~ The Revolution War ~
1775 -1783

The American Continental Army was an army formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by  a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the 13 Colonies in their revolt against the rule of Great Britain.The Continental Army was supplemented by local militas and other troops that remained under control of the individual states. General George Washington was the Commander-in-Chief of the army throughout the war. Issac Waters Sr, son of Thomas Waters, was a Lieutenant of Company F, in the Continental Army during the American Revolution. Isaac transfered to V. R. C. First served in the Lincoln Light lnfty. Skirmishes between British troops and colonial militiamen in Lexington and Concord in April 1775 kicked off the armed conflict, and by the following summer, the rebels were waging a full-scale war for their independence.

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Lt Isaac Waters Sr, 1722-1808 Lieutenant of Company F, in the Continental Army, son of Thomas Waters.



Col. Philemon Waters Jr. 1734-1796 SC, fought in the French and Indian War, as well as the Revolutionary War. Capt. Philemon Waters, known Regiments & known years as a Captain: Lower District Regiment 1778-1779 & 1st Spartan Regiment 1779-1780. In 1782, Philemon Waters replaced William Bratton as the colonel and commander of the New Acquisition District Regiment (militia). Col. Waters was also now the second in command under BG Andrew Pickens of the 3rd Brigade of SC Militia.

Battles: https://www.ourfamtree.org/soldier/search.php?state=SC&fname=Philemon&lname=Waters&rank=&regiment=&keywords=&btn=Search

On May 23rd, the British under Lt. Col. John Maitland had established their defenses at Stono Ferry, located on the Stono River. The British troops were camped on one side with a detachment of Hessians camped on the other side. A British galley was anchored in the river to provide covering fire for the Hessians.

Stono Ferry, June 20, 1779, near Rantowles, South Carolina. 1st Spartan Regiment of Militia detachment led by Col. John Thomas, Jr., with the following five (5) known companies, led by

- Capt. Zachariah Bullock
- Capt. Thomas Jones
- Capt. Major Parson
- Capt. John Adam Summer
- Capt. Philemon Waters, Lower District Regiment 1778-1779

Siege of Charleston, Mar. 28 - May 12, 1780, Col Philemon Waters, 1st Spartan Regiment 1779-1780

Battle of Eutaw Springs September 8, 1781

Thomas Willoughby Waters 1736-1806

 

Capt. Philemon Waters 1762-1818 was 16 years old when he entered into the Revolutionary War. DAR #A122246.

https://carolana.com/SC/Revolution/patriots_sc_capt_philemon_waters.html 

 https://carolana.com/SC/Revolution/patriot_militia_sc_first_spartan_regiment.html

1778 Valley Forge

France entered the American Revolution on the side of the colonists in 1778, turning what had essentially been a civil war into an international conflict. After French assistance helped the Continental Army force the British surrender at Yorktown, Virginia, in 1779, the Americans had effectively won their independence, though fighting would not formally end until 1783. 

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were actually the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War.  They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston.  The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America.

 

Gen. Washington (right) watches as Baron von Steuben (center) conducts training with the Continental Army circa 1778.  By February 5, 1778, Steuben had offered to volunteer without pay (for the time), and by February 23, Steuben reported for duty to Washington at Valley Forge. Colonel Alexander Hamilton and General Nathanael Greene were of great help in assisting Steuben in drafting a training program for the Army, Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States.

 

Baron Steuben: Painting by Peale 178Z

Michael O'Hair: enlisted in the Continental Army and served with General Morgan's famous riflemen. He fought at Saratoga, Cowpens, Guilford Courthouse and Eutau Springs. He served as Private in Capt. John Hayes Company, 9th Virginia Regiment, commanded by Col. George Mathews. Later he was a member of Capt. Wm. Henderson's Company of Col. Daniel Morgan's Rifle Regiment, Continental Troops under Major General Nathaniel Green. He served in this capacity until the close of the war. Pursuant to an Act of the Virginia Assembly passed November 17, 1781, he drew his final pay June 27, 1783.

 

Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand von Steuben (born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also referred to as the Baron von Steuben, was a Prussian-born military officer who served as Inspector General and Major General of the Continental Army & during the American Revolutionary War. On September 26, 1777, the Baron, his Italian greyhound, Azor (which he took with him everywhere), his young aide de camp Louis de Pontière, his military secretary Pierre Etienne Duponceau, and two other companions, reached Portsmouth, New Hampshire and by December 1, were extravagantly entertained in Boston. Congress was in York, Pennsylvania, after being ousted from Philadelphia by the British advance. He is credited with being one of the fathers of the Continental Army in teaching them the essentials of military drill, tactics, and disciplines. He wrote Regulations for the Order and Discipline of the Troops of the United States, the book that served as the standard United States drill manual until the War of 1812. He served as General George Washington's Cheif of Staff in the final years of the war.  

1788 Constitution Ratified