Who Commanded the Continental Army Before Washington?

When Americans picture the Revolutionary War, George Washington typically stands front and center. Yet before the future first president took command of the Continental Army in July 1775, another figure was already leading the colonial forces in the Siege of Boston: Massachusetts General Artemas Ward. Although Ward played a critical role in shaping the Revolution’s first fighting force, he has largely faded from public memory. 

Born in Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, in 1727, Ward grew up in a prominent family. After receiving two degrees from Harvard, he became a teacher, landowner and politician before rising through the ranks of the militia. 

“He was known for his religious devotion and sense of tradition, even volunteering to help end swearing at his university,” according to the National Park Service. 

Ward married Sarah Trowbridge in 1750, and the couple had eight children. In 1752, he was appointed a justice of the peace and served as a lieutenant colonel in the French and Indian War, according to the General Artemas Ward House Museum.

In 1762, he began a 30-year tenure as a local judge in the Worcester County Court of Common Pleas. His opposition to British colonial governor Francis Bernard and alliance with patriot-provocateur Samuel Adams made him a leading voice of the Whigs, whose opposition to an absolute monarchy helped lay the groundwork for the Revolution. 

On April 20, 1775—the day after the Revolution launched with the Battles of Lexington and Concord (aka “the shot heard round the world")—Ward rode to Cambridge to take command of the colonial troops besieging Boston. He held the Revolution’s first war council there. 

A month later, the Massachusetts Provincial Congress appointed Ward commander in chief of the Massachusetts troops. A month after that, the Continental Congress promoted him major general of America's army, making him second in command behind Washington. 

“George Washington arrived in July to take command of the newly formed Continental Army, displacing and quickly overshadowing Ward,” writes Rebecca Anne Goetz in the journal Proceedings of the American Antiquarian Society.

Ward oversaw the Battle of Bunker Hill on June 17, 1775. When American forces learned of the British plan to attack Bunker Hill, Ward gave the orders to fortify a position there. He later drew criticism for his slowness in reinforcing the Continental troops in that battle.

Ward had a reputation for not disciplining soldiers and for seeking consensus among fellow higher-ranking officers rather than relying decisively on his own authority. After Americans were forced to retreat, leaving the Charlestown peninsula under British control, Ward’s critics grew louder. 

Still, many Continental Congress delegates favored Ward for the American military’s commander in chief. “However, for the sake of national unity, George Washington—a Southerner—was chosen,” the Massachusetts Historical Society notes, souring Ward's relationship with Washington.

Ward remained in command of New England defenses until 1777, when health concerns led him to resign. 

Ward’s cautious leadership style drew criticism, and his strained relationship with Washington meant he was quickly overshadowed. “His death on October 27, 1800, passed virtually unnoticed,” Goetz writes. 

By the late 19th century, Goetz adds, Boston clergyman Edward Everett Hale lamented: “Today, if you should ask 10 Boston men, ‘Who was Artemas Ward?’ nine would say he was an amusing showman,” referring to a humorist of the time who adopted the stage name "Artemus Ward."

Ward carved out a distinguished postwar career. He served as chief justice of Worcester County, president of the Massachusetts Executive Council, delegate to the Continental Congress, speaker of the Massachusetts House and later as a two-term U.S. congressman. His most memorable career moment came, historians note, on September 5, 1786, when he stood on the Worcester courthouse steps and faced down Shays’ Rebellion insurgents—many of them struggling farmers and veterans he knew well.

Ward retired in 1797 and died in Shrewsbury on October 28, 1800.

Today, his legacy survives at Shrewsbury's General Artemas Ward House Museum and in a bronze statue at Ward Circle in Washington, D.C., inscribed, “Artemas Ward, 1727-1800, Son of Massachusetts, Graduate of Harvard College, Judge and Legislator, Delegate 1780-1781 Continental Congress, Soldier in Three Wars, First Commander of the Patriotic Forces.”