The regiment was raised in Philadelphia, Province of Pennsylvania, as the Volunteers of Ireland in 1777 and went to New York City with the British Army in April 1778. The regiment was placed on the American establishment as the 2nd American Regiment (Volunteers of Ireland) on 2 May 1779. Following the Patriot surrender at Charleston in May 1780, the Volunteers helped win the Battle of Camden, where Sergeant Thomas Hudson received a decoration for heroism, one of only two such decorations given during the duration of the prosecution of the war to a soldier of the British Army. The regiment was the primary unit in the Battle of Hobkirk's Hill in April 1781, as well as the relief of the Loyalist fort, at the Siege of Ninety-Six in May 1781. They remained in South Carolina until the British surrender of General Lord Cornwallis, at Yorktown in October 1781. The regiment was removed from the Province of South Carolina and taken by ship to New York. The Volunteers were put on the British establishment as the 105th Regiment of Foot on 25 December 1782.