Commanded by Colonel (later Brigadier General) Moses Hazen for its entire existence, the regiment was originally made up of volunteers and refugees from Quebec who supported the rebel cause during the disastrous invasion of Canada.

[1] Moses Hazen had served as a lieutenant in the 44th Regiment during the French and Indian War and was receiving a half-pay pension for his British service.

[4] It was assigned to the Army's Canadian Department, and was organized by Hazen on February 10, 1776, at Montreal, to be recruited from the Richelieu and St. Lawrence Valleys.

Greatly depleted by its five years of service, Livingston's regiment was disbanded in the reorganization of the Continental Army on January 1, 1781.

[12] In early August the regiment, brigaded as part of General John Sullivan's Division, was encamped at Hanover, New Jersey.

[14] 25 August 1777 This Moment, while writing, Colo. Hazen showed Me a Letter, giving an account of an attempt by Gen. Sullivane on the Enemy on Staten Island last Thursday.

They sent a report of this movement to George Washington, who initially did not believe this intelligence despite its corroboration by Lieutenant Colonel James Ross.

On the evening of October 3 General Washington ordered his troops, encamped at Skippack Creek on the north side of the Schuylkill River, to march 17 miles (27 km) as part of a planned surprise attack on the British at daybreak.

[26] On January 24, 1778, Washington ordered Hazen's regiment to Albany, New York, transferring it from the 2nd Maryland Brigade to the Northern Department.

[5][9][29] The regiment was relieved July 22 from the Highlands Department and assigned to the New Hampshire Brigade, an element of the Main Army.

This route went from Newbury in the New Hampshire Grants (present-day Vermont), where Hazen owned property, to Saint Francis, Quebec.

After a lottery was held in October, Hazen's regiment were issued the uniform of brown coats faced with red.

A weekly return for the brigade dated December 26, 1778, states that 162 men in the regiment were "unfit for duty for want of shoes.

[33] Hazen's objective was to extend a road in a northwest direction following the general path of an old Cohâssiac Indian trail from Lower Coös to St. Johns, Quebec.

[37] In October 1779 the regiment was ordered to Peekskill, New York,[37] and on November 25 it was assigned to Hand's Brigade in the Main Army.

[12][38] On January 14, 1780, the regiment participated in a "commando" raid of Staten Island planned in secrecy by General Washington and led by Lord Stirling.

Preparations for the raid called for British attention to be focused on Irvine's detachment in the vicinity of Elizabethtown, while the 2nd Canadian marched to Connecticut Farms (present-day Union).

[39] Lord Stirling had intelligence that the enemy had a force of about 1,000 men, with the main body in huts near the Watering Place Redoubts.

These were three British circular redoubts, double-abatised, with about 200 men each, located at present-day Fort Hill Circle in St. George, just north of Tompkinsville.

[40] Around midnight on January 14, loaded with cannon and 1,500–3,000 troops, American forces crossed over the frozen ice of the Kill Van Kull waterway from Elizabethtown Point on 500 sleds.

American troops suffered minor frostbite injuries but brought back 17 prisoners, as well as some horses and camp supplies.

[43] Regimental orderly books show that it was at Morristown, Bryant's Tavern, Ramapo and Preakness between April 23 and July 26.

[42] Hazen and part of the regiment participated in a raid on January 22 led by Lieutenant Colonel William Hull.

Hull raided a position held by a Loyalist corps under Lieutenant Colonel Oliver De Lancey Sr. that was at Morrisania (in the present-day Bronx).

[47] On June 1, the regiment was sent from the West Point–Fishkill area to Albany and the Mohawk River valley to guard against an expected British attack.

[5][9] The regiment arrived at Albany on June 5, and spent most of the month patrolling in the Mohawk River valley against an attack that never came.

The brigades of light infantry under Generals Peter Muhlenberg and Hazen "advanced with perfect discipline and wonderful steadiness.

On May 3, 1782, upon orders by Washington, he was selected to hang in retaliation for the brutal summary execution of American Captain Joshua Huddy by the British.

The court martial, held in December, resulted in a mistrial, with Hazen alleging bias on the part of the presiding judge advocate.

[5][9] Because the Canadians in the regiment were unable to return to their homes, many of them settled in camps near Albany and Fishkill, where they subsisted on handouts from Congress.