AWI Continental and State uniforms question

[AlexM]

Hi gang,

I'm taking my first steps in to Sharpe Practice with the AWI. I am building the Americans, based on the Continental 1778 list. it has both Continental Line, State Line, and Continental Light troops. In the interest of mixing up some uniforms, would it make sense for the Continental Line to be in the Blue Jacket with red facings, the State to be based on a State unit of my choice, and the light either continental again, or something else?

My grasp of AWI uniforms is murky at best, and as I understand it, basically the jackets were the only uniform piece in reality - trousers and vests might have been any available colour...

Thanks in advance for your help!

Alex

[armchairgeneral]

You have a lot of freedom with the American army. In the 1778 battle of Monmouth Courthouse the day was so hot the army was thought to have fought in shirt sleeves. The US government received 20,000 blue and brown coats with red facings from France latter in the year which would have been interspersed with the ubiquitous hunting shirt in numerous colours but most commonly beige or off white.

A large proportion of militia were made up of ex-continentals no doubt wearing their old uniforms.

So basically you can really mix it up with maybe the continentals being a bit smarter than the militia IMHO. Perry Miniatures give you a huge range of options from shirts, hunting shirts, civilian coats, uniform coats with different hats as well as full dress to get some great variety in units.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Hi Alex,

Continental uniforms have a lot more "certains" than people realise, but generally only for specific units and then only for specific periods of the war (usually about a year).  In essence, Congress and the various States got hold of whatever they could and dished it out in such a way as to give as many units as possible a single, unitary uniform.  Before the "lottery coats" started arriving from France towards the end of 1778, it was quite common for only enough coats to be issued to clothe the NCOs (officers were expected to find their own uniform), and this would dictate what the "official" uniform was - for that year, at least!  The rank-and-file retained their civilian clothing.

As ArmchairGeneral says, the main battle of 1778 - Monmouth Courthouse - saw the Continentals fighting in their shirtsleeves (actually quite a shocking phenomenon, as a shirt was considered underwear at that time).  The Perry range has some very nice shirtsleeve figures (which you can supplement with their Southern Militia).  Bear in mind that new recruits would probably arrive after the initial request for clothing had been submitted (and possibly even delivered), so you would always have a few men in civilian clothing.

However, if you want to go for "regularity", then the most common uniform combinations for the line infantry in 1777/1778 were:-
- blue coats, faced red
- blue coats, faced white
- brown coats, faced red
- brown coats faced white

This article illustrates how the lottery uniforms (which included small clothes - ie breeches and waistcoat) were dished out, and what the proportion of coat colours was.

https://www.scribd.com/document/272894004/James-L-Kochan-The-French-made-Lottery-Uniforms-of-the-Continental-Army-1777-1779-Their-Procurement-Distribution-Cut-and-Construction

At the time you are looking at, the Corps of Light Infantry had not yet been formed, but some units had light companies, often distinguished by leather caps similar to those worn by the British "light bobs".  Otherwise, they would be in the uniform of their parent unit (if it had one!).

In 1779, Congress produced some uniform regulations which grouped the States into three 3s and a 4 (New England), giving each a distinctive facing colour to their blue coats.  Unfortunately, even this proved beyond their procurement system, and several States had never worn the "correct" uniform, not even by 1783.

With State units (which were "regulars" but only supposed to serve within the borders of that State), your imagination can run riot to some extent, as neither they, nor the Militia, were entitled to the French lottery clothing.

Hope that helps - if you have any more questions, don't hesitate to come back and ask.

BvW

[AlexM]

Thank you both - these were extremely helpful comments! I'll check back in if I develop any further questions...

[Shahbahraz]

Thank you both - these were extremely helpful comments! I'll check back in if I develop any further questions...

I purchased the Osprey book, but I still go back to my Blandford 'Uniforms of the American Revolution' by Mollo, which I picked up very cheaply second hand. I understand that some of the uniforms may now be considered to be dubious, but it does give you a good primer.

[Baron von Wreckedoften]

Mollo is excellent for the British and Loyalists, ok for the Germans and French, and looking a bit dated for the Continentals (largely through not acknowledging that a lot of the plates are from "wanted" posters for deserters, who either never received, or would have ditched their uniforms and adopted as much civilian clothing as possible).  Lefferts is the opposite - weak on the British and Germans (admittedly, most of the knowledge of their "campaign dress" has only recently been unearthed/unravelled), ok on the French and pretty good on the Continentals/Militia.  Similarly, a lot of the plates by the Company of Military Historians are now looking a little redundant, after 40+ years of new information being made available.  Finally, surprisingly good, but hard to get hold of these days, are the two books by Alan Kemp, published by Almark back in the late 70s/early 80s; both worth having, IMO.  The Reese CDs are ok, but not as good as any of the books listed above; from what I've seen, they tend to cover only the official uniforms, rather than field modifications (as does the book on British uniforms for the WAS/SYW and AWI by Franklin).

At all costs, avoid the Smith/Kiley so-called "Encyclopedia" (which is anything but) as it not only repeats all the errors of previous books - which, in their original form, can at least be excused for lack of information at the time they were written - but adds a fair few of its own.  The art-work is a complete dog's dinner of varying styles that range from life-like CGI to what can only be described as cartoonish (I half expected to see a portrait of Hector Heathcote); many of the artists have also just produced straight copies of Mollo plates, right down to the poses adopted by the figures.  Horrendous.