They have muskets, homemade flags, and different leaders. Hundreds of miles south, in Philadelphia, the Second Continental Congress is talking about creating a brand-new army, one force for all the colonies, and picking one man to command it: George Washington of Virginia. Wait. If people have already fought, why isn’t that enough? Why would separate local militias struggle against Britain’s professional army? And why would a commander from the South matter for a fight that started in New England? That’s the puzzle of this lesson: why the colonies needed one Continental Army instead of many little armies at home.