1777 was a very good year for Daniel Morgan. He was promoted to colonel in late 1776 and received the commission in January 1777. Gen. George Washington had pushed Congress to make the promotion, having been impressed by Morgan’s performance leading three companies of riflemen in the ill-fated 1775 invasion of Canada. While the expedition was a disaster, Morgan’s leadership stood out, and Washington now intended for him to lend those skills to the army in a larger way.[1]
On June 9, 1777, Washington formed a new battalion, the provisional rifle corps, and assigned Morgan to command it. It was an elite light-infantry formation, created by drafting the best riflemen from each regiment in the army and consolidating them into a single 500-man battalion.[2] This composite corps was provisional—temporary—by nature, with the men returning to their “home” regiments at the end of the year when the army went into winter quarters. The corps would then be reformed the next year before the summer campaign season.
It was not long before Morgan and his new command saw action. Dispatched in August to reinforce the American army in New York under Maj. Gen. Horatio Gates, Morgan and his men were critical to the American victories at Saratoga in September and October. Gates said that Morgan’s corps was the one that the British were “most afraid of.”[3] The defeated British commander, John Burgoyne, said that Morgan’s men were among the “best classes of Rangers,” adding that there were “perhaps few better in the world.”[4]
Unfortunately for Morgan, the success he enjoyed in 1777 did not carry over to 1778. In June of that year, Washington again issued orders to form a new light infantry corps, and once again assigned Morgan to command it.[5] While Morgan’s light corps did serviceable work skirmishing after the British evacuated Philadelphia, due to vague orders or some miscommunication Morgan was out of position and failed to play any significant part in the battle of Monmouth on June 28. It was a disappointing outcome for Morgan, particularly given his outstanding performance the previous year.[6]
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