 The regiment 's two composite companies served with the Main Army during its retreat across New Jersey in late 1776 , in the ensuing Battles of Trenton and Princeton in Brig. Gen. Hugh Mercer 's Brigade , and in the early 1777 skirmishing in northern New Jersey , a period termed the Forage War . While in winter quarters at Morristown during the winter and spring of 1777 , the two @-@ company force and other riflemen from Pennsylvania and Virginia Line regiments supported detached elements of line infantry units in front @-@ line positions and conducted patrols in northern New Jersey , primarily to keep the enemy 's aggressive foraging activities in check . Because the two units under Captains Smith and Long provided an experienced , if small , force , Washington also used them to bolster the new 11th Virginia Regiment commanded by Col. Daniel Morgan after its arrival at Morristown in early April by formally attaching them to this Virginia regiment . Washington 's decision to join the two composite companies with the 11th Virginia Regiment was based on Morgan 's earlier direct association with the original three independent Continental rifle companies of 1775 that formed the core element of Rawlings ' regiment . Inasmuch as the attachment of one military unit to another was technically a temporary arrangement , however , the permanent unit of Smith 's and Long 's composite companies remained the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment . The first muster rolls of the two companies taken after the Battle of Fort Washington , both dated May 16 , 1777 , were compiled by the army staff as a result of the attachment process and show that the units comprised about 110 officers and enlisted men on active duty in the spring of 1777 . The rolls also document that the units had lost a number of men over the winter months following the battle , primarily through desertion and a few deaths due to illness or wounds . 
