The modern U.S. Army can trace its beginnings to the American Revolution, in 1775 the fight of the Colonies against Great Britain, with its first commander Revolutionary General George Washington. Washington used hit and run tactics to ultimately triumph over British forces and their paid Hessian mercenaries. With a victory at Yorktown Virginia and with some assistance from Dutch, French and Spanish forces the Continental Army won its fight with British, resulting in the treaty of Paris where the United States was finally established and recognized.
The Continental Army was eventually disbanded but recreated by the Continental Congress after the end of the war into the United States Army on June 14th, 1784. Between the end of the Revolutionary war and the Army creation in 1784 there was a single battery in the standing Army based as defense at West Point, NY. With conflicts with the American Indians in the West, the Congress further acted to create the Legion of the United States. From 1791 the Army operated in the Legion mode, but the Army returned to the normal regimental style of operations in 1797.
The War of 1812 saw the American Army fighting in the 2nd war against the British, where they were not as successful as they would have liked. After a number of defeats and several startling victories at Niagara and in New Orleans in 1814, a treaty returned both sides to the state things were before the war. Between 1812 and 1860 the United States Army engaged in a series of skirmishes with the Native American Indians as Manifest Destiny gripped the Nation. The U.S. Army also fought later on in the war against Mexico from 1846 to 1848. This was directly as a result of the annexation of Texas, and the war resulted in the new territories of California, Nevada, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, Wyoming, and Arizona being gained by the United States.
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The Army was divided during the Civil War era, but rejoined into one unit after the bloody end of the battle of the North against the South in 1865. The U.S, Army proudly claimed victories in the Spanish American War in 1898 and the Philippine-American War in 1898 to the year 1913.
The Army fought in both World War II and World War II, and was part of the Korean War in 1950-1953. Following the end of the Korean War the U.S. Army fought hard in East Asia in the Vietnam War where many young Americans died on the battlefield. After Vietnam there was a relative quiet until the First Gulf War, in 1991.
The modern U.S. Army has a proud heritage, as it goes forward into the 21st century working to defend the national interest, the United States Constitution and the people of the U.S.A.
