"Why Revolutionary War musicians wore different colored" Topic

…uniforms

"We've all seen the famous painting, Spirit of '76. In it, a young Revolutionary War drummer boy is marching alongside two other musicians. The boy is in his Continental Army uniform, looking up to an older drummer who is not in uniform. Another uniformed musician is wounded, but marching and playing the fife.

Today, Civil War veteran Archibald Willard's 1875 painting still evokes patriotism in many Americans. It was, after all, painted on the eve of the United States' centennial. Willard was the grandson of one of the Green Mountain Boys who, led by legendary patriot Ethan Allen, invaded Canada and captured Fort Ticonderoga during the Revolution. But there are a few errors in the painting: The scene it depicts never happened, the flag in the background wasn't approved by Congress until much later, and the musicians are not wearing the right uniforms…"

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Armand

Agree that this is a very superficial piece – and the reversed colours as noted was a British thing; interestingly by this time almost all other European armies had abandoned reversed colours for musicians

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Armand