"Best assortment of facing colors in an AWI army?" Topic

I am looking at ordering some prepainted troops and am wondering if anyone has ever bothered to go through the British Grenadier scenario books, look at the British and Hessian units involved and determine the best mix of facing colors for regiments to represent the most scenarios. If so, if you could share that would be great. Thank you.

Never looked through those books but for the British you can paint one of each unit with yellow, pale yellow, red, blue, green, black, orange, and purple facings and pretty much get good coverage. That gives you two brigades.

Afraid I can't be so helpful with the Hessian units.

Some people look down on it, but the Mollo book on uniforms is the best single source I've encountered these last twenty-five years plus. Over 200 color illustrations – though they aren't all uniforms, some detail items like lace and such. But a must have book in my opinion.

You'll need a few with blue facings, since all the royal regiments had blue facings.

The OFM has a plan for exactly this if you can find the thread. I think it probably favours yellow, green and white for the British.

Actually I've found it ; TMP link

If you want a list of all the British units that appear in the 3 British Grenadier scenario books then let me know, as I have such a document. It doesn't give you the facing colours, but those are easy to track down on this website: fifedrum.org/crfd/BD_1R.htm What it does tell you are which regiments appeared most often in which campaigns.

Giles

A fine piece of work by the OFM, I think we may be drifting towards some ar/awi next year and the tmp write up by john has been most informative

regards
dave

There are lots of yellow facing regiments.

I did what Early Morning Writer did (good idea that, by the way) and picked regiments on a "one of each color" basis to give my army some variety. Originally, I was going to follow a specific order of battle for my British organization, but the brigade that I initially chose had nothing but regiments with yellow facings.

the Mollo book on uniforms is the best single source I've encountered these last twenty-five years plus

I agree.

The Osprey Boston campaign book has an interesting feature. Every battle map has a key on the side showing the British regiments by facing color.
Most of the Boston Garrison went on to more impressive careers than at Boston.

You might also want to check this out:
fifedrum.org/crfd/BD_1R.htm

Great advice by OFM on making the armies. Thanks for the link and thanks John for the link again on the British as I seem to have misplaced the bookmark.

Erik

Thank you so much gentlemen! I am somewhat familiar with many of the facing colors being a reenactor, but the wargaming side is quite new to me.

I would add to the list of sources, reenactor Roy Najecki's wonderful webpage with photos of 1768 facing cloth and lace samples from Windsor Castle:
link

GiloUK, I would love to see the document you mentioned. That is exactly what I am seeking.

John the OFM, your guide looks great. I may have to use it as the economic realities of recreating metal armies set in. I know I will have to compromise like using 55th Foot kendal green as 5th foot gosling green on occasion as I can only get so many troops. It would still be nice to do the correct command stands for all the Crown forces. To try to do the same for the rebels would drive me mad as the uniforms changed so much and so many flags are unknown. Having seen the colors Tarleton took at the Waxhews and seeing one of the standards actually had a blank space to add the name of the regiment really drove home the point!

I am struggling a bit, having a hard time picking maker and scale, but will probably go the 10mm route. My original plan was to use Old Glory 10s and only paint facings on the command stands so the rankers could be shifted as needed, but I may be more inclined now to have someone else paint them and have facings done on everyone.

I had built a paper army with a 1:10 representation of the troops for the Battle of Princeton and of course the 4th Brigade was a nice color mix with the 17th, 40th, 55th Foot Regiments, as well as the small band of 42nd Highlanders and Grenadiers and the troop of 16th Light dragoons and of course the Royal Artillery. Recreating the rebels almost drove me mad as many regiments were down to as little as 50 men or less. One regiment was down to one man, and he was shot!

