Commander - in - Chief ' s Guard The Commander - in - Chief ' s Guard , commonly known as Washington ' s Life Guard , was a unit of the Continental Army that protected General George Washington during the American Revolutionary War . Formed in 1776 , the Guard was with Washington in all of his battles . It was disbanded in 1783 at the end of the war . Creation and organization . The Second Continental Congress , the " de facto " governing body of the United Colonies ( soon to be the United States ) during the American Revolution , created the Continental Army on June 14 , 1775 , and appointed George Washington as General and Commander - in - Chief the next day . The army was organized in Massachusetts during the siege of Boston . Enlistments in the army expired at the end of 1775 , and in 1776 a newly organized army was created by George Washington and the Congress . The Commander - in - Chief ' s Guard was authorized on 11 March 1776 and organized the next day at Cambridge , Massachusetts . The purpose of the unit was to protect General Washington as well as the money and official papers of the Continental Army . General Washington directed the formation of a " corps of sober , intelligent , and reliable men " . " Despite its impressive unit designation and its important mission , " wrote military historian Mark Boatner , the Guard " appears to have been nothing more than what today would be called a headquarters security detachment . " The unit was initially created by selecting four men from each Continental Army regiment present at the siege of Boston . Washington ' s general order on 11 March outlined the type of men he hoped to recruit : The General being desirous of selecting a particular number of men , as a Guard for himself , and baggage , The Colonel , or commanding Officer , of each of the established Regiments , ( the Artillery and Rifflemen excepted ) will furnish him with four , that the number wanted may be chosen out of them . His Excellency depends upon the Colonels for good Men , such as they can recommend for their sobriety , honesty , and good behaviour ; he wishes them to be from five feet , eight Inches high , to five feet , ten Inches ; handsomely and well made , and as there is nothing in his eyes more desirable , than Cleanliness in a Soldier , he desires that particular attention may be made , in the choice of such men , as are neat , and spruce . They are all to be at Head Quarters to morrow precisely at twelve , at noon , when the Number wanted will be fixed upon . The General neither wants men with uniforms , or arms , nor does he desire any man to be sent to him , that is not perfectly willing , and desirous , of being of this guard . They should be drill ' d men . The strength of the unit was usually 180 men , although this was temporarily increased to 250 during the winter of 1779 – 80 , when the army was encamped at Morristown , New Jersey , in close proximity to the British Army . Because it was an honor to belong to the unit , care was taken to ensure that soldiers from each of the 13 states were represented in the Guard . Major Caleb Gibbs of Rhode Island was the first commander of the Guard , and was given the title of captain commandant . Gibbs was succeeded in 1779 by William Colfax . The flag and uniform of the Commander - in - Chief ' s Guards was described by historian Benson John Lossing : The flag is white silk , on which the device is neatly painted . One of the Guard is seen holding a horse , and is in the act of receiving a flag from the Genius of Liberty , who is personified as a woman leaning upon the Union shield , near which is the American eagle . The motto of the corps , " CONQUER OR DIE , " is upon a ribbon . The uniform of the Guard consisted of a blue coat with white facings , white waistcoat and breeches , black half gaiters , a cocked hat with a blue and white feather . In Godfrey ' s 1904 history of " The Commander - in - Chief ' s Guard " he provided " detailed sketches of its members " , including six drummers , six fifers and a drum - major . In the final days of the war , the unit consisted of only 64 men . It was furloughed 6 June 1783 , at Newburgh , New York , and disbanded on 15 November 1783 . Hickey mutiny . Several members of the Commander - in - Chief ' s Guard were involved in a shadowy conspiracy early in the war . After the conclusion of the Boston campaign in 1776 , General Washington and the Continental Army marched to New York City and prepared for an anticipated attempt by the British to occupy the city . The Royal Governor of New York , William Tryon , had been driven out of the city by American Patriots and was compelled to seek refuge on a ship in New York Harbor . Nevertheless , the city had many residents who favored the British side , known as Loyalists . In the spring of 1776 , Sergeant Thomas Hickey , a member of the Guard , was arrested with another soldier in New York for passing counterfeit money . While incarcerated , Hickey revealed to another prisoner , Isaac Ketcham , that he was part of a wider conspiracy of soldiers who were prepared to defect to the British once the expected invasion came . Hickey claimed that eight members of the Guard were involved in the plot . William Greene , a drummer in the Guard , was one of the conspirators , and David Mathews , the Mayor of New York City , was accused of funding the operation to bribe soldiers to join the British . The suspected men of the Guard were taken into custody by the provost marshal of the Continental Army . The conspiracy became greatly exaggerated in rumor , and was alleged to include plans to kidnap Washington , assassinate him and his officers , and blow up the Continental Army ' s ammunition magazines . Hickey , the only conspirator put on trial , was court - martial ed and found guilty of mutiny and sedition . He was executed in New York on 28 June 1776 before a crowd of 20 , 000 spectators . False Claims of Service in the Life Guards . Decades after the Revolution it was not uncommon for aged veterans to claim to have served in General Washington ' s Life Guard . One of the more famous of the false claims was made by Alexander Milliner of New York . When interviewed in 1864 by the Reverend Elias B . Hillard for his famous book The Last Men of the Revolution , Milliner claimed to be 104 and spun several stories of his ( imagined ) encounters with the general and " Lady Washington " during the last years of the Revolution . Later investigations determined that Milliner was only 94 ( b . 1770 ) when he reminisced for Hillard , and that while he had served for several years as a drummer boy , he did so in a New York regiment and there was no record of a " Milliner " in the Life Guard . < br >