of acquitting themselves with honor. Besides
her large body of "associators," or home guards, many of whom marched
into New Jersey, the State sent four Continental regiments under
Colonels Wayne, St. Clair, Irvine, and De Haas, to Canada, and eight
other battalions, three of them Continental, to the army at New York.
Of these, the oldest was commanded by Colonel Edward Hand, of
Lancaster. It was the first of the Continental establishment, where it
was known as the "rifle" corps. Enlisting in 1775, under Colonel
Thompson, it joined the army at the siege of Boston, re-enlisted for
the war under Colonel Hand in 1776, and fought all along the Continent
from Massachusetts to South Carolina, not disbanding until the peace
was signed in 1783. Hand himself, a native of Ireland, and, like many
others in the service, a physician by profession, had served in the
British army, was recognized as a superior officer, and we find him
closing his career as Washington's adjutant-general and personal
friend. The two other regiments, raised on the Continental basis, were
commanded by Colonels Robert Magaw, formerly major of Thompson's
regiment, and John Shee, of Philadelphia. The remaining battalions
were distinctively State troops, and formed part of the State's quota
for the Flying Camp. Colonel Samuel Miles, subsequently mayor of
Philadelphia, commanded what was known as the First Regiment of
Riflemen. Unlike any other corps, it was divided into two battalions,
which on their enlistment in March aggregated five hundred men each.
The lieutenant-colonel of the first was Piper; of the second, John
Brodhead. The majors were Paton and Williams. Another corps was known
as the First Regiment of Pennsylvania Musketry, under Colonel Samuel
John Atlee, of Lancaster County, originally five hundred strong, and
recruited in Chester and the Piquea Valley. Atlee had been a soldier
in his youth in the frontier service, afterwards studied law, and in
1775 was active in drilling companies for the war. Mercer, who knew a
good soldier when he met him, wrote to Washington that Atlee was
worthy his regard as an officer of "experience and attention," and his
fine conduct on Long Island proved his title to this word of
commendation from his superior. How much of a man and soldier he had
in his lieutenant-colonel, Caleb Parry, the events of August 27th will
bear witness. The three other battalions were incomplete. Two were
composed of Berks County militia, under