About the UNIFORM
“Colonel Washington expressly orders, that no Officer do provide himself with any other kind of Clothes than those ordered the 17th of September last as they will not be allowed to appear in them. Every Officer who has not complied with that order, to do it immediately—and they are all to procure Sashes, if to be had—They may be supplied with Hats, and waistcoat-lace, at Mr Peters’s, Rock-Creek—and sword-knots— . . .”
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Source from Orders 17 September 1755
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This picture has quite a story behind it.
Read that story here:
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And the order on September 17, 1755? GW’s order,
Notice GW mentions “blue Breeches” in quote.
Notice in portrait the “Breeches” are red.
Breeches are the pants.
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Source:
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September 17, 1755:
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“a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath, the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat.”
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"Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment is, as soon as possible, to provide himself with an uniform Dress, which is to be of fine Broad Cloath: The Coat Blue, faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and Trimmed with Silver: The Waistcoat Scarlet, with a plain Silver Lace, if to be had—the Breeches to be Blue, and every one to provide himself with a silver-laced Hat, of a Fashionable size."
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Source:
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Letter from William Fairfax to GW:
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"I have seen your Regiments Cloathing at Mr Carlyles and think them well chosen and made: hope You will soon have them;..."
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Source:
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Letter from John Carlyle to GW:
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?When Capt. Mercer Came here I Consulted him & he Made Sum small alterations Which In my Letter to London by the Next Oppy I orderd, it Was Not Gott to hand When these Goods Came Away & Mr Bowden tells Me the Gorgetts Sashes &c. Which I Suppose to be the remainder of the Shoulder Knotts Woud Come Next Ship Capt. Jno. Johnston is dayly Expected, the Subsequent order & our own Goods Amounts to A Large Sum 1500£ Ster: & Another reason I had to think I had sent for Sufficient[.] Capt. Jos: Lewis, & I think Capt. Mercer told Me they was supply’d & I doubted not Many others also was[.] their is 36 Sword Knots & I Expect the Like number of Shoulder Knotts, Sashes & Gorgetts, the Lace is by Yr Direction all of one kind only different Widths,3 "
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"I can have 125 Ct for Any Single Artickle, & 100 Ct for half the Goods (the Shoulder knotts Excepted). but the price I Will lessen to Yourself If the Officers Chouse any Or All Of them, & this You may depend they are Well bought, & Cheaper by 75 Ct than they Will gett at Philadelphia or any where Else, I am sorry for the disappointment to the Officers, more so than my own Loss, as I rely Cannot blame my self having sent for What I Expected You Wanted as farr as I thought woud Sell, the only Error Mr Bowden has Comitted is the Coursest Blue Cloath 7/6 & shoud been 12/6 & as many of the Goods as are Come to hand I think Extreem Neat & well bought..."
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Source:
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More info from above source:
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2. GW’s younger brother John Augustine Washington (1736–1787) was acting as manager of GW’s plantations during GW’s absence in the army. In GW’s accounts with John Carlyle, there is the following entry dated 13 Feb. 1757: “To Ditto [cash] lodgd with you to pay for Brookes’s Negros—[£] 150” (General Ledger A, folio 11). An entry for 30 April of the same year noted £79 10s. “lodgd with Colo. Carlyle in gold to pay for some Negros which he bot for me in Maryld” (ibid., 34).
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3. For a description of the uniforms of the officers of the Virginia Regiment, see GW’s Orders, 17 Sept., 6 Oct. 1755. William Fairfax found those at Carlyle’s “well chosen and made” (Fairfax to GW, 22 Jan. 1757). Mr. Bowden could be George Bowdon of Liverpool, England. Capt. John Johnstoun sailed regularly from England to the James River. During the 1760s, GW frequently received goods from England in the Lord Camden, John Johnstoun, master.
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4. GW had been at Fort Cumberland since late December, and therefore his missing letter of 20 January (see note 1), to which this letter of Carlyle’s is a response, was presumably written from Fort Cumberland. If GW did write a second letter to Carlyle from Fort Cumberland before 22 Jan. 1757, it too is missing. Mrs. Carlyle was Sarah Fairfax Carlyle, daughter of William Fairfax.
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In 1754 the breeches were red.
After September 1755 the breeches were blue.
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Land promised by
Lt Gov Dinwiddie
was for the soldiers of 1754.
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Those soldiers wore red breeches.
. We think that is why George Washington
wore the red breeches in the 1772 painting by Charles Willson Peale.
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By Sept 1755, GW referred to Blue Breeches.
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Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0232#GEWN-02-03-02-0232-fn-0003
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Second source on this matter of uniforms, especially the blue breeches:
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Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment, to provide himself as soon as he can conveniently, with a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath; the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat, if to be had, for Camp or Garrison Duty.
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Besides this, each Officer to provide himself with a common Soldiers Dress, for Detachments, and Duty in the Woods.
https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1755-09-17&s=1111311111&r=3
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To those men of 1754 only
was Dinwiddie's promise of western lands.
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And that promise was only to those who served on that mission (Jumonville and Fort Necessity battle) in 1754.
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1754 Proclamation
http://www.sos.ky.gov/admin/land/resources/legislation/Documents/Proclamation%20of%201754.pdf
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More context on the February 19, 1754 Proclamation
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-01-02-0031#GEWN-02-01-02-0031-fn-0012
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NOTES
More on the UNIFORM
George Mercer’s description of uniform
to see a Sash & Gorget with a genteel Uniform, a Sword properly hung, a Hat cocked, Persons capable of holding Conversation where only common Sense was requisite to continue the Discourse, and a White Shirt, with any other than a black Leather Stock, were Matters of great Surprize and Admiration & which engaged Them all to give Us a polite Invitation to spend the Evening, & after to agree to keep Us Company which they had determined before not to do—agreeable to what they had practised with the other Provincial Troops. We have lost that common Appellation of Provincials, & are known here by the Style & Title of the Detachment of the Virga Regiment.”
