Continental soldiers were unlikely to consider themselves as belonging to a ‘continental community’. However, through the course of the Revolutionary War, military men did develop a sense of belonging to a small community of professionals that were united by their shared occupation. A professional occupation can be defined as a vocation that required a particular acquired or applied knowledge, which resulted in a ‘common occupational identity’. Rather than a ‘continental community’, officers and men in the Continental Army increasingly identified themselves as a fraternity of military professionals. As Joseph Plumb Martin explained when relieved of duty in 1783, ‘the soldiers, each in his particular circle of acquaintance, were as strict as a band of brotherhood of Masons and, I believe, as faithful to each other’. The culture of the military community established clear boundaries between officers and men, but they were united by perceptions of ambivalence from Congress, state assemblies, and society at large.

A sense of professional community is evident most clearly among the Continental officer corps. Although not ennobled members of the aristocracy, as was often the case in Europe, Continental officers were usually drawn from the top levels of colonial society. It has been estimated that 84 per cent of New Jersey officers came from the wealthiest third of the population, with none from the lowest third. Moreover, 32 per cent of officers fell into the wealthiest ten per cent of the population.4 Some officers, such as Benedict Arnold or Alexander McDougall, were economically successful in their own right. Others, like Jedidiah Huntington or Henry Knox, had important family connections, while men such as William Alexander (Lord Stirling), who possessed thousands of acres, comprised the landed elite. But more importantly, all Continental officers were required to act as gentlemen, even if they were not born into the social elite. Like their European counterparts, Continental officers were expected to abide by an aristocratic ethos of chivalry, bravery, and honour. Major General Henry Knox of Massachusetts, for example, commented that to become ‘one of the first characters’ of the Army, an officer required ‘certain principles of inflexible honor and sentiment’.