Description ~ Revolutionary
Officers Uniform
In
connection with these several rolls of revolutionary
officers, a description of the uniforms worn by the
several corps of the continental army is appended, as of
general interest, it is extracted from a letter from
George Washington P Custis, Esq. to Gen. John Spear
Smith, President of the Maryland Historical Society, to
whose kindness the author is indebted for its appearance
here. It has, he believes, never before been published.
The General Staff
"Blue and buff (the ancient Whig
colors of England) were adopted by Washington, as the
uniform of the company that he first commanded, in the
dawn of our troubles with the mother country. Buff
lining to coat; buff under-clothes; black stock; black
boots; cocked hat, with black ribbon cockade; white
plumes for the general officers; yellow buttons, and
sword mountings. Washington always wore a white stock,
and, never, a plume."
Artillery
"Blue coat, red facings and
linings; red waistcoat; white breeches, half leg black
gaiters; black stock; cocked hat, with black cockade;
plume, red and blue, red uppermost; and yellow buttons."
Infantry
"Blue
coat with red facings, white lining and white
under-clothes; black gaiters and stock; cap with blue
and white plumes. Light Infantry. Short coatees, with
blue and white plume, white buttons, and silver sword
mountings."
Life Guard
"Blue coat with white facings,
white under-clothes, white lining; black gaiters; blue
and white plume: officers, cocked hats, blue and white
plumes. Washington's Life Guard was a major's command,
180 picked men, commanded by Gibbs and Colfax, the crack
corps of the army."
Riflemen
"Hunting shirt and leggins,
picturesque costume of the woodsmen, and the veritable
emblem of the Revolution. Morgan's riflemen wore, in
winter, blue and white uniforms; hat turned up at the
side with buck's tail; belt, tomahawk and knife."
Cavalry
"Lee's Legion, same as
Tarleton's German Rangers, green and black, green
buttons; buff under-clothes.
Washington's horse
"Blue
and red, white under-clothes, white buttons and silver
mountings."
"N. B. On the colors of the
rifle corps, was the tomahawk, instead of a spear."
Maryland
AHGP
Source: History of Maryland, by
James McSherry, Baltimore, printed and published by John
Murphy, 1849.
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