"Hat feathers in the AWI" Topic

Greetings. I have been recommeded to repost a bump of a thread from last year from the 18th Century painting forum. As I am new here I will do as I am told (appropriate emoticon)

"I am reposting this as a stand-alone, since the discussion which prompted my posting is over a year old and the OP's question was answered to his satisfaction
TMP link

However, since the information might be useful or interesting, I'll give it a bump here.
TMP link

"I know that this is over a year out of date now and member-ilodic has gone off content but given the perennial nature of the whole 'feather kettle of ball games' in relation to the local difficulty in America 1775-83, I thought I would outline what I believe is the current state of knowledge re. the WFKoBG.

There is still no evidence from before the turn of the 19th century re. the defiant feathers supposedly adopted after the night action at Paoli Tavern in Sept 1777, and nothing specific from before 1851. Circumstances make it very unlikely the 2nd LI battalion could have adopted such a measure before the beginning of 1778, more realistically not until spring, by which time the vengeful Pennsylvanian Line had already exacted revenge on the 'Bloodhounds' at Germantown on October 4th 1777.

The one piece of virtually contemporary visual evidence, a watercolour by Lieut St George of the 52nd Light coy depicting his 'Triumphal Entry into Philadelphia' having being wounded at Germantown, shows both 2nd LI and 1st Grenadiers wearing black feathers in slouched hats. The della Gatta paintings of the 2nd LI at Paoli Tavern and Germantown executed shortly after the war show either black or natural colour ostrich feathers being worn, except in the case of some 40th battalion company men.

We have a clear contemporary statement that in the winter of 1778 the remaining flank companies attached to composite 'Flank Battalions' wore white feathers for the Grenadiers and green for Light Infantry respectively. We also have an equally clear statement, albeit from fifty-odd years later in 1822, that circa 1776 all the grenadier battalions were already wearing white feathers- presumably in hats- while the 1st Light Infantry Bn wore green and the 2nd Light Infantry Bn wore red- i.e. well before the Philadelpia campaign.

The source, Major General James Stirling, who was a young Black Watch quartermaster at the time, indicates that this was some sort of formation recognition system (although it's not clear how) and that "to make the whole uniform" the 42nd Highlanders were ordered "to get red feathers" as well when they were assigned to the same formation. These would have been added to the spray of black feathers they were already wearing on their blue bonnets.

The same would have been true of the 71st Highlanders who we know, from Clothing Returns at the end of the war, wore five black feathers with an additional white for the Grenadier coy and red for the Light coy. This latter may have some bearing on the 'defiant red feather' legend attached to the 2nd Light Infantry, to whom the 71st LI coy were attached 1776-1778. The popular story, which takes a number of forms, is more likely to have been attached retrospectively to red feathers with an entirely mundane explanation.

The story of the 42nd red hackle feather awarded after the action at Geldermalsen in 1795 is now generally discredited, having surfaced in the 1840s. There may have been a red 'feather' distributed, or re-newed, later that summer but it would have been as a simple ornament provided in a regimental basis, not as an award for meritorious conduct.

There is more likelihood of the white feather of the 5th Regiment, supposedly adopted in commemoration of the action on St Lucia in December 1778, having some basis in fact. It is first found in illustrations by Dayes circa 1791 and the earliest version of the anecdote is found in December 1800. However a number of regiments had adopted non-regulation white hat feathers by 1791, including the Guards. It was for that reason that the 'Regulation feather' was ordered 1797-1800."

I hope that's useful"

I hope that's all bets covered. Faits vos jeux- et joyeux Noël

A letter from a Royal Artillery officer posted to the Grenadier Battalion late on in the war (by which time there was only one battalion) confirms the white feather for grenadiers and their associated support troops – and also green for the Light Battalion.

Any idea what the 3rd and short-lived 4th Light Infantry battalion feathers might have been in 1776? Or was the reduction to just two battalions (and/or the change from helmets/caps to plain hats?) after the end of the NYC campaign the catalyst for the introduction of distinctive coloured feathers?

On a general point, from perusing the von Germann watercolours of the troops in the North, and particularly the horsehair manes on the hat/caps of the 24th Foot battalion companies, it would be very easy to mistake dark green feathers for black ones in any contemporary artwork.

Finally, wasn't the 5th's white feather more a legacy of the SYW action at Wilhelmstahl (along with the bearskin caps)? I thought the St Lucia thing was the addition of the red tip, supposedly from dipping the white feathers into the blood of their dead enemies?

