[Ealge with Flag]
UNIFORMS OF
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

The troops or companies of light horse raised in the Colony of Connecticut, during the war, were formed into several regiments and we find that few wore the same dress.

The one pictured shows the uniform of Captain James Green's troop as they appeared at Stillwater with the squadron commanded by Major Elijah Hyde, then attached to the American Army under General Gates. This troop wore felt hats with an iron crown piece inside as protection from saber cuts. Their uniforms were brown faced with buff, waistcoats and breeches of coarse white linen, white wool stockings, short gaiters or spatterdashes of black leather and steel spurs.

Their arms consisted of saber, pistols and long carbine slung on the right side, from a shoulder belt of white buff-leather. The cartridge box was carried in the waistbelt on the right side. When not in use, the carbine was carried muzzle forward in a leather bucket attached to the right side of the saddle, as may be seen in the drawing of the 17th Light Dragoons of the British Army, on page 28.

It should not be supposed that all of the Connecticut Light Horse dressed as shown here, for many of the troops wore jacked leather helmets and boots like the four regiments of Continental Dragoons with Washington.

[REFERENCES: Connecticut Men in the War of the Revolution (1889), pp. 443, 512; Connecticut Gazette, October 24, 1777, see post, deserters' descriptions.]

Second Regiment of Connecticut Light Horse Militia, 1777

Second Regiment of Connecticut Light Horse

[SOURCE: Uniforms of the Armies in the War of the American Revolution, 1775-1783. Lt. Charles M. Lefferts. Limited Edition of 500. New York York Historical Society. New York, NY. 1926.]


Uniforms of the American Revolution | Next Page | Uniforms Index | Return to Main Menu

eMail the Webmaster

Copyright Notice
Copyright © 2015, Sons of the Revolution in the State of California

 HTML 4.0 Verified!