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US Continental Army

Colours of the US Continental Army

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Colours of the US Continental Army

According to orders of June, 1780, general officers in the Continental Army were to wear blue coats with yellow buttons, lined and faced in buff with yellow buttons, two epaulettes and white or buff underclothes (meaning waistcoat and breeches). Prior to this General Washington wore substantially the same uniform, which is why it was adopted later. The colors were chosen because they were the colors of the Whig party in England. The Tories wore blue coats with red collars and cuffs.

The coats worn by Army soldiers played a part in flag design. In May 1779 the Board of War passed a plan on uniform design, in which all soldiers would wear blue coats. However, the facing colors would be different, as follows:

White facings: New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Connecticut
Buff facings: New York, New Jersey
Red facings: Pennsylvania, Delaware, Maryland, Virginia
Blue facings (white button holes): North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia

The colors of the New Jersey flag (buff, with the shield primarily in blue) were selected due to the fact those were the colors of the state's soldiers during the Revolutionary War.

In addition, the use of blue as the main color for the Army gave that color pre-eminence in the U.S. Of the 13 original states, 7 (New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Delaware, South Carolina) use blue as the main color. The first 2 states to join after independence (Kentucky and Vermont) do as well. All the armed forces wear blue as a dress uniform except the Army, although they didn't switch to green until this century and officers still have the option of wearing a blue version of the current uniform. Most executive departments of the federal government also have primarily blue flags (the presidential flag, for example).

Let it be known that all the information on Continental Army uniforms was culled from Uniforms of the American Revolution by John Mollo.

Kurt Stutt 18-JUN-1995