A soldier of the “Continental” army.

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1778.  Came to my house, on the night of the 14th inst., a Continental soldier.—Maryland Journal, March 24.

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1781.  Beef in quarters was found in the slaughter pen on which the hungry continentals fed greedily; but that not being sufficient to allay their keen appetites, they eat without a murmur the garbage which was meant for the buzzards.—William Gordon, ‘Hist. of the Am. Revolution,’ iv. 58 (Lond., 1788).

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1845.  The “Old Continentals,” of which our grandfathers tell, would have been most arrant cowards in comparison with a regiment of our modern heroes.—Yale Lit. Mag., xi. 40 (Nov.).

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1847.  L. Sabine. (N.E.D.)

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1849.  

        In their ragged regimentals
Stood the old Continentals,
        Yielding not.
G. H. McMaster, ‘Carmen Bellicosum,’ Knick. Mag., xxxiii. 101 (Feb.).    

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