"American LI question" Topic

OK, I have ordered some AWI Continental LI. They have buckskins and the typical LI cap that was brought back from France. What units can I research for coat/facing colors etc. Seems to be difficult to find.Thx in advance.

Buckskins? More likely fringed linen hunting shirts. Do they wear fringed mitasses, or breeches? If breeches, the shirts are most likely linen. Off-white or very pale tan. What facings would you paint on a hunting shirt?

"What facings would you paint on a hunting shirt?"

I was thinking about this last night as I'm painting some Perry hunting shirt types at the moment and a couple of the command figures have definite "cuffs" on their hunting shirts. I know the 2nd (?) Maryland is thought to have had purple hunting shirts with red "facings", i.e. cuffs and collars. I suppose some other units may have followed this idea, but I agree that generally it sounds odd.

I have also seen reference to some units having coloured fringes on their hunting shirts e.g. the 6th Virginia in 1776. This may have been an officer distinction but I do not have enough information to be sure.

Okaaaaay. There are a few units, mostly militia companies, that are documented to have worn dyed and decorated hunting shirts in uniform patterns. I don't think any of these are known to have worn the light infantry cap. (By the way, Continental light infantry caps were usually made from cut up felt hats. Fancy jacked leather helmets were very rare.) Individual militiamen sometimes wore colored hunting shirts decorated to taste. Again, light infantry caps were pretty scarce in the militia.

There was a scheme (in 1776?) to put the whole Continental army into hunting shirts with standard colored stripes and fringes designating rank, but I don't think it ever came to much. As far as I can determine, the vast majority of hunting shirts issued to Continental units were plain undecorated unbleached linen.

This is not an easy answer, as it depends on the year you are talking about, as American LI changed throughout the war.

Morgan's riflemen probably wore hunting shirts, or at least some of them anyway. Some LI are pictured in frocks in the Osprey book, for variety (uniform coat wore out?). Probably correct. But a whole unit with light caps? Hmmm.

Facing colors would be same as the unit they were drawn from, so again, depending on the year and campaign, this will vary greatly. Sorry, no straight forward answer on this one.