Chartrand, R.
172pp
Old Fort Niagara Assn 1992
£ 15

Rene Chartrand fully lives up to his considerable reputation in this lavishly illustrated study, combining factual information as to what should have been worn with some pretty salutory descriptions of what actually was worn by the troops in the field. The regular army forces are of course covered in some detail and it is interesting to find that they got through no fewer than three full-scale changes in style besides minor alterations. Indeed a major theme of the book is the evolution of a decidedly sober 'American' style in place of the gaudier 'European' style worn at the outset of the conflict.

The 'European' uniforms were supposedly modelled on French ones [somebody called Napoleon was doing very nicely thank you at the time] but confusion clearly reigned in the designer's mind as they looked remarkably like British ones, save for being cut from blue cloth instead of red.

Drummers were apparently dressed at one point in British red coats originally intended for the 104th Foot and some idea of the quality of the clothing worn by most American soldiers can be gained from the US Commissary General's comment that they were "of very superior quality".

Volunteers and state militias are necessarily dealt with less comprehensively, but having excused the lack of detail on the grounds that the subject still requires years of research [and of course another book all to itself], Mr. Chartrand still manages to pull a few juicy rabbits out of his hat, before going on to say a necessary few words about the US Marines and the US Navy.

As with all the Old Fort Niagara Association publications this one is very well illustrated with photographs of surviving items [some of them decidedly moth-eaten], contemporary illustrations and modern paintings and sketches. Those by the renowned Charles McBarron are particularly noteworthy and if a few of them look familiar it is only because they have been shamelessly copied by a former Osprey illustrator.

All in all a very reasonably priced, comprehensive and above all, reliable reference work, which I can recommend highly.