UNIFORMS OF THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION -- Moylan's Light Dragoons, 1779

UNIFORMS OF
THE AMERICAN REVOLUTION

Stephen Moylan was commissioned colonel of the fourth regiment of Continental Light Dragoons, January 5, 1777. The officers chose red faced with blue as the colors of their uniform, and the men were clothed with two hundred and forty coats captured from the British at Saratoga. These were red coats with blue facings, the uniforms intended for the Eighth and Twenty-First regiments of foot. Washington ordered Moylan's troops to wear linen hunting shirts whenever there was danger of their being confused with the Queen's Dragoons, who wore the same combination of colors.

In the beginning of 1779, Moylan's Dragoons obtained a distinctive uniform, consisting of a green cloak with a red cape, a green coat faced with red, a red waistcoat, buckskin breeches, boots, and a leather cap mounted with bearskin.

[REFERENCES: John C. Fitzpatrick, Spirit of the Revolution, 126, based on the Washington MSS. in the Library of Congress; Pennsylvania Packet, April 3, 1779.]

Moylan's Light Dragoons, 1779

Moylan's Light Dragoons, 1779

[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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