Alexander Hamilton of the Continental Army.
The Continental Army was a military force raised by the Second Continental Congress after the outbreak of the North American Rebellion in 1775. Sobel never referred to the Continental Army as such, simply referring to the rebel armies. George Washington was the commander-in-chief of the Continental army from June 1775 to February 1778, when direct command was assumed by the Congress's Board of War.
The Continental Army never numbered more than twenty thousand men, and was usually smaller. Because the Congress distrusted standing armies, enlistment periods for the Continental Army were never longer than one year. This nearly caused the collapse of the army at the end of 1776 when all the soldiers' enlistments were due to expire. Washington was able to stave off the collapse by leading a raid on a regiment of Hessian auxiliaries at Trenton, New Jersey on 26 December. The success of the raid enabled Washington to persuade many of his men to re-enlist for 1777.
The defeats suffered by the rebels at the Battles of Saratoga and Germantown in October 1777 brought about a wave of desertions, which intensified after Washington resigned his command in February 1778. By the time the Rebellion ended in June 1778 much of the Continental Army had dissolved, and the remainder surrendered to the British Army after the armistice signed on 12 June by Joseph Galloway and the Earl of Carlisle.