The Massachusetts Provincial Congress approved the creation of a colonial army consisting of 26 regiments on April 23, 1775, after which smaller armies were formed, from New Hampshire, Rhode Island, and Connecticut. On June 14, 1775, the Second Continental Congress continued with the creation of a continental army, adopting the armies that had already been created outside Boston (with 22,000 soldiers) and New York (5,000). The first ten companies of Continental Troops were created after a year of getting ready; soldiers from Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia were used as light infantry, which in 1776 became the First Regiment of the Continental Army.
On November 1, 1861, President Abraham Lincoln names George Brinton McClellan general in chief of the Union army, replacing the aged and infirm Winfield Scott.
