"Uniformed militia at Bunker Hill" Topic

Hello,
Were there any colonial uniformed militia units at Bunker Hill?

There might have been the odd uniform coat but no uniformed units.

Civilian clothing. There were numerous claims made after for reimbursements of lost clothing, etc. Short, working man's jackets were popular. Rather then hunting shirts farmer smocks (thing over sized night shirt). For work in the fields round hats were popular.

10thMountain,

It's difficult to know for sure – I can't recall any British memoirs commenting on them, but there were units that included men from pre-war militia corps that we know did have uniforms. The problem is whether they were worn on the day – either as a choice by individuals, or by all of the men of that (pre-war) unit who were present. By and large, these units were urban – and then almost all from the main cities – and would have been sufficiently small to contribute no more than a company or two in any individual battalion.

The Mollo/McGregor book includes plates of an officer of Sargent's and a private of Patterson's battalions in uniform – however, both are noted as being from deserter descriptions and Katcher lists these as post-dating the battle. (Note also that Massachusetts did not number its infantry units until 1778 – they were known by the CO's name until then.) The first issues of clothing to Massachusetts troops seem to have occurred after the end of July, and a large number of coats were produced for December (by which time it was too late to issue them and I suspect that they went to the 1776 Continental regiments). Connecticut, Rhode Island and New Hampshire appear to have issued no clothing at all to their 1775 troops; however, the first two also had uniformed pre-war militia units who may (or may not!) have turned up "dressed for battle" – eg the Rhode Island artillery company appears to have served under Gridley as part of his Massachusetts artillery command.

There were no hunting shirts, and nobody has found a reference to the use of rifles – so I would suggest all musket-armed.

Katcher's "Uniforms of the Continental Army"
Zlatich's "General Washington's Army: Vol 1" (Osprey MAA 273)
Mollo/McGregor's "Uniforms of the American Revolution"