 Because most of the newly formed regiment surrendered to British and German forces at the Battle of Fort Washington on November 16 , 1776 , the service history of the unit 's surviving element is complex . Although modern and contemporaneous accounts of the battle convey the impression that it marked the end of the regiment as a combat entity , a significant portion of the unit continued to serve actively in the Continental Army throughout most of the remainder of the war . Elements of the regiment served with George Washington 's Main Army and participated in the army 's major engagements of late 1776 through 1778 . Select members of the regiment were also attached to Col. Daniel Morgan 's elite Provisional Rifle Corps at its inception in mid @-@ 1777 . The Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment was reorganized in January 1779 and was stationed at Fort Pitt , headquarters of the Continental Army 's Western Department , in present @-@ day western Pennsylvania primarily to help in the defense of frontier settlements from raids by British @-@ allied Indian tribes . The unit was disbanded with all other Additional and Extra Continental regiments during the reorganization of the Continental Army in January 1781 . It was the longest serving Continental Army rifle unit of the war . 
