Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment
The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was a light infantry unit of riflemen in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Most of the newly formed regiment surrendered to British and German forces at the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776. The unit was disbanded with all other Additional and Extra Continental regiments during the reorganization of the Revolutionary Army in January 1781. It was the longest serving Continental Army rifle unit of the war.
About Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment in brief
The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was a light infantry unit of riflemen in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Most of the newly formed regiment surrendered to British and German forces at the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776. Elements of the regiment served with George Washington’s Main Army and participated in the army’s major engagements of late 1776 through 1778. The unit was disbanded with all other Additional and Extra Continental regiments during the reorganization of the Revolutionary Army in January 1781. It was the longest serving Continental Army rifle unit of the war. The regiment was formed in June 1776 and consisted of nine companies—four from Maryland and five from Virginia. The two-state composition of the new unit precluded it from being managed through a single state government, and it was therefore directly responsible to national authority as an Extra Continental regiment. In 1779, the regiment was stationed at Fort Pitt, headquarters of the. Continental Army’s Western Department, in present-day western Pennsylvania primarily to help in the defense of frontier settlements from. raids by British-allied Indian tribes. About 140 of the unit’s officers and enlisted men—one-third of its complement of 420 men—were not present at the battle for Fort Washington. The riflemen were captured or killed during the northern end of the American position from a much larger force of several thousand Hessian troops that lasted the day and during the battle of the Fort Washington during the New York and New Jersey campaign.
The riflesmen were eventually driven into the outer works of the fort where they surrendered to the outnumbered American garrison and the rest of the garrison was eventually driven out of the battle by the British and Germans. The units’ battle formation was not nearly as structured as that of the line infantry units, which employed short-range massed firing in ordered linear formations. The Riflemen could therefore respond with more adaptability to changing battle conditions. The enlisted men of the Regiment served for three years or the duration of the War. The Maryland andVirginia Rifle Regiment’s field officers were drawn from the original three 1775 companies based on their seniority. Hugh Stephenson from Virginia became the colonel, and Marylanders Moses Rawlings of Cresap’s company and Otho Holland Williams of Price’s company were designated the lieutenant colonel and major, respectively. All company officers were appointed in the summer of 1776, and subsequent recruiting for the unit in the two states extended to the end of that year. Recruiting occurred in Frederick and Harford County, Maryland, and Berkeley, Frederick, Loudoun, Fauquier, Prince William, and Culpeper Counties, Virginia. The three 1774 companies were among the first of the colonial units to join the newly constituted Continental Army. They were raised and initially commanded by Capts. Michael C Resap, Thomas Price, and Hugh Stephenson. The 1775 company was based in Maryland and was commanded by Lt. Colonel Rawlings, who died of illness in August or September.
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This page is based on the article Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment published in Wikipedia (as of Oct. 31, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
