Answer:
Soldiers in the Continental Army were volunteers; they agreed to serve in the army and standard enlistment periods lasted from one to three years. Early in the war the enlistment periods were short, as the Continental Congress feared the possibility of the Continental Army evolving into a permanent army. The army never numbered more than 17,000 men. Turnover proved a constant problem, particularly in the winter of 1776–77, and longer enlistments were approved.
The officers of both the Continental Army and the state militias were typically yeoman farmers with a sense of honor and status and an ideological commitment to oppose British tyranny.The enlisted men were very different. They came from the working class or minorities groups (Irish, German, African American). They were motivated to volunteer by specific contracts that promised bounty money; regular pay at good wages; food, clothing and medical care; companionship; and the promise of land ownership after the war. They were unruly and would mutiny if the contractual terms were not met. By 1780-81 threats of mutiny and actual mutinies were becoming serious. Upwards of a fourth of Washington's army was Irish. Many had recently arrived and needed jobs. A lot of Irish, mainly Roman Catholics, were hostile to British rule in Ireland.