Uniforms of the United States Army, 1774-1889, in Full Color

H. A. Ogden

• Publisher: Dover Publications
• Year: 2012
• ISBN:
  9780486147321
• Topic: Design
• Subtopic: Fashion Design

This striking collection of lithographs is a marvelous sampling of military, social, and costume history. It features a wealth of richly colored, hand-tinted prints portraying the gamut of U.S. army uniforms, from fatigues to full dress, between 1774 and 1889.
Absolutely authentic in their painstaking detail, the illustrations depict officers and enlisted men in minutely detailed regalia, complete with weapons, horses, and accoutrements. Beautifully reproduced to retain every nuance of color and form, 44 plates encompass brigadier generals, staff, and line officers, cavalry, infantry, and artillery troops — even musicians — awaiting orders, receiving reports at the edge of the battlefield, and in other martial settings. Individual plates include a Minute Man  (1774-75), General Washington as Commander-in-Chief (1779-83), a West Point Cadet (1813-21), General-in-Chief Winfield Scott (1858-61), Lieutenant-General Grant and Major-General Meade (1861-66), and many more.
Readers will be dazzled by the extraordinary detail and beautiful color of these plates; military enthusiasts, hobbyists, students of dress and design, and lovers of fine lithography will consider this volume an essential addition to their collections.

Introduction

In 1890, the Army of the United States published a volume including all regulations that had been issued since the formation of the Continental Army in 1775 (and some related to the Minute Men of Massachusetts), pertaining to official uniform. The book, entitled Uniform of the Army of the United States, Illustrated, From 1774 to 1889, featured 44 full-color plates of paintings by artist H. A. Ogden.

In carrying out his commission, Ogden composed a wide variety of scenes in which were featured officers and enlisted men from many different Army services, in diverse settings and activities. To show the various uniforms where and when they would be worn in actual military circumstances, he portrayed natural-looking groupings and interactions, such as soldiers reading their mail or playing checkers in garrison; officers conferring or reporting in urban townhouses or rural mansions; the activity of a campaign encampment; soldiers marching or carrying messages in open country; or cadets and officers at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, N.Y. Ogden included portraits of several well-known generals, and even painted specific officers of lesser rank who were his contemporaries.

This Dover publication, Uniforms of the United States Army, 1774—1889, in Full Color, reproduces all 44 of Ogden’s detailed paintings, with captions identifying the Army service and rank of each soldier whose uniform is presented. From the infantry and sharpshooters of the Revolutionary War to the cavalry who fought the last of the Indian Wars, and from full-dress uniform to campaign garb to fatigues, a wide range of U.S. Army uniforms is featured in this unique collection of full-color plates.

Plate 1. Independent Company Organizations, 1774-1775.

Shown, from left to right, are the uniforms of the Virginia Infantry; a Minute Man or Militiaman; the First Company, Governor’s Foot Guard of Connecticut; the First City Troop of Philadelphia; and a Minute Man.

Plate 2. Miscellaneous Organizations, Continental Army, 1776-1779.

Shown, from left to right, are the uniforms of the Third Pennsylvania Regiment; Washington’s Guard; Second Regiment, South Carolina Infantry; Eleventh Virginia Regiment (also worn by the soldier in the distance); and Maryland Riflemen.

Plate 3. Commander-in-Chief, Aide-de-Camp, Line Officers, etc., 1779-1783.

Shown, from left to right, are the uniforms of an aide-de-camp to the commander-in-chief, a private of Moylan’s Dragoons, the commander-in-chief (George Washington), a lieutenant of infantry, and a captain of artillery.

Plate 4. Infantry: Continental Army, 1779-1783.

Four different uniforms, in accordance with their home area, were worn by these infantrymen from the thirteen colonies; at left in th...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Table of Contents
• Introduction