How many companies did a typical revolutionary infantry regiment?

Answer 1

Continental regiments were supposed to be organized like British regiments, with eight companies. All companies were to have eighty-odd men of all ranks. Two of these were "flank companies", one company of grenadiers, men selected for their large size and strength, and one company of light infantry, smaller, more agile men, selected for the ability to move quickly. The British were fond of the practice of taking these flank companies from all regiments on hand and forming ad hoc battalions. This was what was done to form the column that marched on Lexington and Concord the day the war began. (The relief column was Royal Marines, taken from the ships crews in Boston Harbor and likewise amalgamated into a battalion). In practice few Continental regiments were ever recruited to full strength, and little attention seems to have been paid to creating elite flank companies.

The first Continentals were enlisted for one year, in 1776. This turned out to be a very short-sighted approach. If all the states had provided their complete quota of full-strength regiments, Washington would have had an army of around 88,000 men. Washington never had a quarter of that many on the Continental establishment. Beginning in 1777 men were enlisted for three years. Eventually in many state lines regiments had to be consolidated, due to their tiny size.