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The remaining 350 men from the original ten companies of the Virginia Regiment had been allocated to the two regular regiments of the expedition. [3] [4] After the defeat of the expedition, the Virginia Regiment was immediately reformed, with the General Assembly voting in 1755 to increase its size again, to 1,500 men organized in 16 companies.
The regiment originated from the Charles City-Henrico County Regiment of Militia founded in 1652. During the French and Indian War, the Virginia Regiment was organized and was the only colonial regiment incorporated into the British line (1754-1763) and saw action at the Battle of Jumonville Glen, Fort Necessity, and the Braddock and Forbes expeditions.
In 1758 Virginia raised two regiments of a thousand men each for the Forbes Expedition. The enlistment period for the first regiment expired in May 1759, and for the second in December 1758: [177] [178] First Virginia Regiment, Colonel George Washington. Second Virginia Regiment, Colonel William Byrd III.
In early July 1758, British General James Abercromby with a force of over 15,000 attacked General Louis-Joseph de Montcalm and his garrison of 3,500 French and Canadian troops at Fort Carillon, which overlooked Lake Champlain. The British had 44 cannons, the heaviest weighing more than 5,000 pounds.
The rest of the Virginia Regiment joined Washington the following month with news that he had been promoted to the rank of colonel and given command of the full regiment. They were reinforced by an independent company of a hundred South Carolinians led by Captain James Mackay ; his royal commission outranked Washington's and a conflict of ...
Henry Lee, a Virginia militia Captain, was commissioned by Congress in 1776 to form 5th Troop. 5th Troop took over 6th Troop and evolved over the years into Lee's Legion and later into the 2nd Partisan Corps; it was the primary cavalry force in the Southern Campaign and was on active duty until its colors were retired in 1783, again at ...
The 2d Virginia Regiment again served with distinction, as reflected in the Virginia Gazette, October 17, 1777: "The heroism and gallantry of the second Virginia regiment I cannot help particularly mentioning; they would do honour to any country in the world. It is universally believed they behaved the best of any troops in the field."
On December 26, 1776, the vanguard was the 6th Company led by Captain William Washington and Lt. James Monroe. "When the Hessians rolled out a field gun midway on King Street, a half dozen Virginians led by Captain William Washington (a distant cousin of the commander) and Lieutenant James Monroe rushed forward, seized it, and turned it on them."