For the miniature painters , I composed a comparison list of 146 identifiable regiments prior to the 1779 General Uniform Orders. It should be remembered that even after the 1779 Uniform Orders, brown continued to be a very common alternative color to blue. The following is a summary of the basic coat color with facings. It does not include any cavalry or artillery units. It also does not account for any variations in pants, stockings or small clothes. Coat only totals were Blue = 65 (45%), Brown = 44 (30%), Light Brown = 10, Gray = 7, Red = 9, Green = 5, White = 2, Light and Mid Blue = 4.
Almost half wore one of the top three combinations. COAT COLOR w/ facing color
BLUE w/ Red….37 = 25% RED w/ Yellow…2
BROWN w/ red….20 = 14% MID-BLUE w/ Red…2
BLUE w/ White…15 = 11% RED w/ Buff……….2
BROWN w/ Green…6 RED w/ Lgt Blue…1
BROWN w/ Lgt Blue…6 RED w/ White…1
LGT BROWN w/ Red…5 GREEN w/ Black…1
BROWN w/ Buff…5 RAY w/ White…1
BLUE w/ Buff…5 GRAY w/ Red…1
BROWN w/ white…4 GRAY w/ Blue…1
GREEN w/ Red…4 WHITE w/ Red…2
GRAY w/ Green…4 LGT BLUE w/ Red…1
RED w/ white…3 LGT BLUE w/ Green…1
BLUE w/ Green…3 LGT BROWN w/ White…1
BROWN w/ Yellow…3 LGT BROWN w/ Blue…1
BLUE w/ Yellow…3 LGT BROWN w/ Buff…1
BLUE w/ Lgt Blue…2

I know this is Patriot but the topic question implied a variety of uniforms. From my Time Portal passage special edition on the AMRev
LOL!

UNIT Coat Cuffs Lapels
H-C Lieb Dk Blue Yellow Yellow
H-C Erb Prinz F 76-79 Dk Blue Rose Rose
H-C Erb Prinz F.80-83 Dk Blue Crimsn Crimsn
H-C Prinz Karl M. Dk Blue Red Red
H-C Trumbach M. Dk Blue White White
H-C Mirbach M. Dk Blue Red Red
H-C Donop M. Dk Blue Straw Straw
H-C Wutgenau M. Dk Blue Red none
H-C Ditfurth F. Dk Blue Yellow Yellow
H-C Knyphausen F. Dk Blue Black Black
H-C Losberg F. Dk Blue Orange Orange
H-C WissembachGar Dk Blue White White
H-C Burnau Gar. Dk Blue Crimsn Crimsn
H-C Huyn Gar. Dk Blue Yellow None
H-C Stein Gar. Dk Blue Orange None
H-C Rall Grenadier Dk Blue Red Red
H-C Linsingen Gren Dk Blue
H-C Jager Detach-Ft Dk Grn Crimsn Crimsn
H-C Mtd Jagers Dk Grn Crimsn Crimsn
H-C Artillery Det Dk Blue Crimsn Crimsn
H-H Lieb Gren Rgt Dk Blue Red Red
H-H Jager Det MGreen Red Red
Waldeck Musk Rgt MdBlue Yellow Yellow
Anhalt Zerbst Mus White Red Red
Anhalt Pandour Bn White? Red? Red?
Brun Prz Ludwig Drgn Lt Blue Yellow Yellow
Bruns Riedesel Dk Blue Yellow Yellow
Bruns Prinz Fredrick Dk Blue Yellow None
Bruns Rhetz Dk Blue White White
Bruns Specht Dk Blue Red Red
Bruns Barner Chass Dk Blue Black None
Bruns Breymann Gren Dk Blue Yellw? none
Bruns Artillery Detach Dk Blue Rgt Rgt
Bruns Vol Jagers Green Red Red
Anspach D'Eyl MdBlue Red Red
Anspach De Voigt MdBlue Black Black
Anspach Arty Detach Dk Blue Crmsn Crimsn
Anspach Chasseur Co Green Red Red

Transferring charts does not work well.
An excert from my book on German Aux. in the AmRev

