"How To"
Create and Train Your Color Guard Unit

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Accouterments   and   Your   Uniform

The typical uniform worn by many Color Guards can be enhanced by adding various accouterments.  We can add black half gaiters.  These are available from several suppliers and they eliminate the need for period shoes, or the addition of shoe buckles.  The half gaiters add a military appearance versus the civilian style - the plain shoes provided.

We can close the neck of the coat, as it was worn by soldiers during the Revolution and then eliminate the oversized epaulettes.  We can add a black cartridge box and a bayonet with white shoulder belts.  To finish off the uniform we can replace the civilian style tricorn hat with the larger military tricorn.

The knee breeches should be tailored.  These should be tight fitting in the thigh and should fall to just below the knee.  Alterations to the breeches will greatly improve the overall appearance of the uniform and are very inexpensive.

The difference in the appearance these features add to the uniform is obvious and the cost of the enhancements can be kept to a reasonable amount.

These is nothing more colorful then viewing massed Color Guards, when each is uniformed differently.  The National Color Guard Committee encourages the various State Societies and Chapters to adopt different uniforms.  These variations can be achieved at the same cost as obtaining the popular buff and blue uniform.

When researching the multitude of uniforms worn during the American Revolution, the first question that must be asked is, "What year?"  the Continental Army uniform evolved from the British style of every regiment being clothed in different uniforms to only regional differences.  As local sources became depleted, maintaining the individual regimental uniforms became impossible.

In September 1778, 20,000 uniforms arrived from France.  They came in two color combinations.  Blue coats faced in red and brown coats faced in red.  These were issued to the various regiments as they marched through Philadelphia.  In 1779, George Washington issued General Orders regarding the regionalizing of infantry uniforms.  Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Rhode Island were ordered to wear blue coats faced in white with white pants and waist coats (called "small clothes").  New Jersey and New York were to wear blue coats faced in buff with buff small clothes.  Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and Virginia were to wear blue coats faced in red with white small clothes.  Georgia, North Carolina and South Carolina were to wear blue coats faced in light blue with button holes edged with narrow white lace or tape.  Musicians were to wear the reverse colors i.e. a New York Regimental Drummer would wear a buff coat faced in blue.

The Artillery, Cavalry and most militia Regiments were not governed by these regulations, but were given separate instructions.  The Marine Corp adopted green coats with white facings and white small clothes.

It was not until after the Treaty of Paris was signed on September 3rd, 1783 that one combination of colors for the entire Army was adopted - Blue faced in red with white small clothes.

If our SAR Color Guards wore some of these variations, how colorful (and correct) they would be!

Whenever you're doing Revolutionary War uniform research be aware that most "contemporary" paintings were done after the fact and in most cases years later.

As the horrors and deprivations of the war faded into dim memory the great significance of what was accomplished became more apparent.  The personal honor and glory of this great achievement became more vivid.  Many participants, as their personal lives settled down in the climate of peace, commissioned portraits of themselves and paintings of the battles they participated in.  In many cases, the depicted scenes were painted as-we-would-like-to-remember them, rather than reality.

Often we find paintings of officers in splendid 18th century uniforms, alleged to have been contemporary to the war, yet upon their right lapel is a medal of the Society of Cincinnati, thereby dating the portrait sometime after the war.

When George Washington was elected President, each presidential visit was met with great pomp and ceremony.  In numerous instance, the city he was visiting would turn out an honor guard, in re-created Revolutionary War uniforms and flags.   Most often they were worn by the veterans themselves.  These uniforms and flags always resembled the originals, but were made from better fabrics and more often than not, slightly more elaborate and resplendent.

To further these inaccuracies, when the Marquis de Lafayette made his grand tour of the United States in 1824, the same thing occurred, only this time forty-one years had lapsed!  Some of these recreated uniforms and flags have survived and are displayed in various notable museums as originals!  Human memory is a wondrous and mysterious thing - but heed the time honored axiom "There is no truth without proof."