1st Georgia Regiment

On 4 November 1775, the Georgia Regiment was authorised in the Continental Army, and organised from 20 January–28 April 1776 at Savannah, Georgia, consisting of eight companies (the 8th being a rifle company). On 27 February 1776 the regiment joined the Southern Department/Army. Redesignated 5 July 1776 as the 1st Georgia Regiment on formation of the 2nd Georgia and 3rd Georgia Regiments. Assigned 23 December 1777 to the Georgia Brigade, an element of the Southern Department. In 1777 the regiment was still short of men, mostly in-part due to the Colony of Georgia being sparsely populated, and the colonel reported that only 10 riflemen of the rifle company had been found, and needed additional soldiers soon. The regiment soon began to lose many of its men to desertion, disease, and combat, but elements of it served on until 1779 and 1780 when the last of the Georgia Line, six officers without men, were captured at Charleston, South Carolina.[1][2][3][4][5]

Captured 12 May 1780 at Charleston, South Carolina, by the British Army during the Siege of Charleston. Redesignated 1 January 1781 as the Georgia Regiment once again. Reorganised and redesignated 1 January 1783 as the Georgia Battalion, and consisted of three companies, along with two troops of cavalry. Furloughed in summer 1783 at Charleston, South Carolina, and disbanded 15 November 1783.[1][3][4][5]

There is very little information on the uniform of the regiment, but the norm seems to have been hunting shirts and gaiter trousers.[4]

Engagements which the regiment took part in were:[1][5]

• First Florida Expedition (1776)
• Second Florida Expedition (1778)
• Siege of Savannah (1779)
• Siege of Charleston (1780)

Commanding officers of the regiment were:[2][3]

• January 7 1776–16 September 1776, Colonel Lachlan McIntosh
• 16 September 1776–21 March 1778, Colonel Joseph Habersham
• 21 March 1778–????, Colonel Robert Rae

• Robert K. Wright Jr., The Continental Army, 2006 United States Army Center of Military History, Washington District of Columbia, United States of America.
• Lucian Lamar Knight, Georgia's Roster of the Revolution, 1920 Index Printing Company, Atlanta, Georgia, United States of America.
• Frank Berg, Encyclopedia of Continental Army Units Battalions, Regiments, and Independent Corps, 1972 Stackpole Company, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, United States of America. ISBN 0-8117-0544-7.
• Digby Smith, Kevin E. Kiley, and Jeremy Black, An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Uniforms of the American War of Independence, 2017 Lorenz Books, London, United Kingdom. ISBN 978-0-7548-1761-1.