Uniforms In The Revolutionary War

We have received several inquiries about the uniforms worn by the men who reported from this area to the Boston district to serve in the Revolutionary War. The men who marched from Bedford County territory came from the present areas of Bedford, Cambria, Somerset, Blair and Huntingdon Counties. Their first official reporting point was in Reading. Here they joined other units. Pennsylvania was assigned a total of 12 battalions. Virginia and Massachusetts each had 15. Delaware and Georgia one each. Other colonies also had battalions ranging from four to nine.

The men who left this area were assigned to the First Regiment of the Continental Line under Colonel William Thompson who was commissioned to the First Pennsylvania Rifle Battalion June 25, 1775.

When they left here, most of the men wore leather breeches, legging, moccasins and hunting shirts. A few had linen shirts and pants. Uniforms were not available for all soldiers due to the scarcity of material, however, most of the men preferred the leather hunting shirt. In fact, General Washington preferred the hunting frock made of deer leather. Others wore linen or home-spun dyed in Browns and greens. Some were tan, blue, purple, black and white. With the hunting shirts the soldiers wore their long legging or overalls in place of breeches and stockings. General Washington, in fact recommended the hunting shirt as a part of the standard uniform to the Continental Congress because it was the most practical garment for the soldiers who could not be supplied with regulation uniforms. In his general order of July 24, 1776, he stated it was the cheapest and most practical in all types of weather.

The soldiers from Pennsylvania were not the only ones who wore these shirts. Those from Virginia also wore them. However, they were fitted with small white cuffs, particularly on the lower ranks of officers.

Brown seemed to be the first official color for the Continental uniform. This color was adopted by the Congress on November 4, 1775. To distinguish the various regiments, they adopted different facing colors. By the end of 1778, a shipment of clothing was received from France in blue and brown colors. General Washington accepted a general order of October 2,1779 which declared that blue would be the official color for all state regiments. The soldiers from Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland and Virginia were assigned red facings. Soldiers from the New England areas had white facings.

One of the hardships of the Revolutionary Soldier was the lack of clothing due to the scarcity of cloth and deer hides in the colonies. The shipments of clothing from France were not enough for every man. Many of the men welcomed the warm uniforms captured from the British storehouses at St. Johns, Saratoga and sometimes from ships at sea. The lack of sufficient clothing was the cause of many deserters from the army. The lack of discipline, little or no written records kept of those who were wounded, ill or on furlough made a man technically a deserter when he was still loyal to his unit. The men who enlisted for the duration were promised a hundred acres of land as a bounty. The Colonels were to receive five hundred acres. Other officers were to receive tracts of land in proportion to their rank. Further inducement was three years without a bounty, or if they remained until discharged they would receive a farm.

It is amusing to note that when a soldier deserted his unit his name and full description of the clothes he was wearing were printed in newspapers which were published in the colony from which he came.

There were four newspapers in Pennsylvania that provided the names of the deserters. They were 'Pennsylvania Evening Post', 'Pennsylvania Gazette', 'Pennsylvania Journal', 'Pennsylvania Ledger' and 'Pennsylvania Packet'. As an example, a deserter would be described as wearing a hunting shirt, light colored coat and an old hat cocked on the side; buckskin breeches, grey- colored cloth jacket, an old beaver hat, or an old coat of winestone color, white trousers, new shoes and black felt hat.

Colonel Arthur St. Clair, Second Pennsylvania Battalion, had two deserters described as wearing a speckled homespun coat, new leather breeches, blue coat, red waist coat, new leather breeches, new shoes, buttons on the coats were marked '2 B.P.'

On the other side of the picture, the British soldier was well provided with white waistcoats. Some units had red. One of the most famous units was the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment. They were also called the 'Black Watch'.

Each man was supplied with a musket, bayonet, broad sword and iron stocked pistol.Later the pistols were discarded by the privates because they hindered them in marching through the thick woods, becoming entangled in the brush. They also considered their muskets and bayonets far superior to the sword and pistol.

One of the first units to land in America ( 1774) just before the war was the 43rd Regiment of Foot. They took part in the skirmishes at Lexington, Concord and Bunker Hill. Their red coats were faced with white, white breeches, long black canvas gaiters with white tops. In cold weather they kept warm with heavy underclothes, mittens and heavy knit stockings. Later they were issued long overalls of brown cloth for winter, and white coarse overalls in summer. Their hat was a black tricorn, trimmed in white. The buttons were made of pewter.

History has pointed out many times that King George III needed help to put down the Colonial Rebellion. He made several treaties with Germany in 1776 for four regiments, totaling over eighteen thousand men. Each unit had various modes of dress. Their coats were blue. Most of the collars and cuffs were yellow, although some were red, black or white. The lapels of each unit had their distinctive color. The vest and breeches were mostly white. Several units wore blue. The hats also distinguished the various units. Most were black, bound in white. One unit had brass grenadier caps.

We would like to mention here that Colonel William Thompson whom we referred to in the beginning, was well known here in Bedford. A number of soldiers who came from this county served under his command. On pages 81 and 82, in Waterman's History of Bedford-Somerset-Fulton Counties, we found that he claimed his residence as Carlisle. He was born in Ireland and was trained as a surveyor. He was very active in the western Pennsylvania development, serving as an officer in the Kittanning expedition. He assisted Colonel James Smith and his 'Black Boys' in the capture of Fort Bedford in 1769. The history states he and John Frazer were residents of Bedford at that date. He died at Carlislem, September 3,1781,at the age of 45 years.