Talk:Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment

5th New Jersey Regiment

While doing genealogy research at Ancestry, I stumbled upon the "Muster roll of Captain John Maxwell's Company of the 5th New Jersey Regiment, now in the service of the United States, commanded by Colonel Oliver Spencer, Taken to the 1st day of September 1777." Those serving as commissioned officers were John Maxwell (commissioned Captain as of 16 January 1777); William Chambers (commissioned 2nd Lieutenant as of 8 August 1777) and Uziah Meeker (commissioned Ensign as of 16 February 1777). The muster was signed 3 September 1777 by Samuel Parker, DNN. While this may fall under the category of original research (?), this information may help clarify what Spencer's Regiment was called at the time of the Battle of Monmouth. It does not appear that the Regiment was detailed to a Pennsylvania unit,, at least not to the extent that it's NJ origins were obscured. Ancestry's US Revolutionary War Rolls (1775-1783) indexed my subject, James Carr, as being with the Continental Troops, 5th Regiment, as of 3 September 1777, but provided no state. I have recommended the addition of New Jersey as the "military place" in Ancestry's index. Pnoble805 (talk) 18:06, 11 August 2015 (UTC)

Spencer's Additional Continental Regiment had a majority of New Jersey officers and was raised primarily but not exclusively in New Jersey, but it was never formally adopted into the Jersey Line as part of the State's quota of battalions. As you have noted, Maxwell's Company return from September 1, 1777 describes Spencer's Regiment as the 5th NJ, but that distinction was dropped in contemporary references after 1777. Likewise, during Sullivan's campaign in the summer of 1779, Spencer's is sometimes referred to as the 4th regiment in Maxwell's Jersey Brigade, but again it remained an additional regiment, one of the 16 infantry battalions authorized by Congress in the final days of 1776 that were in addition to the 88 battalions that were part of each state's quota for continental service. The field officers were appointed directly by Washington and it was Congress, not New Jewrsey, that determined which of the line officers were deemed supernumerary when two other additional regiments, Malcom's and Forman's, were reduced and their New York and New Jersey soldiers incorporated into Spencer's. It is an important distinction, and affected nearly every aspect of the regiment's nearly four years of service.

Regarding Monmouth, Oliver Spencer was acting commandant of Late Conway's (3rd Pennsylvania) Brigade, which included the 3rd, 6th, 9th and 12th Pennsylvania, Spencer's and Malcom's Additional Continental Regiments. There is a nearly complete record of muster rolls and pay rolls for Spencer's, viewable on Fold3. There are also seven surviving and unpublished Orderly Books from June 1779 through October 1780 at the New York Historical Society. Spencersregt (talk) 11:39, 19 July 2022 (UTC)