No, SM, there's no reference to the 3rd LI (4th LI very short-lived) ever wearing a distinguishing feather. It is interesting that Maj. Gen. Stirling makes no mention of the 3rd LI but, given that he was writing almost fifty years after the event, we cannot make too much of that. We might, however, conclude he was writing of a period after Feb 1777 when the 3rd LI Bn was broken up.

We can only guess as to the influence of headgear on the feather situation. The Artillery officer Francis Laye refers in Dec 1778 to Grenadier hats with white feathers but LI _caps_ with green and we have Captain Coote's accounts from Aug 1778 (IIRC) that describe components of new caps for the LI coy of the 37th on transfer from 2nd to 1st LI Bn. Whether the LI caps were only worn in garrison is not apparent.

Re. the 5th, the legacy of Wilhemstal in 1762 was a captured colour and a collection of bearskin caps taken as booty from captured French grenadiers. These were paraded on gala occasions, even in Philadelphia, much to the irritation of General Howe.

It seems there was a long running campaign to have the regiment redesignated with the honorary title of 'Fusiliers'- the equivalent in status of a grenadier regiment in European armies. It may be that the significance of the white feathers allegedly taken as trophies from fallen Frenchmen on St Lucia in 1778 was in part because the white feather was becoming the unofficial emblem of a grenadier or fusilier. The 5th, having aquired the county title of Northumberland Regt in 1782, managed to hold on to their non-regulation white feather till 1824 when they were challenged in a periodical, if fairly token, tightening of control. Their explanation produced Royal approval of the distinction.

When five years later the entire line infantry corps were ordered to exchange white-over-red 'feathers' for plain white ones (apart from light coys) a protest that their white distinction was being nullified, resulted in the 5th Northumberland being given permission to add a red tip to theirs- later tradition stating this signified that _their_ white feather was won in battle (unlike the Grenadier Guards, then…?). The 'dipping on blood' story turns up again and again but is rather spoilt by the fact that a feather dipped in blood will rapidly become a sticky, brown, foul-smelling fly-blown mess.

The process was completed in 1836 when the 5th were authorised to add 'Wilhemstahl' as an honour to their colours and given the honorary title of 'Northumberland Fusiliers.'

There is a portrait of Lieutenant James Stewart of Shembellie, of LI coy 42nd, painted circa 1778-80, now hanging in the NWM in Edinburgh Castle. To all appearances he is wearing a black feather in his bonnet, although we would expect it to be green at that date. However,Stephen Gilbert has carried out a detailed study of the della Gatta paintings and has seen no evidence of green feathers.

So here is a question that comes out of all that – when did wearing feathers come into fashion in the British army, and why? I have not see any reference of its use during the F&I War.

Why feathers at all. Hmm? LI caps were still regulation, were they not, and most had their regiment number in some form affixed on the front?

I do not recall seeing any depictions of LI caps with feathers. These seem to coincide with the slouch hat. Perhaps this was an informal way of identifying regiments?

Kind of reminds me of the way armies adopted ah hoc identifiers in the religious wars in the 16th/17th c., when uniforms where not always uniformed.

ilodic

A good question. Hackle feathers, worsted tufts and pom-poms had started to appear from about mid-18th century onwards, used in the French and German armies as sub-unit distinguishing marks but the practice was not adopted at that stage by the British.

Between the formation of infantry regiment light companies in 1771 and the beginning of hostilities in 1775, light infantry caps were not regulated closely, although there was a uniform model recommended, as SM pointed out, the so-called Keppel with false front and chains around the crown. Some regimental models (4th King's Own; 5th; 9th) seem to have deliberatley mimicked the Light Dragoon neo-classical style, with a metal comb on the crown and a horsehair crest (criniere)- often red, it is worth noting.

De Loutherbourg's sketches for his Warley Camp paintings of 1778 show the range of LI caps in use by that time, by regulars and militia, and we do see Keppel-style caps with a vertical hackle affixed to the left-hand side as well as horsehair crests and ostrich feathers. Red feathers feature in the finished paintings. A rich vein to mine.

It has been suggested that when light infantry adopted un- cocked hats that some companies may have worn feathers that reflected the distinguishing marks they had formerly worn on their caps, which I think is an interesting theory. Unfortunately the evidence, such as it is, doesn't seem to bear this out but more systematic study needs to be done.

The fact that the grenadiers also wore hats with a feather affixed in the turned-up brim dilutes that theory further. It could be that it was simply an idea that caught on. We know that Highlanders already wore ostrich feathers affixed to the cockade on the left of the bonnet. Perhaps that was an influence. Maybe 'Yankee Doodle' had something to do with it.

