In general terms the dress of the infantry conformed to the description in the first article, in the following section I shall describe any changes and also give further information with regards to the uniform of individual regiments.

By this date all the infantry, with the exception of the .Jaegers and the militia who continued to wear the grey coat and grey felt tricorn, wore the indigo blue coat. Officers also wore blue, the practice of wearing a cost of the regimental facing colour having been abandoned. Regiments were distinguished by the colour of their cuffs and waistcoats as well as by their buttons and the lace edging to the black felt tricorn. Buttons were either white or yellow metal, silver or gold in the case of the officers. The edging to the tricorn, when worn, was either white or yellow lace, once again the officers were distinguished by silver or gold. Officers wore feathers as decoration on the tricorn, some senior mounted infantry officers wore a steel breastplate under the cost. The regimental distinctions were as follows;

The Leibregiment zu Fuss had blue cuffs and linings, white waistcoats, buttons and tricorn lace.

The regiment Prinz Karl had yellow cuffs and linings, blue waistcoats, white buttons and no tricorn lime. The regiment Erbprinz Friedrich had blue cuffs, red linings and blue waistcoats, white buttons and no tricorn lace. The NCO's and drummers of this regiment had both cuffs and linings In red. The Grenadier Battalion wore mitre caps and had the normal indigo blue coat, worn open, with red cuffs, the waistcoat was also red. Musicians in the infantry regiments wore costs decorated with lace of the regimental colour. The Hochfuerlich Hessische Jaeger Corps wore a grey cost with white metal buttons. The tricorn had no lace edging. Green stockings were worn.

Infantry equipment consisted of a waistbelt, from which was hung the bayonet and a straight sword, and a cartridge pouch slung from the left shoulder. This equipment was of natural leather though whitened leather began to appear in the infantry regiments at this time, the Wartensleben regiment and the militia would seem to have retained the earlier natural leather pattern until the end of the century. The flintlock musket was introduced in 1687 along with the socket bayonet, the Lebregiment received the first issue, and this weapon slowly began to replace the matchlock from this date. The number of pikemen in each company was being reduced throughout the period and by 1698 or 1699 it had entirely disapeared from the infantry regiments. The militia, however, retained the pike until as late as 1721.

The cavalry were also much as described in the first article although the iron helmet and gauntlet were no longer in use. The Garde du Corps had red distinctions and yellow buttons with white or silver lace. The Leibregiment had red distinctions and yellow buttons with lace of yellow or gold. The regiment von Spiegel had blue distinctions and yellow buttons with lace of yellow or gold. The regiment von Kaersbach had red distinctions and white buttons with lace of yellow or gold.

The dragoons were issued with a flintlock with socket bayonet in 1695. Each of the three dragoon regiments wore a different coloured coat though the white or silver lace edging to the tricorn was common to them all. The dragoon regiment Lippe-Brake had red coats with white distinctions and white buttons. The dragoon regiment Nassau-Weilburg had yellow coats with white buttons. The dragoon regiment Wartensleben had blue coats with red distinctions and white buttons. As was the case with the infantry regiments the Musicians wore costs with lace decoration of the regimental colour.

Cavalry equipment was of natural leather throughout the period covered by this article and consisted of a waistbelt from which was suspended the &word, and ia the case of the dragoons the bayonet, a carbine bell and a cartridge pouch which were both slung from the left shoulder. Horse furniture was in the facing colour for the regiments of horse and in the cost colour for the dragoon regiments.

As far as the artillery is concerned there is very little information to be found. It is probable that the artillerymen wore an all blue cost and a leather waistcoat. The neckerchief was red. The tricorn was edged in yellow or gold lace. Stockings were of grey wool.

I have kept the names and ranks of the personalities mentioned in these articles in the original German to avoid any errors of translation. German names and titles do not always translate to English very easily, as certain titles do not have a direct equivalent, one of these being the German Landgraf. I trust that this his not confused any readers who may be more used to seeing Herzog Karl von Lothringen as Duke Charles of Lorraine.

I can only offer my apologies for this being a far from complete description of the army of Hessen-Kassel. It would have been nice to have been in a position where I would have had unlimited access to information on the army of Hessen-Kassel during the period covered by these articles. I have, however, access only to the works noted at the end of the first article. 

Army of Hessen Kassel 1650-1700 Part Two: 1688-1700

Organisation
Uniforms

Army of Hessen Kassel 1650-1700 Part One: 1650-1688