It was one of several so-called "additional regiments" authorized by the Second Continental Congress that were not associated with any particular state quotas.

[1] The regiment first saw action at the Battle of Setauket in August 1777 under Brigadier General Samuel Holden Parsons.

In December 1777 the regiment was involved in a failed expedition to Long Island (a more elaborate attempt on Setauket than that of the previous August) in which Colonel Webb was captured.

The regiment spent the winter of 1777–78 at West Point, where it assisted in the construction of fortifications (including the Webb redoubt, probably named for the colonel).

That June, the regiment was involved in the Battle of Springfield, in which a British attempt to penetrated from New York City to the Continental Army camp at Morristown was repulsed.