Washington's Uniform Coat

[Texas Star]

I've seen actors play George Washington with facings on his uniform coat that were red in some cases; white or gold in others. Same for other US officers.

Comment from our historians? What was correct?

Are any of you watching the Fox series on Sunday nights, where O'Reilly and others narrate their account of the Revolution?

 

[Texas Star]

And I saw on TV (so it must be true) that the British troops who went to Lexington and Concord were not soldiers, but Royal Marines. This included Maj. Pitcairn. ??

How would one distinguish Army uniforms from Royal Marine uniforms of that day?

Same for US uniforms. I think both the US Army and the USMC were founded in 1775.

Did Royal Marines use Land Pattern or Sea Service muskets? Both were variants of the basic Brown Bess.

 

[Cyrano]

T Star: I found I had a copy of Arthur B. Tourtellot's book: "Lexington and Concord". According to him the Lexington/Concord forces consisted of 11 companies of grenadiers, including one company from the Royal Marines, and 10 companies of light infantry. They were commanded by a LTC Francis Smith, with Major John Pitcairn, Royal Marines, as second in command. I have seen Maj. Pitcairn's pair of Scottish all metal pistols in the museum at Lexington. One of them might have fired "the shot heard round the world".

Tourtellot doesn't say anything about the facings on Washington's uniform.

 

[jlrhiner]

General Officers were authorized the blue overcoat with buff colored facings. As the revolution wore on, I believe Staff Officers were also using buff colored collars and cuffs.

 

[Texas Star]

T Star: I found I had a copy of Arthur B. Tourtellot's book: "Lexington and Concord". According to him the Lexington/Concord forces consisted of 11 companies of grenadiers, including one company from the Royal Marines, and 10 companies of light infantry. They were commanded by a LTC Francis Smith, with Major John Pitcairn, Royal Marines, as second in command. I have seen Maj. Pitcairn's pair of Scottish all metal pistols in the museum at Lexington. One of them might have fired "the shot heard round the world".

Tourtellot doesn't say anything about the facings on Washington's uniform.

I've seen pics of his pistols. Thanks for that good info.

 

[Ivan the Butcher]

The Royal Marines were off and on part of the Army and Navy. When part of the Royal Army, they were called the "Regiment of the Sea" and wore the Royal Army Uniform (I believe, with a distinct had devise).

The US Marines wore a coat with a Green leather or suede collar, Hence the time honored name "Leathernecks". From November 11, 1775 ( remember Tun Tavern) until July 4, 1776 the USMC was a few dozen Marines. Shortly thereafter (I've read as early as July 6, 1776) Connecticut and Rhode Island, turned their navel units over to the brand new US Navy. This Increased the USMC by 800 Marines. The Marines from these Colonial Navies had a long history of finding and destroying pirates. The Royal Navy came to greatly fear being boarded by our Marines!

In the 1950's and 60's, some or most of my uncle's 13 years in the Corps were in Fleet Service, he was trained in amphibious assault as well as ship boarding, but being stationed on an aircraft carrier (USS Wasp), he never boarded a ship, but did invade Lebanon! (1956?) My second son served in the USMC from 1999 to 2003. His primary combat weapon was a computer key board. The enemies of out country have experienced that Marines can bring a hurt on them in a whole new way!

Ivan

 

[BAM-BAM]

IIRC British units were distinguished by the color of the "Facing" on their "red coats", tricorn or shako badges, breast plates...... and in some cases their kilts.........


British Rifle units in the American revolution and the Rifle Regiment(s) in the Napoleonic wars wore Green jackets.

 

[lawandorder]

Peale painted his famous image of George Washington between June and August of 1780 and shows Buff colored lapels.

http://images.metmuseum.org/CRDImages/ap/web-large/DP167126.jpg

 

[the ringo kid]

I've seen actors play George Washington with facings on his uniform coat that were red in some cases; white or gold in others. Same for other US officers.

Comment from our historians? What was correct?

Are any of you watching the Fox series on Sunday nights, where O'Reilly and others narrate their account of the Revolution?

I watch it and think its pretty good. However, some insignias on Washingtons uniform is blatantly terrible. Look at the cheap "epaulettes" on his coat. Looks more like the insignia of a buildings doorman.

 

[the ringo kid]

And I saw on TV (so it must be true) that the British troops who went to Lexington and Concord were not soldiers, but Royal Marines. This included Maj. Pitcairn. ??

How would one distinguish Army uniforms from Royal Marine uniforms of that day?

Same for US uniforms. I think both the US Army and the USMC were founded in 1775.

Did Royal Marines use Land Pattern or Sea Service muskets? Both were variants of the basic Brown Bess.

As far as I know--most Royal Marines uniforms looked more like the Continental Army's uniform--blue. I have seen them (in books and such) wear the red uniforms too.

Osprey books has great books out on this s ubject.

 

[the ringo kid]

Washington's uniform:

Uniform rank insignia belonging to him as well:

What Washington had with him during the war:

The unifom above is post war as none of his war-time uniforms survived. He wore the above one till he passed away.