Maj Gen Stirling reminiscing in 1822 seemed clear that circa 1776 distingusihing feathers were ordered by General Howe to denote elite formations- Cornwallis' 'reserve' and Leslie's light infantry brigade (Stirling conflates the two) but the pattern of colours chosen appears neither uniform nor systematic:
4 Bns grenadiers- white. 1st LI Bn – green. 2nd LI Bn- red. 2 Bn 42nd Highlanders (Light role)-red.

Not mentioned: 1 Bn 33rd Regt (Light role) none that we know of. 3rd LI Bn. No information.

Later we see a variety of feathers depicted by della Gatta being worn by the 40th at Germantown: white feathers for officers and, according to Stephen Gilbert's study 1995 in Military Collector & Historian, "what appears to be a brownish-red ostrich plume in their hats." Whether the 40th deemed themselves, or were deemed, 'elite' or whether they simply represented a wider custom in the army at that time, we lack conclusive evidence.

Certainly, both the Grenadiers and LI companies, by setting asided their distinctive headgear, as well as wearing uniforms stripped of most decoration, no longer had the elements that distinguished them as elite flankers- as important to the wearer as the observer. The colour-coded hat feathers would have helped address that. The feathers would also have added a unifying emblem in battalions composed of men from a number of regiments, all still wearing different coloured facings on their jackets- and without regimental colours to provided a focus of loyalty.

When regiments returned from North America, they retained the practice of flanks coys wearing hats for everyday, set off with distinguishing feathers, usually of white or green, and to balance this, feathers began to be worn by battalion coys as well. These were supplied on a regimental basis to a regimental pattern and were wholly non-regulation, as observed by numerous inspecting generals. Colours were mostly white, some tipped black, blue or red. It wasnt until 1796 that attempts were made to regulate hat feathers. This process finally succeeded, with a few exceptions, after the introduction of the shako in 1800 and regulation 'feathers' or 'tufts' of white-over-red, white and green.

As regards distinguishing marks, the black belts of the light infantry would have provided some identification, although several regiments in Burgoyne's army adopted black belts as part of the "light bob look" adopted by all of the infantry. The 33rd detachment under Lt Nutt adopted reddish brown cap manes, IIRC.

In terms of "friend or foe" identification, I have often wondered if the "single cock" of the hat (on the left) could have been an attempt by the British forces to create a distinctive silhouette. Whilst I cannot find any documentary evidence for this, contemporary artwork tends to show the Continentals in fully-cocked tricornes. May just be coincidence, of course. Your thoughts?

Something else I noticed – the watercolour by the officer wounded at Germantown of himself on the casualty wagon, includes a friend, on foot, greeting him. The friend is actually a Grenadier officer (4th Foot, IIRC), yet wears what is generally considered the "light infantry uniform" of "roundabout" (I know that's not the contemporary term) with wings and a plain hat with single left-hand turn-up. It's possible said friend was temporarily transferred to the Lights, but he is only ever recorded as a grenadier officer at this time.

A couple of quick thoughts…
42flanker – many thanks for your insights and thesis. Your theory about the feather colouring is quite plausible and interesting. I can see some difficulty with the constant shifting of orders of battle during 1776-77 but maybe they just said 'hand over your feathers' when a battalion's situation changed. Since you imply that the principle is not very clearly stated, it might help us if you could quote the exact passage from Maj Gen Stirling's 1822 memoir.

SM: I've been of the view for some time that the LI distinctions (and probably grenadier ones) may have disappeared from uniforms from around the summer of 1776 (at Halifax). I think it's quite likely that short coats are worn in the grenadiers too – Hale of the 45th describes having such a jacket made up in Philadelphia from one of his old garments. Of course he's also one of those who described the grenadier caps going on a Brandywine… Tho I suppose they might have removed hats with feathers in before donning their bearskins!
EC

SM: The 'friend or foe ID' notion is interesting. My area of research being in the British army rather than the AWI per se, my knowledge of American uniforms is limited – except to say that, given problems of supply, uniformity appears to have been the exception rather than the rule, and when found was not consistent. Certainly my impression is that one could not expect to identify American troops by their cocked hats even if it was the intention that the Continentals should be so dressed.

Captain West of the 4th in the Germantown cartoon is not in fact wearing wearing a sleeved waist coat but a short tailed jacket with slight turn-back, blue-faced, that can be seen under his right arm. The shoulder seam has a white detail Prof Greg Urwin has described as indicating "wings edged along the bottom with silver lace". These are vestigial in comparison to the wing on the jacket of St George's servant.

