Thompson's Rifle Battalion: Capt. George Nagel's Company
Reading, Berks County, Pennsylvania
Marker Inscription
With men enlisted from Berks County, Nagel's Company was a part of the first battalion in the colonies authorized by Congress, in June 1775. After gathering at Reading the following month, this company and other companies of the battalion marched approximately 350 miles in order to join the American siege of Boston.
Erected by Pennsylvania Historical and Museum Commission
The Story
In June 1775, with war just underway around Boston, the Continental Congress took a momentous step: it authorized its first troops raised directly under national authority—rifle companies drawn from the frontier. Captain George Nagel's company, filled with Berks County marksmen, mustered at Reading that July and then set off on a grueling march of roughly 350 miles to reinforce the American siege of Boston. These backwoods riflemen, prized for their accuracy, were among the first soldiers to serve the united colonies rather than a single province.
Why it matters
Nagel's company belonged to the very first battalion authorized by Congress, marking the birth of a truly national American army.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
In the summer of 1775, the American colonies stood at a fateful threshold. Fighting had already broken out around Boston, and colonial forces had penned the British army inside the city, but the resistance was still a patchwork of forces raised by individual colonies rather than a single national army.
Into this uncertain moment stepped the Continental Congress, which began taking the first steps toward a truly unified war effort. Among its earliest decisions was to call for soldiers raised under its own authority—men who would serve the united colonies as a whole.
Here in Berks County, Pennsylvania, that national call reached the frontier. The region's farmers and frontiersmen were known for their skill with the rifle, and it was from among them that one of these first companies would be drawn.
People & events
The company was led by Captain George Nagel and filled with men enlisted from Berks County. It formed part of the first battalion in the colonies authorized by Congress, in June 1775—an early and deliberate act of shared national purpose.
After gathering at Reading the following month, the company set out on a punishing overland journey. Together with the battalion's other companies, Nagel's men marched roughly 350 miles to reinforce the American siege of Boston, a distance that speaks to both their determination and the seriousness of the moment.
These were riflemen, and that mattered. Frontier marksmen were prized for an accuracy that ordinary muskets couldn't match, and their arrival lent the army around Boston not just numbers but a distinctive and respected fighting skill.
Its place in the American story
This company's story marks a genuine turning point: the birth of a national army. Belonging to the very first battalion authorized by Congress, these men were among the first American soldiers to serve the united colonies rather than a single province.
That distinction carried enormous weight. An army raised under national authority was a step toward nationhood itself—evidence that the colonies were beginning to act as one people with one cause, even before independence was declared.
The long march to Boston also embodied a spirit that would define the Revolution. Men who could have stayed home to defend their own county instead traveled hundreds of miles to stand with distant neighbors, binding the fate of Pennsylvania's frontier to the struggle unfolding in Massachusetts.
If you visit
Begin in Reading, the gathering point, and let the geography sink in. From here, imagine setting out on foot for Boston—some 350 miles away—and you'll feel the weight of what these volunteers took on with the war barely begun.
Think, too, about who they were: not professional soldiers, but Berks County men skilled with the rifle, leaving farms and families to answer a brand-new national call. That blend of the local and the national is what makes this spot resonate.
This is a marker best appreciated with a bit of imagination and a map in mind. Trace the enormous distance to Boston, and a modest company from the Pennsylvania frontier takes its rightful place at the very beginning of the American army's story.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
Own a business near here? Add it to the map.
Related people
- · George Nagel
Related events
- · Siege of Boston
- · Thompson's Rifle Battalion
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Hiester Home
Reading, PA · est. 1951
From about 1792 until his death in 1832, this Reading site was the home of Joseph Hiester, whose life spanned the founding era. He fought as a lieutenant colonel in the Continental Army, sat as a delegate to Pennsylvania's Provincial Convention in 1776, served fourteen years in Congress, and capped his career as governor of Pennsylvania from 1820 to 1823.
Dr. Bodo Otto
Reading, PA · est. 1951
This was the home of Dr. Bodo Otto, a military surgeon who served the Continental Army from 1775 to 1782. As surgeon-in-chief at Valley Forge during the brutal winter of 1777–78, the aging physician tended troops battling smallpox, exposure, and starvation in the encampment that became a symbol of American endurance.
Doctor Jonathan Potts
Reading, PA · est. 1951
On this Reading site stood the home of Dr. Jonathan Potts, who served from 1777 to 1780 as Deputy Director General of the Continental Army's Northern and Middle Departments. In an era when battlefield disease killed more soldiers than musket fire, Potts organized the army's overwhelmed medical service during the hardest years of the Revolutionary War.
Hessian Camp
Reading, PA · est. 1949
When General Burgoyne's British army surrendered at Saratoga in 1777, thousands of captured German auxiliary troops — most of them Hessians hired by the Crown — became prisoners of war held far from the fighting. Some were marched to Reading, where from 1781 to 1783 they lived in a camp of huts on the hillside just north of this spot. Many of these soldiers, once enemies, would remain in Pennsylvania after the war and settle among its German-speaking communities.