The Extra Continental regiments and Additional Continental regiments of the American Revolutionary War

American Revolutionary War

The American Revolutionary War , the American War of Independence, or simply the Revolutionary War, began as a war between the Kingdom of Great Britain and thirteen British colonies in North America, and ended in a global war between several European great powers.The war was the result of the...

 (1775–1783) differ from each other and from all other Continental Army

Continental Army

The Continental Army was formed after the outbreak of the American Revolutionary War by the colonies that became the United States of America. Established by a resolution of the Continental Congress on June 14, 1775, it was created to coordinate the military efforts of the Thirteen Colonies in...

 infantry regiments by the manner in which they formed. The six Extra Continental regiments, which were authorized by Congress and organized in late 1775 to mid-1776, are distinct by having formed without any administrative connection to an individual state. The 16 Additional Continental regiments were approved by Congress as a separate group on December 27, 1776, specifically in response to a request from Gen. George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 for additional troops, and Congress expressly delegated their formation directly to Washington. All Additional Continental regiments were organized in the spring and summer of 1777. In contrast to both the Extra and Additional regiments, all other infantry regiments of the army were organized and supported under the direct authority of individual state governments (the "line regiments").

Extra Continental regiments

The six Extra Continental regiments, which are commonly confused with the Additional regiments, are:

• Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment
  Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment
  The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment, most commonly known as Rawlings' Regiment in period documents, was organized in June 1776 as a specialized light infantry unit of riflemen in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...
  
  
• Warner's Regiment
• 1st Canadian Regiment
  1st Canadian Regiment
  The 1st Canadian Regiment, was raised by James Livingston to support Colonial efforts in the American Revolutionary War during the invasion of Quebec...
  
  
• 2nd Canadian Regiment
  2nd Canadian Regiment
  The 2nd Canadian Regiment, also known as Congress' Own or Hazen's Regiment, was authorized on January 20, 1776, and raised in the province of Quebec for service with the Continental Army under the command of Colonel Moses Hazen. All or part of the regiment saw action at the Staten Island,...
  
  
• German Battalion
• DuBois' Regiment

Additional Continental regiments

The 16 Additional Continental regiments formed later and under distinctly different circumstances than those of the Extra Continental regiments. The 1-year enlistments in most Continental Army regiments that formed in the earliest part of the American Revolutionary War expired on December 31, 1776. Therefore, Congress and Washington began preparations for reorganizing the army during that early fall. The reorganization was to apply to troops from every state, and a major factor in the new plan was the decision to recruit for the duration of the war rather than for a single year. Eighty-eight regiments were authorized by a Congressional resolve of September 16, 1776, in which Congress formally outlined the 13 state lines of the Continental Army by specifying the quota of regiments for each state. Congress’ estimates of the population of each state governed its allocation of regiments, ranging from 15 regiments each from Massachusetts and Virginia to single regiments from Delaware and Georgia. In correspondence to Congress during December 1776, however, Washington pressed for even more men. Central to Washington’s position was a recommendation to increase the infantry regiments from the 88 called for in September to a minimum of 110. Congress acted on Washington’s request on December 27, 1776, and ruled "That General Washington shall be, and he is hereby, vested with full, ample, and complete powers to raise…from…all of these United States, 16 battalions of infantry, in addition to those already voted by Congress…" In contrast to the previously approved 88 regiments, the 16 Additional regiments were organized directly by Washington’s authority, rather than by the authority of the state governments, and were placed completely under Washington’s control. The resolution gave Washington the requested 110 regiments, for in addition to the 16 new regiments and the 88 units of the September quotas there were the 6 Extra regiments that had been previously approved by Congress and that were also not explicitly tied to a single state.

The 16 Additional Continental regiments are:

• Cornell's Additional Continental Regiment (never formed)
• Forman's Additional Continental Regiment
• Gist's Additional Continental Regiment
• Grayson's Additional Continental Regiment
• Hartley's Additional Continental Regiment
• Henley's Additional Continental Regiment
  Henley's Additional Continental Regiment
  Henley's Additional Continental Regiment was raised on January 12, 1777 with troops from Massachusetts and New Hampshire at Boston, Massachusetts for service with the Continental Army. The regiment saw action at the Battle of Monmouth and the Battle of Rhode Island...
  
  
• Jackson's Additional Continental Regiment
• Lee's Additional Continental Regiment
  Lee's Additional Continental Regiment
  Lee's Additional Continental Regiment was raised on January 12, 1777 with troops from Massachusetts at Cambridge, Massachusetts for service with the Continental Army. The regiment saw action at the Battle of Monmouth and the Battle of Rhode Island. The Regiment was merged into the 16th...
  
  
• Malcolm's Additional Continental Regiment
  Malcolm's Additional Continental Regiment
  Malcolm's Additional Continental Regiment was one of several "additional" regiments authorized by the Second Continental Congress for the Continental Army...
  
  
• Patton's Additional Continental Regiment
• Scammell's Additional Continental Regiment (never formed)
• Sheppard's Additional Continental Regiment
• Sherburne's Additional Continental Regiment
• Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment
• Thurston's Additional Continental Regiment
• Webb's Additional Continental Regiment

Although Washington wrote to Col. Ezekiel Cornell of Rhode Island and Col. Alexander Scammell

Alexander Scammell

Alexander Scammell 1744 - October 6, 1781) was a Harvard educated attorney and an officer in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War...

 of New Hampshire on January 12, 1777, and offered each command of one of the 16 Additional Continental regiments, both declined, and the units never formed.

External links

• Bibliography of the Extra Regiments to the Continental Army compiled by the United States Army Center of Military History