Needham History: The Norfolk rifle rangers
Needham History: The Norfolk Rifle Rangers Gloria Greis Needham History Center & Museum The United States Army was founded on 14 June 1775, when the Second Continental Congress created a unified force to fight the British. George Washington was appointed its first commander. Washington rode to Cambridge to take control of the Army, arriving on July 3, 1775. Washington assumed his command on the Cambridge Common – it is said, under the large elm tree that once grew in the middle of the intersection of Garden and Mason Streets. The elm tree died in 1923 (by then it was in the way of t...