On this day 250 years ago in Philadelphia, the Continental Congress appointed Moses Hazen as Colonel in command of the Second Canadian Regiment and Edward Antill as its Lieutenant Colonel. The Congress had previously appointed James Livingston as the Colonel in command of the First Canadian Regiment. Livingston, Hazen and Antill were all Americans living in Canada who had joined General Montgomery’s Army as it entered Canada in 1775. Livingston would serve until 1781 and Hazen and Antill served until the end of the War. The First and Second Canadians Regiments were initially formed with Canadians recruited by Livingston and Hazen but would later be supplemented with Americans after the retreat from Canada. The Second Canadian Regiment would end up with an especially distinguished record fighting in every major battle through Yorktown and would also be known as “Congress’s Own Regiment.”

Also on that day, the Continental Congress selected John Philip De Haas as Colonel of the1st Pennsylvania Battalion that had been ordered to Canada. De Haas was an immigrant from Holland and would also serve until the end of the War.

Sources: https://americanfounding.org/entries/second-continental-congress-january-22-1776%EF%BF%BC/; Lefkowitz at p. 86; Mayer, Holly A., Congress’s Own, A Canadian Regiment, the Continental Army, and American Union, Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 2021 at p. 49