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Let’s take it back to June, 1775. The Continental Congress is meeting in the city at the Pennsylvania State House — what we now call Independence Hall. Our Founders are getting together just a few months after the battles of Lexington and Concord in Massachusetts.
The Revolutionary War has arrived, but the country is not a country yet. British troops, complete with polished English uniforms and flintlock muskets, are all over Boston. The New Englanders have no official unified way of fighting back.
No way to fight back, that is, until the birth of the Continental Army.
“A group of New England militiamen from Massachusetts and New Hampshire and Connecticut had encircled the British in Boston,” said Matthew Skic, director of collections and exhibitions at the Museum of the American Revolution.
“What the Continental Congress decides to do is to engage in this war, and they decide to create a Continental Army — an army that is going to represent the continent, represent the 13 colonies united together to try and restore their rights and liberties in the British Empire.”
Despite being down in numbers, weapons and men, early American leaders decided to fight back.
“They appoint George Washington to be the commander in chief of that army,” Skic said. “And George Washington leaves Philadelphia, rides north to take command.”
A year later in 1776, the founders signed the Declaration of Independence. Now, the United States is a nation. Now, the army has a country to fight for.
“This Continental Army is not representing united colonies, but representing the United States,” Skic said. “It would continue to fight for independence until 1783. When independence is secured, the Continental Army disbands. At that point. George Washington resigns, famously hands his commission back to Congress, and the Continental Army, even though it disbands, is the origin of the United States Army that still exists today.”
Honoring the first U.S. Army
This story, the rise of the first U.S. army, is part of the city’s ongoing Firstival celebrations — honoring different firsts established in Philadelphia.
“Philadelphia is a great supply hub for this army,” Skic said. “All the crafts people that are working in this city to supply what the army needed. So, the story of the Continental Army, the first army to represent the United States, is very much a Philadelphia story.”
Saturday, June 13, the Museum of American Revolution is celebrating the first U.S. Army from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m. Skic will tell stories of the first Continental Army, and there will be kids and family activities at the museum’s plaza.
Artist Sean Bryant painted the Firstival “number one” sculpture to mark this milestone. The artwork features both colonial and modern soldiers working together in front of different backdrops of blue skies and golden hour hues.
“I wanted to make this painting look a bit more like traditional inking for the characters,” Bryant said, “And then for the background I wanted to add high saturated colors for the lake, for the sky.”
While he usually creates from lived experiences, for this artwork Bryant wanted to engage with history experts to invoke the spirit of the men who have fought for our nation. Certainly, the first U.S. army has come a long way. What was originally a group of scrappy underdogs coming together is now arguably the most powerful military in the world.
Skic said that he believes Washington would be in awe of the modern U.S. military.
“I really think that Washington, seeing this army, seeing its professionalism, the size of it, what it represents would be impressed,” he said. “The army very much commemorates and celebrates its origin story with the Continental Army — with the training that Baron Steuben implemented at Valley Forge, that made it a bit more of a professional fighting force that we associate with the United States Army today.”
Bryant’s sculpture features a large, vibrantly painted sun hovering just above the ocean. Like Benjamin Franklin at the Constitutional Convention, we wondered whether it depicted sunrise or sunset.
“That is a sunset,” Bryant said.
Below is your full guide to all of this year’s Firstivals:
Completed
Week 1: Successful balloon flight in America (1793)
Week 2: The Mummers parade, the nation’s first folk parade (1901)
Week 3: Volunteer fire company (1736)
Week 4: Professional basketball league (1898)
Week 5: Public Girl Scout cookie sale (1932)
Week 6: African Methodist Episcopal congregation (1794)
Week 7: Abolitionist society in America (1775)
Week 8: Authentic Chinese gate built in America (1984)
Week 9: Public protest against slavery in America (1688)
Week 10: Flower Show (1829)
Week 11: Women’s medical college (1850)
Week 12: Matchbook (1892)
Week 13: Medical school (1765)
Week 14: Stadium (1895)
Week 15: Circus performance (1793)
Week 16: Botanical garden (1728)
Week 17: Postmaster (1737)
Week 18: American-made piano and sousaphone (1775 and 1893)
Week 19: Mother’s Day (1908)
Week 20: Hospital in America (1751)
Week 21: World’s Fair on American soil (1876)
Week 22: Steamboat for passengers and freight (1787)
Week 23: American flag (1777)
Upcoming
• U.S. Army (1775)
June 13, Museum of the American Revolution, 101 S. 3rd St.
• Annual Reminder demonstration (1965)
June 20, Philly Pride Visitor Center, Lombard St. and S. 12th St.
• Paper maker in America (1690)
June 27, Rittenhouse Town, 6034 Wissahickon Ave.
• Bank of the United States (1791)
July 4, First Bank of the United States, 120 S. 3rd St.
• Organized baseball team (1831)
July 11 (location TBD)
• Ice cream soda (Oct. 1874)
July 18, Franklin Fountain, 116 Market St.
• American art school (1805)
July 25, Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, 118-128 N. Broad St.
• Scientific Society of Natural History (1812)
Aug. 1, at Academy of Natural Sciences, 1900 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Zoo in America (1874)
Aug. 8, Philadelphia Zoo, 3400 W. Girard Ave.
• U.S. Mint (1793)
Aug. 15 (location TBD)
• Selfie (1839)
Aug. 22, Love Park, 1501 John F Kennedy Blvd.
• Slinky (1943)
Aug. 29, Philadelphia Art Museum, 2600 Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• Signing of the Constitution (1787)
Sept. 5, National Constitution Center, 525 Arch St.
• Continental Congress (1774)
Sept. 12 at Carpenters’ Hall, 320 Chestnut St.
• Naming of the United States (1776)
Sept. 19, Independence Hall
• Ronald McDonald House (1974)
Sept. 26, Ronald McDonald House, 3925 Chestnut St.
• Penitentiary in America (1829)
Oct. 3, Eastern State Penitentiary, 2027 Fairmount Ave.
• The First Peoples
Oct. 10, Penn Museum, 3260 South St.
• U.S. Navy and Marine Corps (1775)
Oct. 17, Arch Street Meeting House, 320 Arch St.
• Public showing of a motion picture (1870)
Oct. 24, Philadelphia Film Society, 1412 Chestnut St.
• Modern detective story written (1841)
Oct. 31, Edgar Allan Poe House, 532 N. 7th St.
• Thanksgiving Day parade in America (1920)
Nov. 7, Benjamin Franklin Parkway
• University in America (1740)
Nov. 14, Houston Hall, The University of Pennsylvania, 3417 Spruce St.
• Children’s hospital in America (1855)
Nov. 21, Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, Main Building, 3401 Civic Center Blvd.
• Pencil with an attached eraser (1858)
Nov. 28, National Liberty Museum, 321 Chestnut St.
• Weather bureau (1870)
Dec. 5, The Franklin Institute, 222 N. 20th St.
• Electronic computer (1945)
Dec. 12, The University of Pennsylvania, 3451 Walnut St.
• Public lending library in America (1731)
Dec. 19, The Library Company of Philadelphia, 1314 Locust St.
• Philly food firsts: Cheesesteaks (1930s), water ice (1932) and bubble gum (1928)
Dec. 26, Reading Terminal Market, 1136 Arch St.