Provisional Rifle Corps

Morgan's Riflemen or Morgan's Rifles, previously Morgan's Sharpshooters, and the one named Provisional Rifle Corps, were an elite light infantry unit commanded by General Daniel Morgan in the American Revolutionary War, which served a vital role executing his tasks because it was equipped with what was then the cutting-edge rifle instead of muskets, allowing superior accuracy at an up to ten times the distance of the typical troops of the day.

Daniel Morgan got his start in the Revolutionary War in 1775 as the captain of a small rifle unit set up by the state of Virginia, one of 10 such units commissioned by Congress. Morgan's had 69 men who marched 600 miles for Boston in August 1775, who upon arrival joining with the Continental Army. They gave an exhibition as described in the Virginia Gazette of September 9, 1775 quoted; "A man held between his knees a board 5 inches wide and seven inches long, with a paper bulls-eye the size of a dollar. A rifleman at 60 yards without a rest, put eight bullets in succession through the bulls-eye. From the same source we are told that the rifleman gave an exhibition "in which a company, on a quick advance, placed their shots in 7 inch targets at 250 yards."

The rifle or more properly, the Pennsylvania Rifle and later known as the Kentucky Rifle made by German immigrants was cutting edge at the time as it had grooves called rifling to spin the ball greatly improving accuracy.

Later Morgan's most significant action was support for the invasion of Canada, and the Battle of Quebec in which he was seen as a hero, despite General Benedict Arnold's overall failure and their subsequent capture.

In early 1777, when Morgan was freed from captivity, he was commissioned as a Colonel and assigned command of the 11th Virginia Regiment, and a few months later was also instructed by George Washington to form a Provisional Rifle Corps, men skilled with the use of the long rifle, from his and other nearby regiments.

Having done so, his first assignment was to harass Colonel William Howe as he retreated through New Jersey. Morgan did so by having his 500 riflemen snipe the enemy troops as they moved, using their longer range to do so from safety, an unusual tactic for that day.

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