Includes bibliographical references (pages 109-113) and index.
Contents
A grand view -- "Spirits form the vastly deep" -- Delaware --- Maryland -- Pennsylvania -- New Jersey -- From North and South -- Glory forgotten.
Introduction -- A grand view -- "Spirits from the vastly deep" -- Delaware -- Maryland -- Pennsylvania -- New Jersey -- From North and South -- Glory forgotten.
Summary
"The "Flying Camp" is a vaguely understood episode of the American Revolution. In May 1776 the Continental Congress authorized the formation of a force of 10,000 militia, conceived by General George Washington as a "mobile reserve" that would both defend the army's garrisons in the Middle States and spread alarm amongst the British. Most, but not all, of the putative organization was to come from the states of New York, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, and Maryland. In point of fact, the Flying Camp as an idea and actuality barely survived the year. In the wake of the New York and New Jersey campaigns of 1776 it became abundantly clear that what Washington needed was a reliable and substantial Continental Army, not short-term, undersubscribed militia haphazardly organized under the chimera of a "Flying Camp." Despite its unsustainability as a military concept, the officers and noncommissioned members of the various elements of the Flying Camp rendered important service to the Nation in the campaigns of Long Island, Trenton, and Princeton, among others. Drawing on original sources, particularly the correspondence of the Continental Congress, state committees of safety, the George Washington papers, and more, Baker fills in the gaps in the history of the Flying Camp that have eluded historians until now. In his able hands, we trace the Flying Camp from its beginnings in Washington's imagination, to the dispatches of the new Congress enjoining the Middle States to commit specified numbers of militiamen to this important cause, to the logistical difficulties in achieving the objectives in General Washington's master plan, and to the actual service of Flying Camp militia in the campaigns of 1776." -- Publisher.
National Archives microfilm publications ; microcopy no. 247
Notes
Library owns: Roll 9, Item No. 1, Rough Journals 1774-1789 -- Roll 13, Item No. 1 Rough Journals 1774-1789 -- Roll 60, Item No. 46, Proposals on locating the seat of government and printing the journals -- Roll 83, Item No. 69, Pennsylvania State Papers 1775-1791 -- Roll 178, Item Nos. 159 and 160, Letters from Generals Putnam, Mercer, Lewis, Thompson, Ward, Weedon, Hand, Conway, Sullivan, and Howe 1775-1785 -- Roll 183, Item No. 166, Letters and Papers Relating to Canadian Affairs, Sullivan's Expedition, and the Northern Indians 1775-1779.
Listed in "Microfilm resources for research," 1986 as: M247.
Indexes compiled by John P. Butler.
"The records reproduced in the microfilm publication are from Records of the Continental and Confederation Congresses and the Constitutional Convention record group 360 in the National Archives."
Reproduced from original documents issued under the title Journals of the Continental Congress, 1774-1789.
