Board of War
Colonial-era committee responsible for managing the Continental Army
The Board of War, also known as the Board of War and Ordnance, was created by the Second Continental Congress as a special standing committee to oversee the American Continental Army's administration and to make recommendations regarding the army to Congress. On January 24, 1776, Congressional delegate Edward Rutledge, echoing General George Washington's own concerns, suggested that a war office similar to Great Britain's be established. Pressure from Washington and the large volume of military business led Congress to establish the Board of War and Ordnance on June 12, 1776. Five delegates of Congress, initially John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Harrison, James Wilson, and Edward Rutledge, assisted by a permanent secretary, Richard Peters, composed the Board of War. They assumed the prescribed responsibilities for compiling a master roster of all Continental Army officers; monitoring returns of all troops, arms, and equipment; maintaining correspondence files; and securing prisoners of war. The Board of War began functioning on June 21, 1776.
Organization of the Board of War underwent several significant changes after its inception. The original board could not keep pace with the volume of work, and in early April 1777 it recommended its own replacement by a permanent administrative body. On October 17, 1777, Congress approved a plan that called for a Board of War consisting of three permanent members—men who were not members of Congress—plus a clerical staff. Congress also expanded the board's duties.
The public source identifies “Board of War” as colonial-era committee responsible for managing the Continental Army. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Board, Colonial-era and committee.
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The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4931389. The first chronological checks are 1776 and 1777.
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This entry incorporates text from “Board of War” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.