Colonel Thompson’s Battalion of Riflemen
Among First to Reach Boston,
July 25, 1775
Colonel Thompson’s Battalion of Riflemen, so styled in General Washington’s general orders, was one of the Pennsylvania regiments in the Revolutionary War of which every citizen has pardonable right to be proud.
This command was enlisted in the latter part of June, and in the beginning of July, 1775, in pursuance of a resolution of Congress, dated June 14, for raising six companies of expert riflemen in Pennsylvania, two in Maryland, and two in Virginia, which, as soon as completed, were to join the army near Boston.
By a resolution adopted June 22, the “Colony of Pennsylvania” was directed to raise two more companies, which with the six, were to be formed into a battalion, and be commanded by such officers as the Assembly or Convention should recommend.
This resolution having been communicated to the Assembly of Pennsylvania, it resolved, June 24, “that the members of Congress deputed by this Assembly be a committee to consider of, and recommend proper officers of the said battalion.”
This committee performed the duty thus delegated them and William Thompson, of Carlisle, was commissioned colonel; Edward Hand, of Lancaster, lieutenant colonel; Robert Magaw, of Carlisle, major; and William Magaw, Carlisle, surgeon.
Each company in this battalion consisted of one captain, three lieutenants, four sergeants, four corporals, a drummer or trumpeter, and sixty-eight privates.
On July 11 Congress was informed that two companies had been raised in Lancaster instead of one, and it resolved that both companies be taken into the Continental service. The battalion, therefore, consisted of nine companies, enlisted as follows:
James Chambers and William Hendricks in Cumberland County; Michael Doudel in York County; James Ross and Matthew Smith in Lancaster County; John Lowden in Northumberland County; Robert Cluggage in Bedford County; George Nagel in Berks County; and Abraham Miller in Northampton County.