 After recruitment of the three companies had been no more than partially completed , Rawlings ' regiment set off for Fort Pitt , arriving there in late May 1779 . The three companies consisted of about 100 enlisted men , well below the prescribed total of about 60 enlisted men per company in a Continental Army line infantry regiment in 1779 . Moreover , a month after its arrival , the unit lost almost half of its troop strength because the three @-@ year enlistment periods of those men who had joined the regiment during its organization in mid @-@ 1776 had terminated . To further complicate matters , Rawlings resigned his command of the regiment on June 2 , primarily because of his frustration over not being able to fully rebuild the unit , and did not accompany his men . He remained the commandant of Fort Frederick and subsequently served as Deputy Commissary of Prisoners for Maryland . Capt. Alexander Lawson Smith also did not proceed to Fort Pitt with the riflemen . He likely stayed with the 4th Maryland Regiment of the Main Army in a continued attached capacity until Congress approved his resignation from " the regiment formerly Rawlins [ sic ] " in September 1780 . The regiment was now commanded by senior captain Thomas Beall and later Capt. Adamson Tannehill , both of whom had been with the unit since its inception . 
