"Continental Light Dragoons - Horse Colors?" Topic

Okay – I can come up with "just paint them brown" on my own.

However, I'd like to know if there is any reasonable evidence that describes the actual colors of the horses used by the Continental Light Dragoons (as we now call them)? Or is this even more ephemeral information than knowing what flag or standard a Continental unit carried?

Similarly, any solid data out there to recommend against using the Mollo/McGregor information for the uniforms? If not, I have no problem using their guidance – except maybe the white coat, damned hard to keep clean in the process of stabling and riding a horse – not to mention mucking the stable. But in the absence of better information, I'll go with that.

Thanks!

Never come across any evidence of specific horse colours for any Continental mounted units. I'm not sure the two British LD regiments had any either, although I suspect any "recruits" were matched as closely as possible when they were assigned to a troop. To be honest, in America, a horse was a horse and if you had one you valued it, whatever colour it was.

Mollo/McGregor is great for the Crown forces, but not always 100% on the Continentals (using deserter reports a little too often). It is also 40 years old and a lot more info has been uncovered in that time, as we now know that Continental uniforms could vary dramatically from year to year.

If you can get hold of it, Uniformology booklet #26 (The Continental Light Dragoons, by Philip Cranz) is your best friend – though itself by no means perfect. If you can't obtain a copy, let us know which regiment(s) you are looking for, and I can put up some more details on here.

As Supercilius said having a horse in the colonies was a big deal so I would guess that they took whatever color they could get. Evan the British had a hard time finding mounts for all of their Dragoons, the 16th ended up using dis-mounted dragoons because of lack of horses. You can't go wrong with brown since it is the most common color for a horse.

Thomas O – Both the 16th and 17th had a dismounted division as part of their augmentations at the start of the war (January 1776 for both, I think); this was done by adding a cornet, a sergeant, two corporals, and 30 privates to each of the six troops in each regiment. Although they were theoretically part of each troop, the dismounted men were "converged" under one of the captains and served as a distinct unit within the regiment.

I believe it was a case of whatever horse you could get your hands on, regardless of color. Undoubtedly they tried to get their trumpeters mounted on whites or greys, but the importance was serviceable horses, regardless of color.

I understand the statements about whatever horse you can get but I suspect it wasn't that simple. We forget that a horse was a very valuable possession and that no where near everyone had one (vastly less ubiquitous than the personal car we almost all have here in the US). Thus I'm sure many of the finer animals were hidden away somewhere. Especially since I don't recall hearing of some long delay in the resurgence on the horse population post AWI.

More to the current discussion, some of the renowned leaders of mounted troops in the AWI were "horse proud" and they wouldn't settle for just any horse. Form, definition, and condition would matter greatly to them. So, while I suspect color matching was a challenge, the quality of horse mattered a lot more than we might think. Drayage horses being a different matter though even there strength and stamina would matter to some degree.

And, though not ubiquitous, it was an agrarian society so I expect there were plenty of horses around but hard to pry out of the owner's possession.

I expect a good horse cost many years worth of a laborer's annual salary. So, I guess that leads to the question of how much were horse's worth – especially comparatively. And I'm off to pursue that information.

Personally, I would forget about "matched" troops (much less squadrons), but I suspect that every effort would be made to keep animals of similar colour together. Horses fell into two categories – draught and riding; you would not normally mix the two (and using a riding horse for pulling more than a two-wheel buggy could even kill the animal), and the former would be quickly snapped up by the artillery and commissariat. It's very noticeable how both sides recorded (with some glee) a cavalryman deserting with his horse.

Also, bear in mind that people were breeding horses in the Colonies, even back then.

As regards finding out what a horse cost, have a look at some of the British memoirs and see what officers were paying for riding horses in Philadelphia and NYC.

Do let us know what you find.

There are a couple of pages on Washington's horses on the Mount Vernon web site and a couple of pages on colonial horses on the Colonial Williamsburg web site. While you may not like the "just paint them brown" advice, it is usually a safe choice.

"….I must inform you, that the Order respecting the Colour of Horses, particularly excepted to Whites or those near White, as being too conspicuous for the purpose of reconnoitering, for which the Light Horse will be much used. I would not wish to have even dark Greys, if other equally good could be got; but if they cannot, you may purchase them, and when they change Colour by Age, we must put them to other Uses in the Army"

Above is quote from an online discussion, I think re-enactors, from G. Washington discussing horse colors. Which suggests both browns and blacks are preferred – though cream colored draft horses seem to have been popular at the time (an actual breed mentioned called the American Cream).

And, for the record, I have nothing against brown horses but I wanted to dig a bit deeper towards actual period information rather than our wont to speculate and call it "history".

So far, the pricing search is proving challenging but I haven't had a lot time for it yet, still hunting. I am looking into period paintings for some limited guidance. Most notable is a white horse for GW himself so far. But lots of brown horses, too. And, yes, I know "brown" covers quite a few shades as applied to horses.

-- edit --

Just found something on pricing for 1750 Canada, 12 livre per year for a high official, 6 livre per year for a skilled laborer, and 250 livre for a horse. Did not specify type or use for horse. Oxen, 7-8 years old (sturdy and strong, I'd guess) was 200 livre (which is more than I thought it might be). Numbers taken with a grain of salt because Canada was in some difficult time in that era as far as supply if memory serves. I suspect further south the difference between labor and horse would not be so pronounced but I still think quite a difference.

There was still a shortage of horses in Canada in 1777; Burgoyne's move south was delayed for some time by (amongst other things) the lack of draught animals for his baggage train.

These are interesting:-

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