From the farthest settlements in the northeast, in what is now Maine, to the border villages in Georgia was about fifteen hundred miles; but mere distance did not represent the difficulty of the journey.

Between Boston and Baltimore ran a carriage road, not always kept in good repair.

Most of the other stretches had to be traversed on horseback.

The country along the seaboard was generally well supplied with food, but the supply was nowhere near large enough to furnish regular permanent subsistence for an army.

A lack of munitions seriously threatened the Colonists' ability to fight at all, but the discovery of lead in Virginia made good this deficiency until the year 1781, when the lead mine was exhausted.
More important than material concerns, however, was the diversity in origin and customs among the Colonists themselves.