From the Loyalist article. We changed it to a chart for the book. A-f units

AMERICAN LEGION : Red coats, white waistcoats, turnbacks and pants, Blue collar and cuffs
BAYARD"S RANGERS : ? Hunting frocks and frontier mix
BRITISH LEGION :. Cavalry – green jackets, black collar, lapels and cuffs, white and buff pants;Infantry = green jackets, white waistcoats and breeches. Drummers in green jackets, pants and waistcoats. Clothed in white while in the South (as they were reported as being clad in the same manner as Lee's Legion and the 3rd Continental Lgt Dragoons who both wore white).
BRYAN'S CORPS : ?
BUCK'S COUNTY LGT DRAGOONS : Red jackets w/ Buff pants and small clothes ‘76-'78; Dark green jackets while attached to Queen's Rangers; ? changed back to red when transferred to British army in ‘80
BUCK'S COUNTY VOLUNTEERS : ?
BUTLER'S RANGERS : Dark green coats and waistcoats, scarlet facings, leather overalls or buckskin leggings; black leather skullcaps with brass front and black cockade on the left side; belts were buff; also green dyed hunting shirts with mid blue dyed fringe
CALEDONIAN VOLUNTEERS : ?
CAMPBELL'S BROADSWORD COMPANY : mix of frontier and highland dress
CANADIAN VOLUNTEER BOATMAN AND AXEMEN : French Canadian frontier dress
CLAY'S SOUTH CAROLINA LOYALIST : ?
CHESTER COUNTY LGT DRAGOONS : British Light Dragoon uniforms
CONNETICUT LOYALIST VOLUNTEERS : ?
CORPS OF BLACK PIONEERS : Green coats in 1778; later Red coat with black facings
CUNNINGHAM'S SOUTH CAROLINA LOYALIST MILITIA : frontier and town mix
DE DIEMAR HUSSARS : (Queen's Rangers Hussars) Hussar dress: issued both Black and Buff coats. Buff coats may have been altered to make pelisses or small clothes.
; DELANCEY'S BRIGADE OF NEW YORK LOYALIST : each battalion will have the number of buttons in a row on their coat equaling its battalion number; red coats, white waistcoats and linen trousers, blue facings but a Hessian officers recorded their facings as Green in 1783; tricornes with white hat band; Winter dress consisted of brown trousers and leather caps (light inf or Hessian fusilier caps but more likely an animal skin/fur cap which was issued and worn only during winter months); while in the South those battalions are reported to have worn white and black round hats with black feathers
DELANCEY'S REFUGEES : Infantry co – green coats, white waistcoat and breeches, brown leggings, white facings,tricorne. Lgt Dragoons – ‘76-79 dressed as infantry; ‘80-83 red or green jackets, black collar and cuffs, leather helmet with bearskin crest, other items as per British Lgt dragoons
EAST FLORIDA VOLUNTEERS : frontier dress
EAST FLORIDA MILITIA : mix of town and frontier dress; included ex-slaves
EMMERICH'S CHASSEURS : Grey coats in 1778, later- Infantry – dark green jackets, white waistcoats and breeches, facings olive green ?; Lgt Drgns dressed as infantry ?
FERGUSON'S RIFLE CORPS : mixture of men from several units

