UNIFORMS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION -- Massachusetts Regiment of Artillery, 1775-1776 -- Knox's Artillery

UNIFORMS OF
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

This regiment was formed May 19, 1775, consisting of ten companies and 417 men under command of Colonel Richard Gridley. On November 17, 1775, Colonel Henry Knox took command and held it until December 27, 1776, when he was made Brigadier General and Chief of Artillery in the Continental Army. When the Army was reorganized in 1776, this regiment became the 3rd Continental Artillery under Colonel John Crane.

During the period 1775-1776, the men wore no uniform except what they could get, but the officers adopted a blue coat faced with red and lined with white cloth. These coats were cut in any style that the individual chose as there was no regulation, but the buttons were to be gilt and the buttonholes and lace the same. The coats were cut with tight sleeves and full skirts, as a rule, following the fashion of the day.

In 1778, this regiment was known as one of the best dressed in the Army. The men then wore blue coats faced with red, and lined with white, with white cross belts, red feathers in their hats, white serge breeches and waistcoats, white linen overalls or spatterdashes.

Later they wore the regulation artillery uniform adopted for all the artillery in accordance with Washington's general order of October, 1779. This order was about the same as given above except that the coats were to be faced and lined with red, and the buttonholes bound with yellow tape for the men, and gilt for the officers. Buttons for the men were of pewter with raised letters "U. S. A." on them, at this time.

[REFERENCES: Letters of Henry Burbeck, an officer in the above regiment, written in 1845-1848, and printed in the New York Herald, June 15, 1913; descriptions of deserters, from the Providence Gazette, July 19, 1779, and the Connecticut Courant, November 24, 1778, printed post.]

Massachusetts Regiment of Artillery, 1775-1776 "Knox's Artillery"

Massachusetts Regiment of Artillery, 1775-1776

[SOURCE: Uniforms of the Armies in the War of the American Revolution, 1775-1783. Lt. Charles M. Lefferts. Limited Edition of 500. New York York Historical Society. New York, NY. 1926.]

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