the british army that served in the american colonies during the american revolution were made up of mostly infantry regiments. during the war the strength (numbers) of infantry regiments varied. the actual strength was usually not the established strength. but in general, a regiment at the time averaged about 500 soldiers. regiments were then divided into ten companies usually of equal size. each company had three officers and was commanded by a captain. three of these company captains also held a higher rank in the regiment. these included the colonel, the lieutenant colonel and the major. collectively these three were called "field officers". so in actuality, each regiment had three field officers and seven captains for a total of ten. on muster rolls it was not unusual to see an officer listed as "major and captain". but usually, only the higher of the officer's two ranks were used. but, whereas companies were commanded by captains, it is sometime curious to see mention of something like "lt. col. campbell's company" (instead of captain campbell's company).