List of Continental Army units (1777–1784)

The Continental Army of 1777 was a result of several critical reforms and political decisions that came about when it was apparent that the British were sending massive forces to put an end to the Revolution.

[1] On September 16, 1776, the Continental Congress passed the "eighty-eight battalion resolve", which called for each state to contribute regiments in proportion to their population.

[1] The decisions implemented in 1777 determined the basic organizational structure of the Continental Army for the duration of the war.

The new regiments were smaller by one-third to cut expenses, and for the first time included a permanent light infantry company.

Because this reorganization was proposed just as the campaign of 1778 was about to begin, it was implemented gradually over the next ten months, and finalized on March 9, 1779.

The few Additional Continental Regiments that had survived to this late date were either allotted to a state line or disbanded.

In this instance, with some exceptions, the term "battalion" was used to designate a unit with less than the regulation nine companies.

[8] Certain permanent infantry units existed in the Continental Army throughout the war which were neither one of the 88 regiments of infantry of the line authorized by the Continental Congress on September 16, 1776, nor one of the 16 additional regiments which the Congress authorized on December 27, 1776 and which Washington raised early in 1777.

Historically, these infantry units have been designated the extra regiments and corps of the Continental Army.

Its only commander was Casimir Pulaski, who was appointed a brigadier general in the Continental Army on September 15, 1777.

The brigade of cavalry as an offensive weapon was dissolved in 1778 and the regiments distributed geographically, where they operated in troop-sized detachments.

None of the light dragoon regiments came close to meeting this mark, averaging 120 to 180 men during their active campaigns, nor were they able to mount more than a majority of those enlisted.

Partisan corps were combined-arms units of mounted and infantry troops, organized as battalion-sized forces but often broken down into smaller detachments, mainly intended to engage in high mobility guerrilla warfare.

It was composed of Continental Army veterans who had become unfit for field duty but who could still usefully serve as guards for magazines, hospitals, and similar installations.

The noncommissioned officers were also supposed to be proficient in mathematics because the corps was intended to serve as a military academy in addition to its other duties.

The military academy seems to have been a dead letter, but otherwise the corps carried out its duties, most notably at West Point, New York.