Colony-specific regiments and troop turnover weakened the American force’s effectiveness

Evidence

During the three months from April through June, as Washington hastily prepared his sizable army for the defense of New York City and Howe methodically assembled a much larger one to capture it, an ominous interlude of relative peace within the rising tide of war enveloped the colonies. … Battalions flooded into the city from as far away as Maryland, but others flowed out to sustain the patriots’ faltering campaign in Canada, which finally collapsed in mid-June, and to counter British threats to Virginia and the Carolinas, leaving the total number of troops in New York about the same. … The churning of troops coupled with their continued division into colony-specific regiments reduced the strength of the whole to less than the sum of its parts. — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 155

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Colonial policy dismantling native commands required staffing that colonies lacked — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 1140; Colonial troops’ defections doomed French offensives against rebel camps — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 980; Falling morale and short-term militia enlistments eroded Washington’s New York army in September 1776 — Edward J. Larson, Declaring Independence, 253

Broader Connections

• Colonial policy dismantling native commands required staffing that colonies lacked #expands (0.75) — Alice L. Conklin, A Mission to Civilize_ The Republican…, 1140
• Colonial troops’ defections doomed French offensives against rebel camps #exemplifies (0.75) — Dubois, Laurent, Avengers of the New World_ The Story of…, 980