I believe that in America officers in the field might well wear a plain ‘frock' as opposed to their uniform coat- i.e. this may not have been just a ‘flank company adaptation.

IIRC, the scenario was that, as West was hastening with his cmapnytowards the fighting, he came upon the wounded St George being evacuated, paused to comfort him and was himself overcome with emotion, a fact which St George recorded but was asked to ‘edit' out. Although he complied by painting out West's face, it is still possible to see the profile of West's youthful face looking up with a pathetic expression ( in the strict sense of the word).

In the light, SM, of your remark about black belts, what is perhaps more notable is that West the grenadier appears also to be wearing a black shoulder belt, which I would think is more likely to bear out the idea of the general adoption of these- at least by flank battalions- rather than the secondment of West to the LI. The 40th in della Gatta's Germantown are wearing white belts. Given the circumstances of the painting and its style we should not perhaps give too much credence to the details but there is so much specific detail, clearly recorded, that I think we might be justified.

If you can pin down your recollection of the 33rd wearing reddish-brown cap manes I should be glad to know more.

Eclaireur – there are indeed many problems with the whole picture of feathers reportedly worn by Cornwallis' reserve and the light infantry: purpose, supply, logic.

As far as the OB is concerned, however, I believe what we see is a gradually concentration of flank units rather thn promiscuous swopping around (For what it is worth we hear nothing of the 3rd LI Bn dissolved in Feb 1778 wearing any feather). Thus we would not have to deal with units changing feathers till the reduction of the flank battalions when Grant's expedition departed for the West Indies leaving a single grenadier and single LI battalion with white and green feather respectively. The one exception to that statment is the move of the 37th from 2nd LI Bn to 1st LI Bn in the late summer of 1778.

All of this remains largely speculative reflection, however. Our one piece of evidence is the letter written by Maj. Gen. Stirling in September 1822, which you asked to see in full.

This was in reply to a request from the CO of the 42nd Royal Highland Regiment, Robert Dick who had received an enquiry from the AG dept as to "from what period and by what authority the 42nd Regt had worn the red feather."

The relevant section reads:
"In answer to your letter of 8th inst. relative to know how the 42nd Regt came to wear the Red Feather. The origin of their wearing this feather commenced early in the American War of 1776 when the regiment was Brigaded with the Grenadiers and Light Infantry of the Army under the command of the late Marquis Cornwallis- at this period there were no regulation feathers – the grenadiers wore White Feathers, the first battalion Light Infantry wore Green,- the 2nd Light Infantry wore Red, and to make the whole uniform General Sir William Howe, then Commander- in-Chief, ordered the 42nd to get red feathers which they have wore [sic] ever since."

Held in the archives of the Black Watch at Balhousie Caste Perth, this correspondence lay forgotten in Stirling family files until donated to the Regimental museum in 1967. There it languished until 1982 when it was published with a brief commentary in the regimental journal- and continued to be ignored until the new century when, tentatively, it began to be factored into the Regimental history.

Apart from the 'defiant red feather' of post-Paoli legend, all we have to corroborate Stirling's statement is the 1783 record of the 71st light company wearing red and black feathers and Captain Layes letter of December 1778 relating to Grenadiers and Light infantry in New York/Long Island.

Although retired after long service, Stirling was clearly not in his dotage in 1822 and having served as battalion quartermaster in 1776-78, he would have had a hand in the acquisition of any red feathers ordered for the battalion- which might not have been the simplest of tasks under the circumstances.

One anomaly among many is that the 42nd were only under Cornwallis' direct command until December 1776 when the 'Reserve' was broken up- even though the regiment continued to be selected for special tasks and to serve under Cornwallis. Any need to comply with Howe's order re. red feathers ended absolutely with his surrendering command in May 1778.

It remains unclear why a regiment whose men wore blue bonnets decorated with bands of dicing and a spray of black ostrich feathers, needed any other distinctive emblem in their headgear. Admittedly, it would seem one celebrated strand of Scottish military history would have been very different if they hadn't!

I omitted to point out in my earlier post that the red feather said to have been adopted by the 42nd in America is more likely to have been an additional ostrich feather, added to the spray of black feathers fixed to the cockade on the left side of the bonnet, than the more familiar upright plume of hackle feathers. We have images of 42nd officers from circa 1791 that show additional, coloured ostrich feathers emerging from the front of a luxuriant mass of black feathers- (this extravagance attracted unfavourable comment from inspecting generals). One is a grenadier officer with a single white feather while the other wears one white and one red feather in a configuration yet to be explained.

