 Washington initiated more definitive measures to strengthen the regiment in early 1779 . At his request , Congress authorized on January 23 the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment to be reorganized into three companies , recruited to full strength , and reassigned from Fort Frederick to Fort Pitt , headquarters of the Continental Army 's Western Department . The reorganization , which was implemented on March 21 , served to supplement forces engaged in the defense of frontier settlements of present @-@ day western Pennsylvania and vicinity from Indian raids that had started in early 1777 . In mid @-@ 1778 , after more than a year of these attacks , largely by warriors of British @-@ allied Iroquois tribes and Loyalist forces , Washington commenced a concerted effort to neutralize the threat to the backcountry settlements of New York , Pennsylvania , and Virginia — the war 's western front . In support of the reorganization process , on February 16 , 1779 , Washington ordered that all the regiment 's detached members in the Main Army be reincorporated into the unit . Pursuant to Washington 's order , the enlisted men in Smith 's composite company who were attached to the 4th Maryland Regiment rejoined Rawlings ' command . In contrast , the Virginians of Long 's composite company already had been all but formally incorporated into the 11th Virginia Regiment by order of the Virginia state government in February 1777 . ( Because Long 's unit was a component of an Extra Continental regiment and therefore had no administrative connection to an individual state , the Virginia state government had exceeded its authority in this action , which was technically only within the purview of Congress . Washington tacitly accepted the arrangement , but the process was probably not formalized until the reorganization and redesignation of the 11th Virginia Regiment as the 7th Virginia Regiment on May 12 , 1779 . ) Moreover , the enlisted men of Smith 's and Long 's companies who were still attached to the Provisional Rifle Corps , which was not part of the Main Army at this time , remained in that unit until mid @-@ 1779 , at which time they left the service because their three @-@ year enlistment periods had expired . Rawlings ' force therefore now consisted of almost all Marylanders and was variously identified as the " Maryland Corps , " " Maryland Rifle Corps , " and " Maryland Independent Corps " during its service on the western frontier . The unit , however , remained outside the state line organization , a source of great frustration for its officers . Because no unit @-@ redesignation orders accompanied the reorganization orders , the unit 's formal name remained the Maryland and Virginia Rifle Regiment despite significant variations from the unit 's original 1776 configuration . 
