Historian John Rees shares Preliminary Study of the Proportion of Veterans in the 1781 New Jersey Brigade

John Rees has published an interesting paper about the rate of turn over for soldiers during the American Revolutionary War. Below is a short excerpt of his paper as shared by the author in this post. For those interested in researching the American Revolutionary War, this is another paper that is sure to interest you!

In early June 2020 I was asked the following question by a historian of the armies of the American Civil War: “any idea what the ‘average’ personnel turnover rate was in a Continental line regiment during the war?” This question piqued my interest for several reasons, the first being that someone was interested in comparing the workings of Continental Army regiments with those in the American Civil War Federal army. Second, there being no study on the matter, published or unpublished, I was really curious myself about the answer to the question. So, since I had no ready-to-hand reply, I felt the need to formulate a general answer, and to supplement that with a focused research project that could provide further insights via a specific unit.

Let us begin with an overview. In 1775 and 1776, with some few exceptions, state and Continental regiments enlisted men for a one-year term. There was a certain amount of carry-over each year, with men reenlisting and continuing to serve in the same unit, some to the war’s end. While units varied, the New Jersey regiments will provide my primary examples, with some focus on the 2nd Regiment, an organization I’ve been researching for thirty years. One problem with using the New Jersey regiments for this case study is that they were first organized in 1776, a year later than many New England regiments, as well as some in Virginia and other southern states. Another difference is that a number of 1776 Massachusetts regiments were formed from portions of two or more 1775 units, while, despite the 1777 reformation, the two 1776 New Jersey regiments remained more or less organizationally intact.