Order of the Main Continental Army

Main Continental Army structure (August 1777)

operating in the former Middle Department (NY, NJ, PA, DE & MD)

[General’s] PERSONAL STAFF		CONTINENTAL ARMY Commander-in-Chief General George Washington	SUPPORT FUNCTIONS
Aides de Camp			Deputy Adjutant General Col. Timothy Pickering
	Lt.Col. Robert Hanson Harrison		Deputy Quartermaster General Col. O’Beal
	[Col.] Tench Tilghman
	Col. John Fitzgerald		Commissary General of Military Stores Col. Benjamin Flowers
	Col. Alexander Hamilton
	Col. Richard Kidder Meade		Director of Flying Hospital unnamed
	[Lt.Col.] John Laurens
	[Lt.Col.] Peter Presley Thornton		Deputy Postmaster position listed in General Orders
MG Marquis de Lafayette
Life Guard Capt. Caleb Gibbs			Engineers Department [mostly French] Col. Duportail
“Cavalry of Life Guard” detached from 3^rd Light Dragoons Lt. George Lewis		* Officers of the Day from below (MG, BG, 2 field officers, Brigade Major)

1^st DIVISION MG Nathanael Greene	2^nd DIVISION MG Adam Stephen	4^th DIVISION [MG Benjamin Lincoln] BG Anthony Wayne	5^th DIVISION Lord Stirling (MG Wm Alexander) Aide de camp Capt.Jas. Monroe		in northern Jersey 3^rd DIVISION MG John Sullivan
1^st VA BRIGADE BG Peter Muhlenberg VA 1, 5, 9 & 13 Regts	3^rd VA BRIGADE BG William Woodford VA 3, 7, 11 & 15 Regts	1^st PA BRIGADE Col.Thomas Hartley PA 1, 2, 7, 10 & Hartley’s Regts	3^rd PA BRIGADE BG Thomas Conway PA 3, 6, 9 & 12 Regts Spencer’s NJ Regt		1^st MD BRIGADE MD a. 3. 5 & 6 Regts & DE Regt
2^nd VA BRIGADE BG George Weedon VA 2, 6, 10 & 14 Regts PA State Regt	4^th VA BRIGADE BG Charles Scott VA 4, 8, 12, Grayson & Patton Regts	2^nd PA BRIGADE Col.Richard Humpton PA 4, 5, 8 & 11 Regts	NJ BRIGADE BG William Maxwell NJ 1, 2, 3 & 4 Regts		2^nd MD BRIGADE BG Preudhomme de Borre MD 2, 4 & 7 Regts German Battalion Hazen’s Canadian Regt
		2^nd PA BRIGADE Col.Richard Humpton PA 4, 5, 8 & 11 Regts	CORPS OF ARTILLERY BG Henry Knox
			CORPS OF ARTILLERY BG Henry Knox
				Co. of Artillery Artificers Capt. Rowe
				Co. of Artillery Artificers Capt. Rowe	near Trenton, NJ
			CONT. LIGHT DRAGOON REGTS		NC BRIGADE (5^th DIV) Col. Francis Nash
				1^stCol.Theodorick Bland	NC BRIGADE (5^th DIV) Col. Francis Nash
MG	Major General			2^ndCol.Sheldon	4th CONT.ARTILLERY REGT Col. Thomas Proctor
BG	Brigadier General			3^rd Col. Baylor	CORPS OF RIFLEMEN Col. Daniel Morgan
				4^th Col.Stephen Moyland	CORPS OF RIFLEMEN Col. Daniel Morgan

Additional information on the organization and operations of this Army may be reached using the drop-down menu for this page. A partial roster of known individuals (primarily officers) at the encampment is available. A significant number of these persons were identified in Washington’s General Orders covering court martials as either presiding over these hearings or the offenders being tried.

_{* * * * *} EXPLORE YOUR PAST _{* * * * *}

Read         John B. B. Trussell, The Pennsylvania Line: Regimental organization & operations, 1775-1783 (2nd ed), Harrisburg, PA: PA Historical & Museum Commission, 1993. This comprehensive book provides brief regimental histories on all the PA regiments which were encamped around the Little Neshaminy Creek in August 1777 including the 4th Continental Dragoon Regiment and Hartley’s ‘Additional’ Continental Regiment. The 4th Continental Artillery Regiment (also known as the PA State Artillery Regiment) was positioned at Trenton, NJ. The Independent PA Artillery Company is presumed to have also been in or moving towards Trenton. Appendices cover recruiting regions for the individual regiments and statistics on unit strength and casualties during the course of the American War for Independence.



               Michael Cecere, They Behaved Like Soldiers: Captain John Chilton & the 3rd Virginia Regiment 1775-1778, Westminster, MD: Heritage Books, 2004. This regimental history describes the unit’s involvement in the Philadelphia Campaign (1777-78) and contains two letters written home by Capt. Chilton while encamped as part of Stephen’s division along the southern bank of Little Neshaminy Creek in August 1777.