The men volunteered to serve in a body on USS Hornet when that vessel engaged HMS Roebuck in Delaware Bay.

[2] The British warship, under the command of Captain Andrew Snape Hamond[4] had been patrolling the bay since 1775, interfering with ship traffic and gathering information from American Loyalists.

[8] On New Year's Day 1777, an American force skirmished with the British vanguard of Lieutenant General Lord Charles Cornwallis at Shipetaukin Creek, south of Princeton, New Jersey.

After their French commander, General Matthias Alexis Roche de Fermoy abandoned his troops and fled, Hand took over and conducted an able defense of Little and Big Shabbakunk Creeks[10] before falling back to Stockton Hollow.

[11] That evening, the British and Hessians attempted to storm the bridge and the lower ford but were stopped by concentrated musketry and cannon fire.

Knox was given the go-ahead to begin recruiting, and on 27 December 1776 the Continental Congress authorized the raising of three artillery regiments at Washington's request.

[16] On 17 January Knox went on leave in New England and appointed Proctor as temporary leader of the main army's artillery.

Knox's tactical theory discouraged artillery duels and urged his gunners to direct their fire on infantry targets.

In the Battle of Bound Brook, Cornwallis achieved surprise but his center attacked before his two wings were in position to cut off the Americans.

Washington reported to Congress that Lieutenants William Ferguson and Charles Turnbull, 20 men, and two cannons from Proctor's Artillery Regiment were captured.

In the armies' maneuverings at the start of the Philadelphia campaign, Washington ordered Proctor's Regiment to Trenton where it joined Brigadier General Francis Nash's North Carolina Brigade about 24 July 1777.

On 22 August, Nash and Proctor were directed to move south to oppose Lieutenant General Sir William Howe's landing in Chesapeake Bay.

To cover the ford, the Americans built a lunette from logs and earth and armed it with four pieces from Proctor's Regiment.

[20] When Wilhelm von Knyphausen's division attacked at 5:30 PM, the guns inflicted considerable losses on their advancing enemies.

As the British attack rolled forward, Bombardier Ned Hector, an African-American in Captain Hercules Courtenay's 3rd Company of Proctor's Regiment was ordered to abandon his ammunition wagon and retreat.

To replace these losses, Washington asked Congress to transfer Colonel Charles Harrison's Continental Artillery Regiment from Virginia to the main army.

In the combat, Brigadier General Knox commanded a brigade of four artillery regiments plus an independent company that counted 97 officers, 321 non-coms, 10 staff, and 409 rank and file.

[27] Meanwhile, the Wyoming and Cherry Valley massacres in upstate New York and northern Pennsylvania compelled Washington to order a major operation against the Iroquois.

[29] After Newtown there was little fighting while Sullivan's troops destroyed many villages and crops, causing the shocked survivors to flee to the British in Quebec.

[30] On 21 August 1780, Brigadier General Anthony Wayne's 1st and 2nd Pennsylvania Brigades and four guns were repulsed in an attack on a blockhouse at the Battle of Bull's Ferry.

[31] British Major John André penned a satirical ballad titled the Cow Chace which named Proctor as the American artillery commander.

While Proctor's guns tried unsuccessfully to knock apart the blockhouse, Light Horse Harry Lee's dragoons rounded up a large number of nearby cattle for the use of the American army.

[33] In the matter of uniforms and supplies, Proctor was in constant conflict with the civil authorities of Pennsylvania, especially President Joseph Reed.

[3] On 26 May, the 4th Artillery with six guns and 90 troops joined Wayne's 1,000 infantry of the Pennsylvania Line on its march south to Virginia.

Greene gave Carrington leave to assume his new command in July 1781, but it is not clear if he ever exercised authority over the 4th Regiment.

Captains Patrick Duffy, William Ferguson, and James Smith led three small companies of the 4th Continental Artillery Regiment, a total of 60 men.