Extra Continental regiments and Additional Continental regiments The Extra Continental regiments and Additional Continental regiments of the American Revolutionary War ( 1775 – 1783 ) differ from each other and from all other Continental Army infantry regiments by the manner in which they formed . The six Extra Continental regiments , which were authorized by Congress and organized in late 1775 to mid - 1776 , are distinct by having formed without any administrative connection to an individual state . The 16 Additional Continental regiments were approved by Congress as a separate group on December 27 , 1776 , specifically in response to a request from Gen . George Washington for additional troops , and Congress expressly delegated their formation directly to Washington . All Additional Continental regiments were organized in the spring and summer of 1777 . In contrast to both the Extra and Additional regiments , all other infantry regiments of the army were organized and supported under the direct authority of individual state governments ( the " line regiments " ) . Extra Continental regiments . The six Extra Continental regiments , which are commonly confused with the Additional regiments , are : Additional Continental regiments . The 16 Additional Continental regiments formed later and under distinctly different circumstances than those of the Extra Continental regiments . The 1 - year enlistments in most Continental Army regiments that formed in the earliest part of the American Revolutionary War expired on December 31 , 1776 . Therefore , Congress and Washington began preparations for reorganizing the army during that early fall . The reorganization was to apply to troops from every state , and a major factor in the new plan was the decision to recruit for the duration of the war rather than for a single year . Eighty - eight regiments were authorized by a Congressional resolve of September 16 , 1776 , in which Congress formally outlined the 13 state lines of the Continental Army by specifying the quota of regiments for each state . Congress ' estimates of the population of each state governed its allocation of regiments , ranging from 15 regiments each from Massachusetts and Virginia to single regiments from Delaware and Georgia . In correspondence to Congress during December 1776 , however , Washington pressed for even more men . Central to Washington ' s position was a recommendation to increase the infantry regiments from the 88 called for in September to a minimum of 110 . Congress acted on Washington ' s request on December 27 , 1776 , and ruled " That General Washington shall be , and he is hereby , vested with full , ample , and complete powers to raise … from … all of these United States , 16 battalions of infantry , in addition to those already voted by Congress … " In contrast to the previously approved 88 regiments , the 16 Additional regiments were organized directly by Washington ' s authority , rather than by the authority of the state governments , and were placed completely under Washington ' s control . The resolution gave Washington the requested 110 regiments , for in addition to the 16 new regiments and the 88 units of the September quotas there were the 6 Extra regiments that had been previously approved by Congress and that were also not explicitly tied to a single state . The 16 Additional Continental regiments are : Although Washington wrote to Col . Ezekiel Cornell of Rhode Island and Col . Alexander Scammell of New Hampshire on January 12 , 1777 , and offered each command of one of the 16 Additional Continental regiments , both declined , and the units never formed .