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. The American rifle units complemented the predominant, musket-equipped, line infantry forces of the war with their long-range marksmanship capability and were typically deployed with the line infantry as forward skirmishers and flanking elements. Scouting, escort, and outpost duties were also routine. The rifle 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 Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment 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.
Because most of the newly formed regiment surrendered to British and German forces at the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16, 1776, the service history of the unit's surviving element is complex. Although modern and contemporaneous accounts of the battle convey the impression that it marked the end of the regiment as a combat entity, a significant portion of the unit continued to serve actively in the Continental Army throughout most of the remainder of the war. Elements of the regiment served with George Washington's Main Army and participated in the army's major engagements of late 1776 through 1778. Select members of the regiment were also attached to Col. Daniel Morgan's elite Provisional Rifle Corps at its inception in mid-1777. The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was reorganized in January 1779 and 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. The unit was disbanded with all other Additional and Extra Continental regiments during the reorganization of the Continental Army in January 1781. It was the longest serving Continental Army rifle unit.
Organization
During the American Revolutionary War, the Continental Congress directed the organization of the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment in resolves dated June 17 and 27, 1776.Ford, v. 5, pp. 452, 486. The unit comprised three of the four independent Continental rifle companies that had formed in Maryland and Virginia by decree of Congress in mid-1775,Ford, v. 2, pp. 89–90. and six new companies—two from Maryland and four from Virginia. The three 1775 companies, among the first of the colonial units to join the newly constituted Continental Army, were raised and initially commanded by Capts. Michael Cresap, Thomas Price, and Hugh Stephenson.Balch, pp. 4–5.Wright, p. 319. The nine-company force became a regiment on the same tables of organization as the 1st Continental Regiment, which was originally the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment.Ford, v. 5, p. 452. Unlike this Pennsylvania unit, however, the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was an Extra Continental regiment because of its two-state composition.Wright, pp. 98–99, 319. It was not part of a state line organization but was instead directly accountable to national authority (Congress and the Continental Army). The Maryland and Virginia 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 companyHeitman, p. 459. and Otho Holland Williams of Price's company were designated the lieutenant colonel and major, respectively.Ford, v. 5, p. 486. 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 the year.Hentz, pp. 130–133. Recruiting occurred in Frederick and Harford Counties, Maryland, and Berkeley, Frederick, Loudoun, Fauquier, Prince William, and Culpeper Counties, Virginia.Hentz, pp. 130–132. The enlisted men of the regiment served for three years or the duration of the war.Ford, v. 5, pp. 762–763.
Battle of Fort Washington and surviving elements
By early November 1776, the majority of the regiment's officers and enlisted men had joined Washington's Main Army while it was engaged in the battle for New York City during the New York and New Jersey campaign.Linn and Egle, series 2, v. 10, p. 108. They were initially stationed at Fort Washington on Manhattan Island and nearby Fort Lee on the opposite side of the Hudson River.Showman et al., v. 1, pp. 328–329. On November 16, most of the regiment was captured or killed during the Battle of Fort Washington.Rawlings to Washington (August 1778). The riflemen were defending the northern end of the American position from a much larger force of several thousand Hessian troops.The Historical Society of Pennsylvania (1901), pp. 259–262.Fischer, pp. 111–113. After heavy fighting that lasted most of the day and during which the Hessians suffered many casualties, the riflemen were eventually driven from the outer works into the fort where they and the rest of the outnumbered American garrison surrendered to the combined British and German attack force.Dandridge, pp. 11–19. Lieutenant Colonel Rawlings was commanding the regiment during the battle because Colonel Stephenson had died of illness in August or SeptemberWashington to Congress (September 28, 1776). and had not been replaced.With Stephenson's death, Washington recommended to Congress in late September 1776 that the colonel's position be held vacant to allow Capt. Daniel Morgan to replace Stephenson once he was released from British captivity (Washington to Congress, September 28, 1776). Morgan had been taken prisoner in December 1775 at the Battle of Quebec City during the Canadian campaign (Higginbotham, pp. 27–54). Like Stephenson, he was one of the original captains of the four independent Continental rifle companies that formed in neighboring frontier counties of Maryland and Virginia in mid-1775 (Graham, pp. 53–54; Hentz, pp. 129, 132); three of these companies composed the core element from which the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was formed and its field officers were drawn. Washington believed Morgan to be Stephenson's appropriate successor because he was senior in rank to the regiment's two remaining field officers (Rawlings, Williams) when they entered the service. The Virginia state government, however, endorsed Morgan as the colonel of the newly formed 11th Virginia Regiment when, by Congressional mandate, the state was required to raise several new regiments in late 1776 (Wright, p. 108). Anticipating Morgan's impending exchange, Congress issued his commission as colonel of the new Virginia line infantry unit on November 12, 1776 (Graham, p. 118). Morgan took command of the regiment upon his exchange in January 1777 (Higginbotham, p. 56). The position of colonel in the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was never refilled. About 140 of the regiment's officers and enlisted menSmith's Co. muster roll (May 16, 1777).Long's Co. muster roll (May 16, 1777).—one-third of the unit's total complement of about 420 menForce, pp. 663–664.—were not present at the battle, however, because they were still completing organization and recruiting. A few enlisted men of the regiment who escaped from their captors within the short chaotic period following the battle augmented this remaining active force,Rider and Dych war-pension testimonies. which continued to serve with the Main Army. On December 1, the first day of the army's next regular reporting period following the fall of Fort Washington, Washington provisionally grouped these remnants of the diminished regiment into two composite rifle companies commanded by the unit's highest ranking officers still free—Capts. Alexander Lawson Smith and Gabriel Long.Smith's Co. pay roll (May 1, 1777). Smith's company comprised all the remaining Marylanders in the regiment, whereas the Virginians of the unit were placed under Long's command.