Problems in Maintaining an Army

Washington grew increasingly frustrated with the Continental Congress' inability to help him as he and his army were being chased from New York and through New Jersey in the fall of 1776.  To make matters worse, since Congress had enlisted soldiers for only a year, Washington expected more than half of his volunteers to leave by the New Year, their enlistments up. 

The modest size of the forces and the short enlistment period reflected strong opposition to the notion of a standing army. Hampered by depending on militia, Washington continued to plead with Congress to establish a standing army, which they did in September 1776, authorizing 88 battalions of infantry enlisted to serve three years or "during the present war."

88 battalions would have been about 60,000 men.  But these battalions existed only on paper. The Continental Army never has as many as 30,000 men at any one time and rarely was Washington able to muster as many as 15,000 men. When Washington crossed the Delaware in December 1776, he could barely muster 2,000.