Declaration of Voluntary Enlistment in the Continental Army by Daniel Coon of Connecticut, June 25, 1776

The Continental Congress approved the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, but American colonists knew that true independence would only be achieved through war. Days earlier, Daniel Coon had voluntarily enlisted himself in a Connecticut battalion of the Continental Army - a ragtag group of patriots with few weapons, no military training, and more than seven years of battle ahead.