F-New
FLORIDA RANGERS : frontier dress
GENTLEMEN VOLUNTEERS OF NEW YORK : Red coats
GEORGIA LGT DRAGOONS : Lgt Dragoon uniform with green jackets or buckskins for campaigns; for garrison red jackets, ? facings
GEORGIA LOYALISTS : frontier dress OR Red coats with white pants and waistcoats
GUIDES AND PIONEERS : Short red jackets, red lapels, black collar and cuffs
HALIFAX MILITIA : town dress for Canada
HIERLIHY'S CORPS : ?
JESSUPS LOYALIST CORPS : ?
KING'S AMERICAN REGIMENT : Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, initially olive green facings but reported as blue in 1783
KING'S AMERICAN DRAGOONS : Red jackets, blue facings, helmeted caps (lgt drgn caps)
KING'S CAROLINA RANGERS : Green jackets and lapels, buff/buckskin trousers, crimson collar and cuffs
KING'S ORANGE RANGERS : 1777-78 Green coats; 1778-83 Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches; bright yellow facings (faded orange ?)
KING'S ROYAL REGIMENT of NEW YORK : (Royal Greens) Dark green coats, white waistcoats and breeches, white facings, brown leggings, buff belts, tricorne with white hatbands; lgt company identified by green wings; coat was changed in 1778 to red with blue facings; detachments assigned to raids often wore frontier dress
LORD DUNMORE'S ETHIOPIANS : Ex-negro slaves with a mix of town militia hats and frontier stocking caps
LOYAL AMERICAN ASSOCIATION : town militia, white scarf on left arm
LOYAL AMERICAN RANGERS : ?
LOYAL AMERICAN REGIMENT : 1777-78 Green coats; 1778-83 Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, buff facings ( ? or green facings as reported in 1783)
LOYAL FORESTERS : ?
LOYAL IRISH VOLUNTEERS : town militia; white cockade on their hats
LOYAL KING'S COUNTY MILITIA : town militia
LOYAL NEWPORT ASSOCIATORS : town militia
LOYAL NEW ENGLANDERS : town militia
LOYAL NOVA SCOTIA VOLUNTEERS : Red coats, green (or Buff ? reported in 1783 by a Hessian officer) facings
LOYAL QUEEN'S COUNTY REGIMENT : Red coat, white waistcoat and breeches, blue facings, tricorne with silver band, silver buttons; independent troops of Light Dragoons
LOYAL SUFFOLK COUNTY MILITIA : town militia
LOYAL WESTCHESTER VOLUNTEERS : town militia
MARYLAND LOYALIST : Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, olive green facings
McGIRTH'S LOYALISTS : frontier and town mix ?
NASSAU BLUES : ?
NEW HAMPSHIRE LOYALIST REGIMENT : Red coats, White waistcoats and pants, ? facings
NEW JERSEY VOLUNTEERS : 4 battalions with each battalion having the number of buttons in a row on their jackey equaling its battalion number; 1777 Green coats with white pants and small clothes. 1778 Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, royal blue facings
NEW YORK RANGERS : Red jacket, blue lapels, white cuffs, cape lined with white, buck hat with a black feather
NEW YORK VOLUNTEERS : Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, buff facings (or blue facings as reported by a Hessian officer in 1783)
NEWPORT LIGHT INFANTRY COMPANY : Red coats and waistcoats, white breeches, Light infantry caps

