Revolutionary War Unit Histories

United States

U.S. Military

Revolutionary War

Unit Histories

Knowing the history of your ancestor’s military unit can help you find a place of residence or other family members at the time of enlistment or help you find a death place. The following sources are helpful in identifying Revolutionary War regiments:

Continental Army

• Berg, Fred Anderson. Encyclopedia of Continental Army Units, Battalions, Regiments, and Independent Corps. Harrisburg, Pennsylvania: Stackpole Books, 1972. (FS Library book 973 M2be.) Provides a brief organizational sketch of each unit in the Continental Army and lists the commanding officers.
• Wright, Robert K. The Continental Army. Washington, D.C.: Center of Military History, United States Army, 1983. (FS Library book 973 M2wr.) Includes extensive bibliographies, maps, and brief histories of every permanent unit in the Continental Army.
• Heitman, Francis B. Historical register of officers of the Continental Army : during the War of the Revolution, April 1775 to December 1783. Washington, D.C. : F.B. Heitman, 1893 FamilySearch Digital Library

Related Sources

• Joseph Lee Boyle. Fire cake and water : the Connecticut infantry at the Valley Forge encampment. Baltimore, Maryland : Clearfield Company, c1999
• A brief history of the North Carolina Troops of the Continental establishment, in the War of the Revolution : with a register of officers of the same Philadelphia, Pa. : [s.n., 1896]
• John B.B. Trussell, Jr. The Pennsylvania line; regimental organization and operations, 1776-1783.Harrisburg, Pennsylvania : Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission, 1977. Digital Book
• John Blair Linn, William H. Egle, ed.,Pennsylvania in the War of the Revolution, battalions and line, 1775-1783 2 volumes, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania : C.M. Busch, 1896
• Anthony Walker. So few the brave : Rhode Island continentals, 1775-1783.Newport, Rhode Island : Seafield Press, 1981. FS Library 974.5 M2w
• E. M. Sanchez-Saavedra, comp. A guide to Virginia military organizations in the American Revolution, 1774-1787.Richmond, Virginia : Virginia State Library, 1978975.5 M2s

Regimental Histories

• Personal recollections of Captain Enoch Anderson, an officer of the Delaware regiments in the revolutionary warWilmington, Delaware : Historical Society of Delaware, 1896.
• Nathan Goold. Col. James Scamman's 30th Regiment of foot, 1775 Massachusetts
• Nathan Goold.History of Colonel Edmund Phinney's Eighteenth Continental Regiment : twelve months' service in 1776 : with complete muster-rolls of the companies. Massachusetts
• Nathan Goold, History of Col. James Scamman's 30th Regiment of foot, eight months' service men of 1775 from York County : with a full account of their movements during the Battle of Bunker Hill and complete muster rolls of the companies Portland, Maine : Thurston Print, 1899
• Henry J. Retzer,The German Regiment of Maryland and Pennsylvania in the Continental Army 1776-1781 Rev ed. Westminster, Maryland : Family Line Publications, 1996 FS Library 973 M2rh 1996
• Frederic Kidder. History of the First New Hampshire regiment in the war of the revolution. Albany : J. Munsell, 1868. Digital Book
• T. W. Egly, Jr, History of the First New York Regiment, 1775-1783Hampton, New Hampshire : Peter E. Randall, c1981
• M. Lee Minnis. The First Virginia Regiment of Foot, 1775-1783.Lovettsville, Virginia : Willow Bend Books, c1998

Orderly Books

• George Washington's orderly books, 1775-1780
• Connecticut State Library, Revolutionary War orderly books of regiments and companies of the Continental Army
• Orderly book and journals kept by Connecticut men while taking part in the American Revolution, 1775-1778.Hartford, Connecticut : Connecticut Historical Society, 1899 FS Library Digital Book
• New York Historical Society, Early American orderly books, 1748-1817
• New York Historical Society, Reel guide and subject index to the microfilm collection of Early American orderly books, 1748-1817 Woodbridge, Connecticut : Research Publications, c1977 FS Library 973 M2rg
• Doyen Salsig ; maps by Burke Hyatt, edited and annotated by, Parole: Quebec; countersign: Ticonderoga : Second New Jersey Regimental orderly book, 1776Rutherford, New Jersey : Fairleigh Dickinson University Press, c1980 FS Library 974.9 M2u
• Mathew Drury, Orderly book (1780) of the First Brigade of Artillery commanded by Lieut. Colonel Edward Carrington under General Knox, from January 3 to April 7, 1780, at or near Morristown, New Jersey.
• Almon W. Lauber, prepared for publication, Orderly books of the fourth New York regiment, 1778-1780, the second New York regiment, 1780-1783 by Samuel Tallmadge and others, with diaries of Samuel Tallmadge, 1780-1782 and John Barr, 1779-1782 Albany, New York : University of the State of New York, 1932 FS Library Digital Book
• Lee A. Wallace, ed, The Orderly book of Captain Benjamin Taliaferro : 2d Virginia Detachment, Charleston, South Carolina, 1780 Richmond, Virginia : Virginia State Library, c1980 FS Library 975.5 M2o
• Orderly book of the company of Captain George Stubblefield, Fifth Virginia Regiment: from March 3, 1776 to July 10, 1776, inclusive Richmond : s. n., 1887. FS Library