Yet these Pennsylvanians also proved that soldiers with too much free time would cause trouble. Instead, the riflemen busied themselves with the hounding of British troops with long range fire.
Being regarded as elite troops, General Washington did not assign the riflemen to regular camp duties similar to the rest of the troops besieging Boston. William Thompson of Carlisle, Pennsylvania, was appointed colonel of the Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion, which following the British tradition of naming a regiment after its commander, became known as “Thompson’s Rifle Battalion.” The battalion marched north to join the emerging Continental army and arrived at Cambridge, Massachusetts, on August 7, 1775. By a resolution of June 22, Pennsylvania was directed to raise an additional three companies, which were to be formed into a battalion. On June 14, 1775, the Continental Congress passed a resolution calling for the raising of six companies of riflemen from Pennsylvania, two from Maryland and two from Virginia. In addition to being the first regiment raised by Pennsylvania, and the first counted against the state’s quota of twelve regiments to be raised for Continental service, the regiment was the first established by an act of Congress. The First Continental Regiment was not accidentally named.