It would seem that the upright hackle was the 'red feather' stated in some sources to have been adopted in 1795 (for reasons that are no longer clear now that the 'Geldermalsen story' has been discredited) and which is first seen in canvasses depicting the the Egyptian campaign of 1801, painted by P.J de Loutherbourg in 1802.

@42flanker thanks for that additional info. Seems to me that the original MG Stirling letter that you have kindly quoted does suggest a sense of 'that's how they did business' in the absence of a clear regulation. There's a clear implication, as you've said, that it was a quasi-regulation, under Howe at least.

It's difficult to work out what function can have been served by the hat feathers described by Stirling other than decorative one, given the lack of observable system in the colours he lists.

In the end, I think we simply have to accept that the 42nd did adopt a red feather at the start of the AWI but without being certain as to what purpose it was meant to serve, if any. What is clear from James Stirling's account is that the red feather was not adopted in America as some sort of award for service in the field, which is the story that was told in relation to the French Wars.

The 71st was, despite only being newly-raised, also part of the elite Reserve; do we know if they adopted any distinctive feathers? From what I've seen, their headgear was similar to the 42nd's in most respects.

Although Fraser's 71st Highland marched with Cornwallis' flanking column at the battle of Brooklyn/Long Island on Aug 26-27 August 1776, I don't believe they were actually assigned to the Reserve beyond that operation. On arrival at Staten Island they had been divided into three temporary battalions brigaded under command of William Erskine.

What prompted the decision to assign Fraser's to the professionally demanding night march on the night of 26-27th, I am not sure.

Following the landings on Manhattan the 71st were sent to occupy islands in the East River. Despite having performed well in battle the new regiment was almost wholly untrained apart from a core of veterans who had served with Fraser's 78th in the 7YW. The officer who had been expected to drill the recruits had been killed when his ship sailed into Boston Harbour, the Captain unaware that the British had evacuated the city some months before.

Another problem was that the 71st suffered considerably from sickness in the ranks when they arrived in America.

There has been a long-standing mis-apprehension regarding Fraser's 71st Highlanders and cap feathers. This arises from a footnote inserted into the 2nd Edition of Sketches of the Highlanders [etc, etc] published by Col David Stewart of Garth in 1822.

As a result of a misread or misunderstood letter from the nephew of Col John Maitland, a former battalion commander of the 71st, Stewart wrote that the 71st had been ordered by Maitland to wear a red feather in their bonnets: "During the skirmishing warfare in the Jerseys and Pennsylvania, in the years 1776 and 1777, he was particularly active. Ever on the alert, and having his Highlanders always ready, he attracted the particular notice of General Washington . Some communications having passed between them as old acquaintances, although then opposed as enemies, Colonel Maitland sent intimation to the American commander, that in future his men would be distinguished by a red feather in their bonnets , so that he could not mistake them, nor avoid doing justice to their exploits, in annoying his posts, and obstructing his convoys and detachments; adding, that General Washington was too liberal not to acknowledge merit even in an enemy. Fraser's Highlanders wore the red feather after Colonel Maitland's death, and continued to do so till the conclusion of the war"

The anecdote is unreliable (I'm being polite) for a number of reasons and is clearly a garbled version of the red feather traditions attached to the 2nd Light Infantry battalion, of which Hon. John Maitland- at that time still a Major of Marines, _was_ CO during "the skirmishing warfare of 1776-77." Maitland only transferred to the 71st Highlanders in autumn 1778.

At that time the 2nd LI Bn was dissolved and the 71st's Light infantry company returned to their parent battalion, preparatory to their heading 'Southward.' In Georgia, under command of the bloodthirsty Sir James Baird, the 71st's LI men gained a reputation for ruthlessness and there are cirumstantial indications that they may have been identified by a distinguishing feather.

All we know for sure is that in Clothing Returns drawn up in 1783, records show that, during the latter years of the war, the LI coy of the 71st had been wearing a red feather with the black ostrich plumes in their bonnets. Similarly, the 71st grenadiers wore a white feather.

As far as I know, it has been determined that the cap worn by Fraser's 71st was like that of the 42nd RHR: a bonnet of knitted, felted wool, blocked in a drum shape with a diced border and ostrich plumes fixed in a cockade. It seems flat bonnets continued to be worn as fatigue caps.