Browsing: Papers of John Adams, Volume 4

1. A flying camp was a special force maintained in the field and designed to move rapidly to wherever needed. On 3 June the congress had authorized such a force for the protection of the middle colonies. It was to consist of 10,000 men drawn from the militia of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Delaware and stationed at Perth Amboy, N. J. But the response of the three provinces was insufficient, and such militia as did arrive at the camp did not stay very long. The Flying Camp did not last beyond 1776 ( OED ; JCC , 4:412–413; Christopher Ward, The War of the Revolution, 2 vols., N.Y., 1952, 1:204).