Virginia Line - Virginia Line, 1777

Virginia Line, 1777

On September 16, 1776, the Continental Congress resolved to raise an army of eighty-eight infantry regiments which were to serve for the duration of the war. Virginia was called upon to contribute fifteen of these regiments. The 1st through 9th Virginia Regiments were reconstituted in the Continental Army as regiments raised to serve for the duration of the war. The cadres for these regiments were drawn from the regiments which Virginia had sent to the field in 1775 and 1776. The remaining six regiments (the 10th through 15th Virginia Regiments) were entirely new.

• The 1st Virginia Regiment
• The 2nd Virginia Regiment
• The 3rd Virginia Regiment
• The 4th Virginia Regiment
• The 5th Virginia Regiment
• The 6th Virginia Regiment
• The 7th Virginia Regiment
• The 8th Virginia Regiment
• The 9th Virginia Regiment
• The 10th Virginia Regiment
• The 11th Virginia Regiment
• The 12th Virginia Regiment
• The 13th Virginia Regiment
• The 14th Virginia Regiment
• The 15th Virginia Regiment

Three Additional Continental regiments were raised and allotted to Virginia in 1777. There were 16 Additional regiments planned of which only 14 were actually raised. The responsibility for raising these units did not rest with the states, but with the Continental Congress which gave George Washington almost complete control over them. The colonels were Nathaniel Gist, William Grayson, and Charles Mynn Thruston. In 1779 the three units were consolidated into Gist's regiment.

• Gist's Additional Continental Regiment
• Grayson's Additional Continental Regiment
• Thruston's Additional Continental Regiment