Nor-Y
NORTH CAROLINA DRAGOONS : ?
NORTH CAROLINA HIGHLAND REGIMENT : Blue coat without facings, kilts provided by the 71st British Regiment, Highland blue bonnet, red and white checked leggings
NORTH CAROLINA HIGHLANDER VOLUNTEERS : froniter and highland mix
NORTH CAROLINA HIGHLANDERS : frontier and highland mix
NORTH CAROLINA HIGHLAND MILITIA : frontier and highland mix
NORTH CAROLINA INDEPENDENT COMPANY;
NORTH CAROLINA LOYALIST : frontier and highland mix; Red coats by 1783
PHILADELPHIA FIRST TROOP LIGHT DRAGOONS : Red jackets in ‘77-'78; changed to green jackets while attached to the Queen's Rangers
PFISTER'S LOYALIST MILITIA : mix of frontier and town militia
PENNSYLVANIA DRAGOONS : ? Attached to the Queen's Rangers, Green coats with black facings
PENNSYLVANIA LOYALIST : garrison; Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, olive green facings
PRINCE OF WALE'S AMERICAN REGIMENT : Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, blue facings (green facings are reported by a Hessian officer in 1783)
PROVINCIAL LIGHT INFANTRY : Converged units wearing uniforms of their parent unit
QUEEN'S AMERICAN RANGERS : ?
QUEEN'S OWN LOYAL VIRGINIANS : Town militia and frontier mix
QUEEN'S RANGERS : Rifle companies – green jackets, green waistcoat, green and later white pants, black collar and cuffs , tricorne hats with white hatband (exchanged for light infantry caps when sent south in ‘80; Grenadier co dressed as rifles but with an oversized black light infantry style hat; Light co dressed as rifles but with light infantry caps with crescent moon device and 1 Highland co green jackets with kilts; infantry winter dress included brown gaiters; Hussar troops – green jackets, black collar and cuffs, Hussar cap (or Mirliton ?) with green bag plus a crescent moon device; 3 Lgt Dragoon troops as hussars but with light dragoon Tarleton caps
REGULATORS : frontier dress
ROMAN CATHOLIC VOLUNTEERS : Red coats, white pants and waistcoats, ? facings
ROYAL AMERICAN REFORMEES : frontier dress
ROYAL GARRISON BATTALION : Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, green collar and cuffs.
ROYAL HIGHLAND EMIGRANTS : Highland dress; uniformed like the 42nd Highland Rgt including facings when adopted into British army as the 84th; Garrison companies wore kilts, Field companies or kilts or trews or white breeches
ROYAL NORTH BRITISH VOLUNTEERS : Highland, town militia mix, blue bonnets
ROYAL FENCIBLE AMERICANS : Red coats, white waistcoats and breeches, black lapels
ROYAL NORTH CAROLINA REGIMENT : Red coats, blue facings, white waistcoats and breeches, black round hats with black feathers
SAINT JOHN'S MILITIA : frontier dress
SAVANNAH'S LOYALIST MILITIA : town militia
SAVANNAH'S ARMED NEGROES : town miltia with some stocking caps
SOUTH CAROLINA DRAGOONS : Red jackets, Yellow facings, white turnbacks, pants and waistcoats. Light Dragoon headgear
SOUTH CAROLINA LOYAL MILITIA : town militia and frontier dress mix, may have been provided red coats ?
SOUTH CAROLINA RANGERS : ? frontier dress with mainly green coats
SOUTH CAROLINA ROYALIST : Red coats, Yellow facings, white turnbacks and pants
STARCKLOFF'S HESSIAN TROOP OF LIGHT DRAGOONS : Green Coats
TRYON'S VOLUNTEERS : red coats
VOLUNTEERS OF NEW ENGLAND : Red coats, ? facings
VOLUNTEERS OF IRELAND : Red coats, white waistcoat and breeches, ? facings, tricorne and issued Light Infantry caps 1780
WENTWORTH'S VOLUNTEERS : Red coats
WESTCHESTER COUNTY TORY MILITIA : town militia
WEST FLORIDA ROYAL FORESTERS : probably frontier dress on campaigns or a Lgt Drgn uniform with a Green Jacket; garrison dress may have been a red coat with blue, royal. facings
WEST JERSEY VOLUNTEERS : town militia
YORK VOLUNTEER RIFLE COMPANY : Green coats with all three units

Thank you RudyNelson!

Rudy Scott Nelson, thats great stuff! Is your Time Portal special edition available for sale?

The Time Portal Passages magazine in hard copy, I still have a few copies. Send me an email at
scottnelson@bellsouth.net

We can talk about the AmRev articles.

As i wass sending Big Dan some material, I ran across a Patriot militia article that had not been finished.

For my ultra-conservative political readers, who regard the right to bear arms based in historical founding fathers, I thought the section on Virginia militia was interesting.

"Equipping the militia units was a major task facing the government of Virginia in 1775-76. The government actually confiscated every musket that they could find in the colony. This policy was such a high priority, that several ‘impressments gangs' even confiscated all firearms from rural farms. The idea that the militia soldier would muster with his own weapon was a falsehood at least in Virginia."

I am a strict constructionist. The only firearms people should be allowed to own are the same type they had when the constitution was written. What this has to do with the OP is beyond me.

Got to agree with you Rallynow!

Don't forget those British units with purple/violet facings!

GiloUK I would love to see that document listing all the units in the British Grenadier scenario books.

Great list from Rudy. I thought the Volunteers of Ireland wore red coats with green facings ? The British Legion infantry are listed in green jackets (I won't open the can of worms about green v red jackets) but no black facings ?

