From "History Of Bedford And Somerset Counties, Pennsylvania"
Published 1906 Volume I - Chapter 10
When the Revolutionary war began, Bedford county comprised the territory forming the present counties of Bedford, Fulton, Somerset, Huntingdon, Blair and Cambria. This section was not the scene of any battles of the great war for national independence, n o r did it figure especially prominently in that prolonged struggle except in contributing of her citizen soldiery her full share of brave men and true, as she has ever since done when our government issued a call to arms. And, furthermore, we shall find i n this instance, Bedford county troops were not only among the first in the field of action, but helped o comprise a battalion which early attracted the attention of military officials and elicited most favorable comment from them.\rdblquote \par \par \ldblquote A majority of the inhabitants of this section favored the movement for independence, though there was a large number of those who endeavored to remain loyal to King George the Third, and for that reason were called "Tories" by the advocates of the war.
The colonist throughout the continent becoming aroused to concerted action, a convention was held at Philadelphia, on the 15th day of July, 1774, to take action, so far as this province was concerned, in the grievances being heaped upon the American colonists by the English government. In this convention, Bedford county was ably represented by George Woods, Esq., who afterward became prominent in the history of the county
In May, 1775, congress having res olved to raise an army of which the Pennsylvania portion amounted to 4300 men, the assembly recommend to the commissioners of the several counties to provide arms and equipments for this force; they also directed the officers of the military association t o select a number of minutemen equal to the number of arms that could be procured, who should hold themselves in readiness to march at the shortest notice, to any quarter, in case of emergency. To assist in carrying into effect these measures, on the 30th of June 1775, a committee of safety, consisting of prominent citizens of the city and county of Philadelphia and the counties of Bucks, Chester, Lancaster, York, Cumberland, Northampton, Berks, Bedford, Northumberland and Westmoreland, was appointed. Bernard Daugherty was chosen as a member of the committee to represent Bedford county, but did not take his seat with that body until the middle of the following September. The committee organized by choosing Benjamin Franklin president, William Garret clerk , and Michael Hillegass treasurer. At the same date, June 30, 1775, Bedford county was called upon to furnish immediately, as its inhabitants regarded the "freedom, welfare and safety of the country, one hundred good firelocks with bayonets, etc., for the use of such officers and soldiers as shall be drafted from time to time."
Within ten days after the news of the battle of Bunker Hill had reached the province of Pennsylvania, her first rifle battalion was ready to take the field. Colon el William Thompson, of Carlisle was placed in command, and, of the eight companies composing the battalion, the one commanded by Captain Robert Cluggage was formed of Bedford county men. Robert Magaw, of Carlisle, the first attorney admitted to practice in Bedford county courts, also served as the first major of the battalion. Starting from Reading, the place of rendezvous, the command marched at once toward Boston by way of Easton, through northern New Jersey, crossing the Hudson river a few miles nort h of West Point, and joined General Washington\rquote s forces in the trenches at Boston on August 8, 1775. These were the first companies from the south to arrive in Massachusetts, and natural attracted much attention. The promptness with which the several companies comprising Colonel Thompson\rquote s battalion were formed, and with which they reported for duty on the field, was favorably commented upon as an indication of the patriotism of Pennsylvania.
On August 13, 1775, Captain James Chambers, commanding one of the Lancaster county companies of this battalion, writes from Cambridge as follows:
"We arrived in camp on the 7th, abut twelve o'clock. We were not here above an hour until we went to view the lines where the English camp is all in plain sight. We crossed the lines, and went beyond the outposts to a small hill, within musket shot of a man-of-war and a floating battery, and not further from the works at the foot of Bunker Hill, where we could see them very plainly. Whilst I was standing there, some of our riflemen slipped down the hill, about a gunshot to the left of us and began firing. The regulars returned it without hurting our men. We thought we saw one of the red coats fall. Since the rifleman came here, by the latest account from Boston, there have been forty-two killed and thirty-eight prisoners taken at the light-house, twelve of the latter Tories. Amongst the killed are four captains, one of them a son of a lord, and worth 40,000 (pounds) a year, whose name I cannot recollect. The riflemen go where they please, and keep the regulars in continual hot water. They are every day firing cannon at our people, but have not yet killed a man. We expect six wagons loaded with powder here in two or three days; and when they arrive, our twenty- four pounders will begin to play on their ships and the lines on them, as they have floating batteries that flank the end of Winter Hill and men-of-war on the other side, though our boys think they killed several of them. \par \par About an hour ago, I saw a small cannonading between two of the enemies boats and one of our batteries, to the north of Boston. We can see all the town distinctly from our fort on Prospect Hill, and it is a very pretty place. Two deserters came to us last night"
Thatcher, in his military journal, said of these men:
"Several companies of rifleman, amounting, it is said, to more than fourteen hundred men, have arrived here from Pennsylvania and Maryland, a distance of from five hundred to seven hundred miles. They remarkably stout and hardy men, many of them exceeding six feet in height. They are dressed in white frocks of rifle shirts, and round hats. These men are remarkable for the accuracy of their aim, striking a mark with great certainty at two hundred yards distance. At a review a company of them (doubtless meaning Colonel Cresap's company of Maryland frontiersmen, one-half of whom were recruited in that part of Pennsylvania lying west of the Alleghenies) while on a quick advance, fired their balls into object of seven inches diameter; at a distance of two hundred yards. They are now stationed on our out lines, and their shots have frequently proved fatal to British officers and soldiers who exposed themselves to view, even at more than double the distance of a common musket shot."
This battalion became the second regiment of the army of the United Colonies, commanded by General George Washington, and after the first of July, 1776, it became the first regiment, under the command of Colonel Edward Hand.
Volume II Chapter 19 (The area west of the Alleghenies, which included what is now Somerset & Cambria Counties)
When the Revolutionary War came on, the country had been to some extent settled, and, although remote from the actual theater of war, a comp any was recruited in that part of Bedford county which later on became Somerset county, and marched to the front under the command of Capt. Richard Brown. Whether the entire company was enlisted in what is now Somerset county is a question that at this d a y (1906) cannot be answered to a certainty. It appears to have gone into service during the spring of 1776, as the appointments of its officers are under date of March 19, 1776. The company was attached to the First Battalion of the Pennsylvania Rifle r egiment, commanded by Col. Samuel Miles; James Piper of Bedford County was the lieutenant-colonel.
The company soon found itself in active service. The regiment, which was in the division of Gen. Sterling, participated in the disastrous battle of Long Island, on August 27, 1776, and sustained a heavy loss.
Captain Brown was among those captured, and was held by the enemy for a considerable time. In the meanwhile, the regiment had suffered such heavy losses that it was found necessary to consolidate the companies, and Lieut. James Francis Moore was promoted to captain in place of Richard Brown, and this company was eventually transferred to the Pennsylvania regiment of foot, in which organization the company still appears as being under the command of Capt. Moore. But on its roll appear only nineteen of the original names of the company. The company seems to have followed the fortunes of the Continental army to the end, and participated in the battles of Trenton, Princeton, Brandywine and Germantown.