Arms and Rations: Equipping the Armies of the Revolution

Congress made the New England militia surrounding Boston a national army on June 14, 1775, and gave George Washington his commission two days later. The standard first oath of enlistment, adopted that same week, bound a soldier to one year of service and to whatever rules and regulations the army established. On the march, that soldier carried 45 to 60 pounds of gear: musket, bayonet, knapsack, haversack, ammunition, and a blanket, among other items judged essential. Uniforms varied widely by state and by year. Congress settled on blue as the Continental Army's official coat color only in 1779, and dye shortages meant many regiments wore brown or green well past that point.

Enlistment policy toward Black soldiers shifted more than once in the war's first year, and the documents survive in Washington's own hand. On November 12, 1775, Washington issued an order barring further Black enlistment, lumping the policy in with bans on underage boys and men too old for campaign duty.

Within seven weeks, Washington reversed course for soldiers already serving. His letter to Congress president John Hancock explains why in his own words.

All three armies that appear across this series relied on smoothbore, muzzle-loading flintlock muskets as their standard infantry arm, weapons that prioritized rate of fire and bayonet readiness over precision. The Smithsonian's National Museum of American History holds original examples of both the British and French muskets described below, including a French musket physically stamped "US" for Continental Army service.

British

Brown Bess

Pattern: Short Land Pattern musket

Caliber: approx. .75 in (Smithsonian's own example: .71 to .78 in across surviving pieces)

Length: approx. 61 in

Rate of fire: 3 to 4 rounds per minute

Standard arm of the British infantryman throughout the war. The Smithsonian's own description calls it slow to load, inaccurate, and frequently unreliable, which is why infantry fought massed together rather than aiming individually.

American

Mixed Arms

Pattern: Captured Brown Bess, French Charleville (from 1777), and locally made "Committee of Safety" muskets

Caliber: varied, .69 to .75 in depending on source

Rate of fire: approx. 3 rounds per minute, trained infantry

The Continental Army had no standard musket of its own through most of the war. Riflemen carried Pennsylvania long rifles, accurate to 200 to 300 yards but slow to reload and rarely fitted with a bayonet. See the watercolor above for how varied this actually looked in the field.

French

Charleville

Pattern: Model 1763 / 1766, supplied to American forces; Model 1777 used only by French troops under Rochambeau

Caliber: .69 in

Length: approx. 59.5 in

Lighter than the Brown Bess by design. France shipped roughly 25,000 Charleville muskets to Portsmouth, New Hampshire in March 1777 alone. Washington had incoming French muskets stamped "US" on the lock plate to reduce theft and identify Continental property. The example pictured here is that exact kind of stamped musket.

The Continental Army's authorized daily ration, set in November 1775, looked generous on paper. In practice, shortages were constant, and most soldiers received well below what regulations promised. The U.S. Army's own historical office, the Center of Military History, has published the authorized scale as it stood that winter.

An amended ration that December authorized corned beef or pork four days a week, salted fish one day, and fresh beef two days, with the meat allowance increased in winter months when milk was unavailable. Field rations, as opposed to what a garrisoned fort might receive, generally meant dried bread, called ship's biscuit, salted meat, and dried peas. When shortages hit, commissaries authorized substitutions: a full day's ration of bread and pork alone, with no other items, might mean two pounds of bread and one pound of pork and nothing else.