Anyway I'd pick particular regiments that served in the campaigns I was interested in, like the 33rd or 71st. I would pick the regiments first and any colours would just be a bi-product of that. I don't think the commanders in the field looked upon the regiments in the field as a palate of colours in which to paint a picture on the battlefield. Although it would look good on the table. If you take it that the British Legion Infantry wore red with blue facings at Cowpens then thats how they got mixed up with the 7th. But thats only if you accept they wore red. Rudy has them in green jackets, waistcoats and pants. I have an ancestor who was a drummer for the British Legion Infantry at Cowpens and I like the idea of him in green as well as enjoying the debate over red or green jackets.

So did British commanders deliberately avoid assembling troops with the same colour facings so they wouldn't be confused on the battlefield ? or did they just put together what they had regardless of facings similar or otherwise ?

I don't think the British commanders gave a moment's thought to facing color in battle deployment.

To the best of my knowledge the British Legion had green jackets.

In regard to red coats I wonder if you are thinking of the King's American Legion or some other Loyalist regiment? I don't have any of my resources handy to double check.

So did British commanders deliberately avoid assembling troops with the same colour facings so they wouldn't be confused on the battlefield ? or did they just put together what they had regardless of facings similar or otherwise ?

Only a wargamerwould think that way.
Brigade compositions were not ad hoc, thrown together the night before a battle. They were not permanent, but you could not have brigadiers not knowing who they commanded until colors were sorted out.

Each regiment's facngs were rather unique, bar the Royal Regiments. Each had their own color, their own chemist to supply the dyes, etc. Look at a description of the facings.
Deep yellow, dark yellow, philamort yellow, etc.
Deep green, forest green, gosling green, etc.
Buff…
Grey was a shade of white, purple was a shade of red, etc.

And if that were not enough, the flags had different wreaths or shields.

To be honest, I am not aware of any brigades having regiments of the same facing color in them. There could have been, but as I pointed out above, philamort yellow was not the same as deep yellow. Or bright yellow…
Not an issue.

Hello Giles,

I would love that document with all the British units from the 3 British Grenadier scenario books.

If you could post or send it, that would be fantastic.

Thank you in advance.

Never gave much thought to color coordinating my armies, always just picked an Order of Battle and went from there.

Redcoat55 – I'm so sorry, I totally dropped the ball on this. Please drop me your email address at GilesAllison@aol.com and I'll get the doc over to you. It doesn't have the facings listed, but does show you which units appear most often.

Giles
( gilesallison.blogspot.co.uk )

British brigades were formed on the basis of seniority, although there was more than one method of selection. The most common was to work out how many brigades there would be (total number of battalions divided by 3, usually) and then list the regiments in order of seniority.

Say there were 30 regiments/battalions, then you would normally have 10 brigades. The first 10 regiments in order of numerical seniority – from lowest to highest – would be assigned as the senior regiment in each brigade; the next 10 as the second regiment in each brigade; the last 10 as the junior regiment in each brigade, thus:-

1st Brigade – 1st, 11th, 21st Foot
2nd Brigade – 2nd, 12th, 22nd Foot
3rd Brigade – 3rd, 13th, 23rd Foot
and so on until
10th Brigade – 10th, 20th, 30th Foot

To further complicate matters, the brigade commander would either be a specialy assigned Major General, but more often might be the most senior of the three battalion commanders – however, this would be by date of his commission, not by his regiment's seniority, so the CO of the 1st Brigade in the above example might well be the Lt Col of the 21st Foot (the junior regiment).

As Rudy has said, dark blue, yellow, green (various shades) and white were the most common colours; a few regiments had buff – these also had buff belts and small clothes (breeches and waistcoats) – and black.

The one regiment with "purple" facings (actually a light pinkish red about this period) was the 59th Foot, which was sent home at the end of 1775, and in any event changed to white in 1776, possibly for cost reasons. Given the modern association of pink with the gay community, which did not pertain at the time AFAIK, it is odd to note that part of the reason that the 59th was sent home appears to have been the reports of "misbehaviour" and "unacceptable practices" by the officers of the regiment whilst in Boston.

Redcoat 55 – email and doc sent.

Giles

Don't forget the less common red facings so you can paint the mighty 33d Regiment of Foot.

Else you'll have to answer to Lord Cornwallis!