8th Pennsylvania Regiment
| 8th Pennsylvania Regiment | |
|---|---|
| Active | 1776–1781 |
| Allegiance |
 Continental Congress |
| Type | Infantry |
| Size | 8 to 9 companies |
| Part of | Pennsylvania Line |
| Engagements |
Forage War (1777) Battle of Bound Brook (1777) Battle of Brandywine (1777) Battle of Paoli (1777) Battle of Germantown (1777) Battles of Saratoga (1777) (part) Fort Laurens (1778–1779) Sullivan Expedition (1779) |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Colonel Aeneas Mackay Colonel Daniel Brodhead IV |
The 8th Pennsylvania Regiment or Mackay's Battalion was an American infantry unit that became part of the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War. Authorized for frontier defense in July 1776, the eight-company unit was originally called Mackay's Battalion after its commander, Colonel Aeneas Mackay. Transferred to the main army in November 1776, the unit was renamed the 8th Pennsylvania Regiment on 1 January 1777. It completed an epic winter march from western Pennsylvania to New Jersey, though Mackay and his second-in-command both died soon afterward. In March 1777 Colonel Daniel Brodhead IV assumed command. The regiment was engaged at the Battles of Bound Brook, Brandywine, Paoli, and Germantown in 1777. A body of riflemen were detached from the regiment and fought at Saratoga. Assigned to the Western Department in May 1778, the 8th Pennsylvania gained a ninth company before seeing action near Fort Laurens and in the Sullivan Expedition in 1778 and 1779. The regiment consolidated with the 2nd Pennsylvania Regiment in January 1781 and ceased to exist.
A frontier defense battalion was authorized by the Continental Congress on 11 July 1776 as part of the Continental Army in the Northern Department. On 20 July the unit was named Mackay's Battalion. The battalion was organized from 15 July to 15 September 1776 at Kittanning, Pennsylvania in the western part of the state to consist of eight companies of infantry from Bedford, Cumberland, Westmoreland Counties.Colonel Aeneas Mackay, Lieutenant Colonel George Wilson, and Major Richard Butler were appointed by Congress to lead the battalion. Quartermaster Ephraim Douglass, Commissary Ephraim Blaine, Adjutant Michael Huffnagle, Paymaster John Boyd, and Chaplain David McClure rounded out the staff positions, though McClure never assumed his duties. The eight captains were Moses Carson, Wendel Oury, David Kilgore, Andrew Mann, Samuel Miller, Eliezer Myers, James Piggott, and Van Swearingen. Carson apparently defected to the British during the war. By 16 December 630 men enrolled in the battalion.
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