History
The line's history began in the immediate aftermath of the Battles of Lexington and Concord in April 1775, after which the Massachusetts Provincial Congress raised 27 regiments as a provincial army. These units, which were mostly organized by mid-May, were adopted into the first establishment of the Continental Army in June 1775. These units were generally referred to by the names of their colonels, and were numbered one way by the state and another by the Continental Army.
At the end of 1775 the army was reorganized into its second establishment; a number of Massachusetts units were disbanded, but some were retained and others established. In the 1776 establishment regiments from the northern states identified as Continental regiments. At the end of 1776 the army was again reorganized. The third establishment restored a state-based regimental numbering scheme which was retained until the end of the war. After two major reorganizations (at the start of 1781 and 1783) the army was almost completely disbanded in November 1783, leaving a single regiment under the command of Massachusetts Colonel Henry Jackson.
Read more about this topic: Massachusetts Line
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