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American Military Uniforms in the War of 1812 The War of 1812 is an unusual period, or rather two periods, in terms of the attire for military personnel. The first period 1812 through the first half of 1813 the American military uniform is basically the British military uniform. . . except in blue where it would be red. Although even that is not absolute; musicians wore red uniforms that looked almost exactly like British uniforms. In fact, it was common practice to adjust and give captured British uniforms to US military musicians to use as their own. The second period, from the later half of 1813 through 1830, saw the simplification of the military uniform, removing almost all decorations and colors except for the collars and sleeves. Mostly this change was economic in nature, both from the point of view of cost and production. The period from 1790 to 1812 saw the US army grow from 700 men to 36,000 very rapidly. Also uniforms wear out much faster in combat than during peacetime operations. In 1812 not a single factory existed to make military uniforms or even a single factory that made each of the components that whet into the uniform. Uniforms were made by hundreds of contractors (officer uniforms were generally made by individual tailors) often will very limited production capacities. A typical contractor might only produce only a 100-200 uniforms a year. The more complex the uniform, the lower the output . . . since it took longer to make. As a result uniforms needed to be simplified to produce in numbers sufficient for the army's needs. Still the government didn't seem to know the actual form of the uniform. On August 21, 1812, Callender Irvine, the Commissary General of Purchases, wrote to the Secretary of War asking for "a copy of the regulations of the War Department for the uniform clothing." In other words, the people in charge of buying the uniforms for the US Army didn't even know what they looked like. The Adjutant General's Office issued the following description of the official uniform on December 30, 1812: … blue coat with scarlet collars and cuff; the length to reach the bend of the knee; single breasted with one row of ten buttons in front, with blind holes on each side, 3.5 inches at the bottom and 5.5 inches at the top; the length of the waist not to extend below the hips; white linings; The buttons white, bearing the name of the corps and [ the number ] of the regiment, standing collar to rise so as to reach the lower part of the ear, with two buttons and holes in each side laced 4.5 inches long with silver lace. The lace to continue round the lower and upper edge of the collar. The cuff not less than 4 nor more than 4.5 inches wide, on each, 4 buttons and blind holes worked with silk. The pocket flaps cross, indented below, nor more than 10 nor less than 7 inches in length, nor less than 2.25 nor more than 3 inches wide, with four buttons and blind holes worked on each, the button of the breast, top of the pocket flaps, and hip buttons to range. The breath of the back will not be more than 6 nor less than 4 inches; the bottom of the skirts not more than 7.5 nor less than 4 inches wide, lined and faced with white cloth, with a diamond od scarlet cloth, 1.25 inches on each side, laced with silver lace, the center of the diamond to be 2 inches from the bottom of the coat. Oddly although the white binding (chest decoration) was not specified . . . to made production faster, Irvine wrote that "The materials could accompany the coats" so that they might be completed by company tailors. No data suggests that this effort was made and few, if any units, had company tailors. Medical staff wore the same uniform, but with blue collars and cuffs. By 1813 the pattern had changed several times, but settled finally on removal all the red from the uniform. On May 1st 1813 "Changes in the Uniform of the United States" were approved by the Secretary of War: A plain blue coatee, without a particle of red on it, with white or buff cross belts, white vests and white overalls with black gaiters for Infantry and artillery … The coats should be single breasted, to button from collar to waist. The collar was blue, with two buttons on each side, trimmed with blue. The cuffs were blue, as was the diamond. Buttons were to be silver or plated silver. Contemporary estimates of materials required for the uniform included white cord for trimming the button holes of coats. Trousers were to be of white nankeen (a cotton material) in the summer, but a heavier blue material was permitted in the winter. Linen coatees (in place of wool) were also approved on June 13th 1813 for those serving below the 35th parallel. West Point Uniforms During the War of 1812 the US Army grew from around 7,000 to about 40,000. What it out grew was the fledgling country's ability to produce blue wool dye. As a result by 1814 the country was completely out of blue dye … but we had lots of grey. As a result US Troops were supplied with grey uniforms. In one battle the British were surprised by the professional behavior of one grey clad unit … they had assumed that the unit was militia (most militia didn't were regular uniforms.) After the war, the US army was again reduced, but it had a glut of grey uniforms. What happened to all those uniforms? They became the basis of all the cadet uniforms at West Point. That's right, West Point Cadet uniforms were Army surplus from the War of 1812. Current West Point cadet uniform maintain the coatee style of the US Army 1814 grey uniform to this day. Letter Home About Uniforms A soldier when he enlists for one year receives a 16 dollar bounty. He also receives one cap, made of stiff hard leather, one neck stock, of the same material, four ruffled shirts, two red flannel shirts, two pair blue pants, one pair of white, four pairs of shoes, four pairs of socks, one blanket, one pair of blue gaiters, one coat, and one work jacket. Our rations consisted of bread, and salt beef; sometimes the beef was fresh, but usually salt, we also had pork, candles, soap and potato whiskey. Private Charles Fairbank
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