"French plumes in the Westt Indies" Topic

I'd be grateful for information on white plumes worn in French headgear on the island of St Lucia in 1778. This was a crossover period in French regulations, I know. I believe white feathers were ordered for fusilier companies in 1776, but that the changes were unpopular and response slow; presumably slower still in the colonies.

Do we know if the Armagnac regiment, the only metropolitan regiment present at St Lucia in Nov 1778 (in theatre since 1775), would have been wearing white feathers? Might, instead, their grenadiers have been wearing pre-1776 bearskins with small white feathers or pom-poms(houpes)? Alternatively, would grenadiers have adopted more practical heagear but retained their distinguishing emblems?

British army tradition states that French troops at the battle of La Vigie were wearing white feathers of some sort, which were taken as trophies. It would be interesting to know if this is backed up by information from the French side.

Good question – the troops in the colonies had a lot more leeway in uniform than back home

I believe that the sappers in the colonies all had a short bearskin – but don't think they had plumes