 1950) set forth the legal basis for the various basic and special branches in the current Army (see Title 10, United States Code, Sections 3063 and 3064). It also permits the creation of other branches as the Secretary of the Army considers necessary. See the note below for more information on The Army Organization Act of 1950.
In recognition that many of today’s branches have existed since 1775 and in order to enhance esprit de corps, the Army recognizes official branch birthdays (see Department of the Army General Orders, No. 19, dated October 31, 1978 and subsequent announcements). Listed below are the Army’s basic and special branches currently in existence, their birthdays, and the relevant authorities.
NOTE: The Army Organization Act of 1950 was enacted on June 28, 1950. A full copy of the Act was published in Department of the Army Bulletin No. 9, dated July 6, 1950. The changes the Act had on the Army’s branches and the titles of the various branch chiefs were announced in Department of the Army General Orders No. 23, dated July 20, 1950 (as amended). Finally, an article from the August 1950 edition of Army Information Digest discusses the Act’s major changes.
- Department of the Army Bulletin, No. 9, dated 6 July 1950
- Department of the Army General Orders, No. 23, dated 20 July 1950 (As amended by AGO No. 38, dated 10 November 1950).
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“Army Organization Act of 1950” by LTC G. Emery Baya. Army Information Digest (August 1950), pages 23-37.
Sources:
- NationalGuard.mil: https://www.nationalguard.mil/About-the-Guard/How-We-Began
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History.Army.mil – Army Birthdays: https://history.army.mil/html/faq/branches.html