Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia Rifle Companies: Birth of the American Army

On June 14^th 1775, the Continental Congress authorized the raising of ten companies of riflemen from Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia to support the siege of Boston:

Resolved, That six companies of expert rifflemen, be immediately raised in Pensylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia; that each company consist of a captain, three lieutenants, four serjeants, four corporals, a drummer or trumpeter, and sixty-eight privates.

That each company, as soon as compleated, shall march and join the army near Boston, to be there employed as light infantry, under the command of the chief Officer in that army.

This was the beginning of the American Continental Army and what would eventually become the United States Army.

A week later on June 22^nd, Congress increased the number of Pennsylvania companies from six to eight and recommended they be formed into a battalion (also called a regiment). Only one of the eight Pennsylvania companies came from the western part of the state, that commanded by Captain Robert Cluggage from Bedford County. However, a number of frontier riflemen from Western Pennsylvania and the surrounding region were also recruited by the Maryland and Virginia companies. These men and those from Bedford would be among the first patriots from Western Pennsylvania to serve in the new American army.

One of those companies recruiting in Western Pennsylvania was commanded by Captain Michael Cresap, who operated a trading post at Redstone (present day Brownsville PA). Cresap received word of his appointment as captain of the first company of Maryland rifles after returning to his home at Old Town, Maryland from a surveying expedition in the Ohio country. He began recruiting in the area around Old Town but also sent lieutenants westward to the Monongahela valley, including Redstone and the Ten-mile settlement in what is now Washington and Greene counties.  The second Maryland Company was commanded by Capt. Thomas Price. Both companies primarily were raised in the large western county of Frederick and mustered at Frederick Town (present day Frederick, MD).

 

Maryland and Virginia counties in which rifle companies were organized in 1775   

The two Virginia companies were recruited from the counties of Berkeley and Frederick, with Capt. Hugh Stephenson commanding the riflemen from Berkeley and Capt. Daniel Morgan leading those from Frederick. Morgan’s company assembled at the town of Winchester while Stephenson’s company mustered at Mecklenburg (now Shepherdstown, WV). Like Cresap, Morgan was familiar with the Ohio country and is said to have also recruited men from that region for his company. Stephenson, whose half-brother William Crawford had settled in 1767 along the Youghiogheny River near what is now Connellsville, PA, may also have recruited in that area.

 

The Maryland and Virginia rifle companies were raised by mid-July and promptly departed for Boston. More to come in a future post about their march to Massachusetts! 

 

 Morgan's Rifle Company as they appeared at the siege of Boston 1775

© Don Troiani 

 For more information on the rifle companies of 1775, please see:

Unit History of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment

Thompson’s Rifle Battalion