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Uniforms of independent military organizations at beginning of Revolution, 1774-1775

Photographer
Description
  • Previous to the Revolutionary period, the military uniforms worn were those of the separate militia companies of the Colonies, especially the independent companies in the cities. While the Provincial Militia as a whole were not uniformed in the modern military sense, most of them fought in the garb of the hunter or woodsman. Fond as Washington was of military display and formality, he had recommended its adoption by the troops in his campaigns against the Indians in Virginia. At the extreme left of the view is one of his Virginia riflemen. This form of campaign dress consisted of shirt, trousers, leggings, rifle, bags for bullets and the powder horn hung over the left shoulder. In the campaign against the French fort, Ticonderoga, the New England Rangers wore this type of dress. The uniform of the militiaman seated on the stone shows that he is a member of the Governor's foot-guard organization of Connecticut, an organization still in existence which wore, as shown there, the scarlet coat, bearskin hat and brown gaiters. The Quakers of Pennsylvania finally overcame, in part, their distaste for military organization. Benjamin Franklin was elected Colonel of a regiment of independent companies that had been formed in Philadelphia in view of the impending trouble with the mother country. The soldier at the right is a Philadelphia Trooper of this command dressed in a brown coat with white facings, white breeches, high boots, round leather cap with buck's tail on top and a silver cord, also representing an organization still in existence. The man at the back with rifle in hands is a member of that most famous of all military organizations formed just before the outbreak of the Revolution--the "Minute Men." At the extreme right approaching is a mounted courier, the swiftest message bearer of that period, and in the left background is a colonial farm house.
MODS Note
  • Hand-tinted
Subject
Work Type
Identifier
  • P217:36:01
Local Collection Name
Is Part Of
  • Set 56 - History of Army Uniforms
Institution
Submission Date
  • 09/08/2016
Modified
  • 05/30/2023
Collections

APA

OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University. (23 Apr 2024). Uniforms of independent military organizations at beginning of Revolution, 1774-1775 Retrieved from https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df715s101

MLA

OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University. "Uniforms of independent military organizations at beginning of Revolution, 1774-1775" Oregon Digital. 23 Apr 2024. https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df715s101

Chicago

OSU Special Collections & Archives Research Center, Oregon State University. "Uniforms of independent military organizations at beginning of Revolution, 1774-1775" Oregon Digital. Accessed 2024-04-23. https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df715s101

Wiki

{{cite web | url= https://oregondigital.org/concern/images/df715s101 | title= Uniforms of independent military organizations at beginning of Revolution, 1774-1775 |author= |accessdate= 2024-04-23 |publisher= }}
Data Sources
Footer Number Term External URI
1 Underwood & Underwood http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n85188904
2 Military uniforms--History http://id.loc.gov/authorities/subjects/sh2008107806
3 lantern slides http://vocab.getty.edu/aat/300134977
4 Visual Instruction Department Lantern Slides, 1900-1940 (P 217) http://opaquenamespace.org/ns/localCollectionName/p_217
5 Oregon State University http://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n80017721

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