Comments on Uniform of 23rd Regiment of Foot.
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Comments on Uniform of 23rd Regiment of Foot

NOTE: These comments are discussion of this source by individual members of the history committee and do not represent consensus of the committee, nor necessarily the final conclusions of the member making the comments.

Todd Braisted, IVBNNJV:

[The picture of the 23rd is] French and Indian War uniform, not Rev War.

Jay Callaham, callaham:

Okay - having done some research on the 23d:

The initial picture is indeed more of the Minden era - 7 Years War and made obsolete by the Royal Warrant of 1768.

The first "Another" [2.] is a shot of the mannequin that was donated by the recreated regiment to the Regimental Museum in Caernarfon Castle, Wales. By the way - the cap plate on that cap was donated by ME. I wore it for many years in that group before becoming a Guardsman.

The second "Another" [3.] is of the recreated regiment. Both of these are based on the appearance of the 23d while they were on garrison duty in Boston in 1775. That had changed by 1780, but we don't know how much. Here's one piece of interesting documentation from that period:


AUGUST 15, 1780 (War Office Dorchester (Carleton) Papers, PRO 30.55:25 No. 2967)

Sir. (Gen. Clinton)

I have the honour to send you the enclosed List of Regiments belonging to the Army under your Command for which Clothing for the present year has been shipped on board the Prince George Transport. . . . (signed)

C. Jenkinson.

Return of Clothing etc, shipped on board the Prince George Transport for His Majesty's British Forces in North America, Commanded by Sir Henry Clinton and compleated 10th August 1780. N.B. Hats only are sent for the 23d Reg't, the Commanding Officer having reported to their Agent from North America sufficient of other Articles in Store. . .


So, they were wearing HATS, not the Fusilier caps, at least some of the time. What those hats looked like is subject to conjecture. Don Troiani did the painting of Cowpens showing the 7th Foot, Royal Fusiliers, in cocked hats and brown trousers if memory serves. That was based on some information from Jim Kochan and other sources. All three Fusilier regiments used the same regimental agents and what one did, the others seemed to do. There's no question that a lot of units had brown trousers in the Southern campaign. The Guards did and the 33d did as well as others.

As for the drawing - - that waistcoat looks post AWI era. I've got some images of soldiers of the 23d - line drawings and such - that I can send. They are .tiff and .pcx files for the most part with some .bmp. They also are of the regiment as it appeared in 1775, however.

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