Two months after the War of the Revolution officially ended with the signing of a peace treaty on September 3, 1783, General Washington directed the Army to turn in its arms and disband.[3] Since the Continental Congress had made no provision for a permanent establishment, Washington retained in service one infantry regiment and a battalion of artillery to guard military stores and take over posts to be evacuated by the British.[4] Early in June 1784 Congress ordered these units disbanded except for detachments to guard stores at Fort Pitt and West Point; then, in order to secure the frontier against Indian unrest, it immediately authorized a regiment to be raised from the militia of four of the States to comprise eight companies of infantry and two of artillery.[5] This unit, called the First American Regiment, gradually turned into a regular organization. [Footnote 3: _Writings of George Washington_, vol. 27, p. 222.] [Footnote 4: Ibid., pp. 256-258; also letter dated January 3, 1784, from Henry Knox, Commander in Chief of the Army, to President of the Continental Congress (in Knox papers).] [Footnote 5: Journals of the Continental Congress, vol. 27, p. 524; also, UPTON, p. 69.] The failure of an expedition commanded by Col. Josiah Harmar of the First American Regiment against the Indians in 1790 awakened the Congress somewhat to the threat in the Northwest and resulted in the organization of another infantry regiment, which was designated the 2d Infantry Regiment; the First American Regiment was redesignated the "1st".[6] Trouble with the Indians continued, and after another severe reverse Congress authorized the raising of three additional infantry regiments and, at the same time, empowered the President to organize the Army as he might see fit.[7] [Footnote 6: Act of March 3, 1791 (_Military Laws_, pp. 90-91).] [Footnote 7: Act of March 5, 1792 (_Military Laws_, pp. 92-94).]