Virginia Regiment

The Virginia Regiment was a line infantry regiment of the Virginia Provincial Forces raised in 1754 by the Virginia General Assembly and Governor Robert Dinwiddie for service in the French and Indian War. The only provincial regiment raised by the British colony of Virginia during the conflict, it initially consisted of about 300 men under Colonel Joshua Fry, with Lieutenant Colonel George Washington assuming command after Fry's death. The regiment fought at the battles of Jumonville Glen and Fort Necessity, after which the General Assembly voted to double its strength. Under orders from Major-general Edward Braddock, the regiment was reorganized into six ranger companies, two carpenter companies, and one troop of mounted rangers in 1755 for service in the Braddock Expedition, which culminated in the disastrous Battle of the Monongahela. It was subsequently expanded into the First Virginia Regiment and Second Virginia Regiment for the Forbes Expedition of 1758. Following the outbreak of the Anglo-Cherokee War in 1758, the regiment remained on Virginia's frontier before being disbanded by Governor Francis Fauquier in 1763. Although Washington resigned from the regiment in 1758 after being denied an officer's commission in the British Army, his service provided valuable military experience that influenced Washington's leadership in the American Revolutionary War.