Dear Kincaid-listers, I looked up the laws pertaining to the raising of troops for the Pennsylvania Line and found the following: http://www.palrb.us/statutesatlarge/17001799/1780/0/act/0926.pdf Chapter CMXXVI Passed Dec. 23, 1780 An Act to Complete the quota of the federal army assigned to this state. Whereas the practice of enlisting soldiers for short terms has been attended with great inconvenience and danger to this and the United States in creating a necessity of frequently calling forth the militia, at a heavy expense, and waste of important time, and by reducing the in the field at critical periods to a number vastly inadequate to the service, to proceed to produce classes of men to enlist during the war and to deliver one able bodied recruit within 15 days thereafter. An act to raise 2700 able bodied men to serve in the Pennsylvania Line for 18 months from July 1, 1781 to be raised at the expense of Philadelphia, and the several counties; Philadelphia: 895, Bucks County: 177, Chester County: 284, Lancaster County: 384, York County: 214, Cumberland County: 202, Berks County: 193, Northampton: 112, Bedford County: 61, Northumberland County: 75, Westmoreland County: 103, Washington County: 103. Every recruit so enlisted and entered into the army shall receive one complete suit of clothes each year and at the end of the war two hundred acres of land and all other pay, gratuities and exemptions that other soldiers in the line of this state are entitled to. http://www.palrb.us/statutesatlarge/17001799/1781/0/act/0946.pdf Chapter CMXLVI Passed June 25, 1781 An Act for recruiting the Pennsylvania Line in the Army of the United States. An act to raise 2700 able bodied men to serve in the Pennsylvania Line for 18 months from July 1, 1781 to be raised at the expense of Philadelphia, and the several counties; Philadelphia: 895, Bucks County: 177, Chester County: 284, Lancaster County: 384, York County: 214, Cumberland County: 202, Berks County: 193, Northampton: 112, Bedford County: 61, Northumberland County: 75, Westmoreland County: 103, Washington County: 103. And be it enacted by the authority aforesaid, that any person who, in pursuance of this act, shall enlist and deliver to the proper officer one able bodied recruit shall be exempted from all militia duty for and during the time of such enlistment. So as I read these acts the recruits for the Pennsylvania Continental Line after 1780 were drawn from the militia lists as they were drawn up in classes for the townships and boroughs and these classes had to provide one able bodied recruit until the quota for each county was fulfilled, in the case of Cumberland County, PA 202 able bodied recruits for 1781 with service for 18 months beginning from July 1, 1781.  This was not really a volunteer enlistment but was a requirement of the law and those enlisting in the Pennsylvania line were exempt from all militia duty.  They could be counted on the class roll until called to duty.  I still need to study this further, but I think I have the basic intent of the law.  For the full text of these laws see the links provided or search at: http://www.palrb.us/stlarge/index.asp Sincerely Norman Kincaide