Among the Kentucky volunteers raised in the spring of 1812 for service in the Northwest was a company of light cavalry variously known as the "Bourbon County Company of Mounted Rangers," "Captain William Garrard's Volunteer Light Dragoons" and the "Bourbon County Blues." Commanded by Captain William Garrard, Clerk of the Bourbon County Court and a former member of the Kentucky House of Representatives, this company was " ..Composed of one hundred and six men and [had] but two Married Men in it...." Twenty of the men were said to be cousins. The other officers were 1st Lieutenant Edmund Baisey, 2nd Lieutenant David X. Hickman, 3rd Lieutenant Thomas McClanahan and Cornet Walter Thornton. Paid "one dollar per day" and given their "Rashions," the "Bourbon County Blues" were expected to provide "their own horse and equipments, which are to consist of a Rifle, Tomahawk, and Scalping Knife." William B. Northcutt, a private, gives the following details of what may have been the company's dress uniform: "Deep Blue Broad Cloth Coatee and pantaloons trimed with White Lace. Red Velvet Vest trimed with the Same. Jacked Leather Cap with Bear Skin over the too. Black Cockade with Silver Eagle in the Center. Black plume tiped with Red, Boots, and Spurs, &c." In the field, however, the men of Captain Garrard's company sees to have been expected to wear "...a Hunting-Shirt and Pantaloons of linen, dyed black...." Enlisted for twelve months, the "Bourbon County Blues" served from May, 1812, to April, 1813. During this tire, the company took part in the early stages of Winchester's disasterous march to the River Raisin and Major James V. Ball's Mississinewa River expedition. Source: C. Glenn Clift, Remember the Raisin (Frankfort, Ky., 1961), pp. 147-148; 228-231. Senior Editors' Note: A drawing of this unit, by Luther Sowers, was published as part of a series of uniform plates of units that served in Ohio during the War of 1812, produced by the Ohio Historical Society. Back to Empire, Eagles, & Lions Table of Contents Vol. 1 No. 27 Back to EEL List of Issues Back to MagWeb Master Magazine List © Copyright 1978 by Jean Lochet This article appears in MagWeb.com (Magazine Web) on the Internet World Wide Web. Other articles from military history and related magazines are available at http://www.magweb.com