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AWIART-06 - Continental Artillery
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A company was authorized by the New York Provincial Congress, to be raised in July, 1775, by Captain
John Lamb, for Continental service. It was ordered to the Northern Army, and served under General
Montgomery before Quebec, where they did excellent service and suffered severely.
Their uniform for dress, when first organized, was a blue coat faced with buff, which was very unusual.
Most of the artillery companies raised during the war wore blue faced with scarlet, which soon became
the prescribed dress of that arm of the service in the American Army.
One other exception, was that of the second artillery company formed by order of the New York Provincial
Congress, in January, 1776, and a few months later captained by Alexander Hamilton, whose
commission was dated March 14, 1776. This second company, known as the Colony Artillery Company,
was, like Captain Lamb's, uniformed on its in blue, faced with buff, but with blue waistcoats and leather
breeches,
This New York Continental Artillery Company in 1776, was an elite unit of 60 men, led by Alexander
Hamilton, who started his military career as an artillery officer. He was an independent minded
commander who fought with courage and skill and later served as one of Washington’s aides de camp.
This new company would see action at the Battle of White Plains, and the Battle of Trenton. The New
York Provincial Company of Artillery is considered the ancestor of the 1 st Battalion, 5 th Field Artillery
Regiment, making it the oldest active unit in the US Regular Army.
Hamilton went on to become one of Founding Fathers of the United States before being killed by Aaron
Burr in an 1804 duel. But his small artillery company would live on.
Brand: John Jenkins