From 17 August 1757 letter Mercer wrote to GW while in South Caroline:
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Excellent Link on this subject:
From the above link:
Therefore it appears that the real first uniform followed the color scheme of blue with red facings; a scheme that was followed for the regiment�s entire existence. This uniform was ordered and purchased in London through John Hanbury in the fall of 1754 and arrived in March of 1755, in time for the regiment to leave Will�s Creek (Fort Cumberland) with General Edward Braddock on the ill-fated Fort Duquesne campaign. In spite of no order for the making of the uniforms having yet been found, there are a couple of hints that lead to a conclusion that this first uniform was blue. One, is a reference of Captain Robert Orme�s, in a description of the Battle of the Monongahela, to the "Virginia blues". The other reference is in a letter from Governor Dinwiddie to Captain Robert Stewart on 26 November 1754 advising him to purchase "some cheap blue Clothing" for his men while they await the arrival of the uniforms from Britain (Brock, v.1, 413). The quality of this first uniform seems to have been something less than the expectations for a standard uniform, for Washington described this uniform to Lord Loudoun as "a suit of thin sleazy Cloth without lining, and without Waistcoats except of sorry Flannel" (Abbot, v.4, 86).
When the Regiment was reorganized after the Braddock campaign with Washington as its colonel, the first orders concerning the uniform are extant. The regimental is ordered blue with red facings, a red waistcoat, and blue breeches. However, approximately one and one-half years would pass before the soldiers received their uniforms from London. The timing was fortuitous because they arrived just as several companies were to leave for Charles Town, South Carolina to act in conjunction with the British. These uniforms were apparently impressive to the British officers because the Virginia officers received several compliments on the appearance and bearing of their soldiers (Abbot, v.4, 373).
It appears that the regiment was kept in good uniforms for the remainder of their service, except during the 1758 Fort Duquesne campaign. Because their old uniforms were literally worn out, and the new ones had not arrived from England, the regiment was authorized by General John Forbes to wear Indian clothing (hunting shirts, breechcloths, and wool leggings) for the campaign. The new uniforms arrived before the end of the campaign, just as the colder fall weather was setting in. Deserter notices describing the regimental as late as May 1762 advertise a deserter having "a blue Coat, turnup with red", thus making it likely that the regiment used the red on blue color scheme from 1754 to 1762 (Pennsylvania Gazette, 29 July 1762).
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In 1754 the breeches were red.
After September 1755 the breeches were blue.
.
Land promised by Lt Gov Dinwiddie was for the soldiers of 1754.
.
Those soldiers wore red breeches.
. We think that is why George Washington wore the red breeches in the 1772 painting by Charles Willson Peale.
.
By Sept 1755, GW referred to Blue Breeches.
.
Source:
https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-03-02-0232#GEWN-02-03-02-0232-fn-0003
.
Second source on this matter of uniforms, especially the blue breeches:
.
Every Officer of the Virginia Regiment, to provide himself as soon as he can conveniently, with a Suit of Regimentals of good blue Cloath; the Coat to be faced and cuffed with Scarlet, and trimmed with Silver: a Scarlet waistcoat, with silver Lace, blue Breeches, and a silver-laced Hat, if to be had, for Camp or Garrison Duty.
.
Besides this, each Officer to provide himself with a common Soldiers Dress, for Detachments, and Duty in the Woods.
https://founders.archives.gov/?q=Date%3A1755-09-17&s=1111311111&r=3
.
To those men of 1754 only
was Dinwiddie's promise of western lands.
.
And that promise was only to those who served on that mission (Jumonville and Fort Necessity battle) in 1754.
.
1754 Proclamation
http://www.sos.ky.gov/admin/land/resources/legislation/Documents/Proclamation%20of%201754.pdf
.
More context on the February 19, 1754 Proclamation
http://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/02-01-02-0031#GEWN-02-01-02-0031-fn-0012
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Final Thoughts on the UNIFORM
UPDATED 4/17/2024
Red Breeches
There's no specific contemporary text noting the color of the breeches is related. So yes, you would not have read anything about that.
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This land promised, was for
the soldiers of 1754,
who happened to have worn red breeches,
not for the soldiers
who later wore blue breeches by those at least Sept 1755 in the Virginia Regiment, nor even for those who may have worn something different in the 1755 Braddock disaster.
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We thought it curious
why the first portrait of George Washington
in 1772 shows him donning his
French and Indian War uniform,
wearing red breeches, not blue
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Washington insisted, in several letters, that such Promised land in Dinwiddie's 1754 Proclamation is not for those men who served later. Those who served later tried to dispute that.
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Wearing red might have emphasized his decades long pursuit of obtaining that promised land.
Richard Gamble in respect to Jason Melius' challenge, I pose a likely conjecture, not unassailable fact. I should note that upfront. But it is true, if you wore red breeches it is more likely you qualified for the Proclamation of 1754 and less likely if your served later wearing blue. Again, Washington made a big point of those who served after 1754 did not qualify for the Promised Land stated in Dinwiddie's Proclamation. That Washington posed in red breeches all those years later could have been just his valuing his earlier service. Still red vs blue? It just happens to coincide with getting the prize.
UPDATED 4/17/2024
Following is from this link:
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1755 Uniform
and before that, the 1754 VA Regiment Uniform
And more about the British Army and Colonial Uniforms: