Minutemen for Months: The Making of an American Revolutionary Army Before Washington, April 20-July 2, 1775.

During the brief period that General Artemas Ward was in command, he and his fellow leaders made a drastic impact on the immediate course of events of the Revolution by shifting the attitudes, motivations, and mindsets of the New Englanders in military service. Men, who on April 20, 1776, rushed to defend their hometowns, had by July 2, when George Washington took command of the troops, become part of an American army that was engaged in a war with the British in defense of the life, liberty, and properties not just of their townsmen, but of all Americans.