Military Blue Coats – 1789

Military blue coats and bicorn hats, 1789

Two men in probably military uniforms. They wear black bicorn hats of the style worn by army and navy officers in the 1790s. Both hats have feathers and colored cording which might indicate a specific troop or rank, one blue and the other red and white. They wear white breeches and knee high black boots, with spurs.

Their pale gold waistcoats are worn over white shirts with small ruffles at the center front, and black cravats. Each wears a knee length blue coat with gold facings, cuffs, and collar, with the facings of the coat skirts turned back at the hems in front and back in military style. The man on the left has fancy gold embroidery at the center fronts of the coat, and on the turned back cuffs, and an epaulet with hanging cords on the right shoulder.

The man on the right has a plain coat with no embroidery and plain bands along the center front of his coat. Both men are wearing white wigs, and rest their hands on their swords worn on their hips. The man on the right has a black mustache. They stand on green grass.

Credit: The Claremont Colleges