| Unit | Coat | Facing Collar |
Cuff | Turnback | Waistcoat | Pants |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1st Dragoons [yellow lace] | brown | green | green | green | green | buff |
| 3rd Dragoons | white | lt blue | lt blue | lt blue | white | white |
| 4th Dragoons [Note#1] | green | red | red | red | white | white or buff |
| 1st SC [#2] | blue | red | red | white | white | white |
| 2nd SC | blue | red | red | white | white | white |
| 3rd SC [#3] | blue | red or white | red or white | white | white | white |
| Pulaski's Legion | blue | red | red | red or white | white | white |
| 1st NC [#4] | Miscellaneous; mostly hunting shirts | |||||
| 2nd NC | Miscellaneous; mostly hunting shirts | |||||
| 3rd NC | Miscellaneous; mostly hunting shirts | |||||
| 1st VA | blue | red | red | white | white | white |
| 2nd VA [#5] | blue | red | red | white | white | white |
| 3rd VA | lt blue | pale blue | pale blue | white | green | white |
| 1st VA State Line | unknown | prob. blue | red? | red? | white? | white? |
| 2nd VA State Line | unknown | prob. blue | red? | red? | white? | white? |
| 1st DE (Halls) [#6] | brown | red | red | white | white | white |
| 1st MD | blue | red | red | white | white or grn | white or buff |
| Armand's Legion [#7] | blue | buff | buff | buff | buff | buff |
| Lee's Legion | green | red | red | red | buff | buff |
| 4th VA | Some blue faced red coats, mostly hunting shirts | |||||
| 5th VA | Some blue faced red coats, mostly hunting shirts | |||||
| Converged Lights [#8] | blue | red,white, buff,blue | red,white, buff,blue |
white | white | white |
| Hasken's Lights | blue | red,white, buff,blue | red,white, buff,blue |
white | white | white |
| 2nd Canadian-Congress Own | brown | red | red | white | white | buff |
| 1st PA | blue | red | red | white | misc | misc |
| 2nd PA | blue | red | red | white | misc | misc |
| Gaskins VA State Line | blue | red | red | white | misc | misc |
| 1st NC State Line | Unknown, but probably hunting shirts and misc clothes | |||||
| 1st NY | Unknown, but probably a mix of blue and brown coats with white or buff facings | |||||
| 2nd NY | Unknown, but probably a mix of blue and brown coats with white or buff facings | |||||
| 1st NJ | blue | red | red | white | white | misc |
| 2nd NJ | blue | red | red | white | white | misc |
| 3rd RI (Olneys) | white | white | red | white | white | white |
| 3rd MD | Some blue-faced red coats, but mostly hunting shirts | |||||
| 4th MD | Some blue-faced red coats, but mostly hunting shirts | |||||
| Continental Artillery [yellow lace] | blue | red | red | red | white | white |
| Bourbonais | white | white | white | white | white | white |
| Luzons Legion | sky blue | yellow | yellow | grey | white | white |
| French Artillery | dark blue | red | red | red | blue | blue |
| Soissanais | white | white | red | white | white | white |
| Saintonge | white | green | green | white | white | white |
| Royal Deux Ponts | sky blue | yellow | yellow | white | white | white |
| Gatinais | white | purple | white | white | white | white |
| Torraine | white | white/rose | rose | white | white | white |
| Agenois | white | white | purple | white | white | white |
NOTES FOR AMERICAN UNIFORMS
One general comment. You could throw just about anything from the period on the table and call it a Cominental Regiment. This is especially true for the Southern Campaign where Nathaniel Greene often commented on the ratty appearance of his army. Obviously the French were well clothed as were theAmerican Light Infantry regiments that appeared in 1781. Lee's Legion also had a reputation for its smart look. What I have tried to do is portray each regiment as it appeared in 1780, which I have already mentioned, often differs from how it appeared before.
1. All the Continental Dragoons were rather small in size and random in appearance. They, like the British Legion, wore white hunting shirts during the summer heat. The Continental Dragoons favored the French style cuirassier helmets of which Mollo has a good example.
2. The 1st and 2nd South Carolinian Continentals wore a light infantry style of cap with a crescent moon and inscription on the front. Again, Mollo shows a good example.
3. On the other hand, the 3rd SC Continental regiment might have woyn a normal cocked hat although at least one reference talks about a cap with an inscription.
4. The North Carolina regiments were particularly ill-equipped with uniforms. They never seemed to have received any French coats and after most of the regiments were captured at Charleston, the state did little to better cloth troops raised later.
5. The 2nd VA is a good example of the drawbacks in Mollo's book. He shows a nice picture of a 2nd VA soldier but provides very little explanation. His picture shows a blue coat with blue facings and turnbacks. That was the regimental colors from 1775-1778 but by 1780 the uniform as listed above was utilized. The low crown hat with short brim turned up at one side was a feature of most VA regiments earlier in the war but it is unsure how long they lasted. The "round hat," similar to what the Marines wore, should probably be sprinkled in amongst a VA regiment of the Southem Campaign but probably should not predominate.
6. The 1st DE has been one of the most misrepresented American units of the AWI. Lefferts originally showed the entire unit having a light infantry style leather cap similar to what the light companies of the 2nd Canadian wore. That representation was repeated by others well into the 1970s. Mollo corrects that mistake but makes one of his own. He shows the 1st DE as it looked in 1778 with the blue faced red coats and black cocked hats with gold trim. By the time the regiment went south with DeKalb, it still retained the gold-trimmed cocked hats but the uniforms were French issued brown coats faced red. The remnants of the DE regiment under Kirkwood wore hunting shirts.
7. Armands Legion wore hats sort of similar to the "Tarleton" hat of the British Legion cavalry. I cannot determine if the infantry also wore those hats but painted my unit that way because it looked better. I did the same with Pulaski's Legion using French dragoon hats instead. Lee's Legion is the only unit that I can find references for the infantry arm wearing dragoon hats.
8. The Converged Lights also wore a unique cap that had a red and black pompom on one side. Mollo has a good picture of a light infantry soldier.
Back to Uniforms of the Southern Campaign