Kevin F. KileyAn Illustrated History of Uniforms from 1775-1783: The American Revolutionary War

This fascinating and beautifully illustrated encyclopeida was written and edited by military historians Kevin F. Kiley and Digby Smith with consultation by Jeremy Black (MBE). The encyclopedia is the history of the uniforms used by the British, French, Americans, Spanish, Germans, and Native Americans during the American Revolution from 1775-1783. The encyclopedia begins with a brief history of the background that sets up the American Revolution and describes the hostilities and how America was devited between anti-British rebels and pro-British loyalists. Then the editors give the illustrated description of the uniforms that were worn by the soldiers. Each illustration of the uniforms is absolutley excellent and colorful. The chapters are broken into the following with a few examples from each chapter:- Introduction- The Forging Of A Nation (The Founding Of America, Colonization and Emigration, The French and Indian War, The American Army, The British Army)- Militias, Early Continental Units And State Troops (Militia And State Troops, The Minutemen, The First Continentals, The Canadian Regiments, The Philadelphia Associators, Riflemen and Stockbridge Indians)- The Continental Army (THose Ragged Contnentals, Commanders and Staff, Headquarters Troops, Uniform Regulations of 1779, Legions and Partisans)- The Soldiers Of The King (The Army of the British Empire, Infantry, Royal Regiments, Fusiliers, highland Regiments, Irish Regiments, Light Infantry, American Loyalist Infantry, Specialist Troops)- The French, Germans, and Spanish (Allies and Mercenaries, French Infantry, Rochambeau's Expeditionary Force and Colonial Troops, French Cavalry and Legions, The Gribeauval Artillery System, Hesse-Cassel Infantry and Artillery, Brunswick Infantry and Cavalry, Anspach-Bayreuth, Anhalt-Zerbst and Waldeck, German Jagers, Spain)- The Naval Forces Of The War (The War at Sea, Ships of the Line and Frigates, Gunboats, Gundalows and Galleys, Royal Navy Ofifcers and Seamen, British Marines, French Royal Navy, Continental Navy Officers and Seamen)- Glossary- Index- AcknowledgementsAs stated above, these are just a few examples of this OUTSTANDING encyclopedia of uniforms used by the soldiers of the American Revolution. It is noted that alot of the soldiers from the Continental Army didn't wear the uniforms in this encyclopedia and most wore the civilian clothes that they enlisted in throughout the Revolutionary War. Are these ALL the uniforms that were worn by both sides during the war? Of course not. Are these a great sampling of the uniforms that were worn? Absolutely. The illustrations and coloring of the uniforms are excellent. The brief history of the regiments is fascinating and contributes highly to the understanding of the uniforms that were worn. This is a MUST HAVE to any American Revolution historian, scholar, buff, and student to have in their library. This book greatly enhanced my understanding of the regimental history of the soldiers that fought in the American Revolution and the uniforms that they wore. A great encylcopedia of the uniforms and a great historical book on the American Revolution! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!

This was a gift. My husband had been very pleased with this book. He says the pictures are very good, but the stories and information that goes with the pictures is even better. He has really enjoyed it, and I've heard him telling others about it.

Nice uniform illustrations on almost every page. Just got it in the mail today, so haven’t read it yet. I think I would have enjoyed this book when I was 12 years old. If you like this time period and you like illustrations of military uniforms, than you will like this book.

I have to say I have been waiting for this book for quite some time, having first ordered it back in May & apparently there was a long delay in Amazon actually having it in stock to ship. It finally arrived today & I am quite pleased, not only as an American Revolution buff & reenactor but this is the first book since John Mollo's Uniforms of the American Revolution from 1976 to feature a well-illustrated guide to ALL the forces of the War for Independence. Even the Spanish forces made "the cut"!There are a number of errors which hopefully will be corrected in a future 2nd edition including the unfortunate transposing of uniform figures with the captions such as a British Legion private & Newfoundland Regiment soldier on page 157(No idea why this unit was included,they never fired a shot in action nor left Canada!), the 1st Continental Light Dragoon captioned as an "officer" is actually a sergeant due to the yellow epaulette on the right shoulder & the slung carbine. There's also a bit of "creative licence" with small-clothes such as substituting black for green for the private & officer of Sherburne's Regiment. Also quite a few uniform captions have dates too early or late for the figure depicted.While many of the illustrations might not exactly break new ground or show too many uniforms not shown before, the book does get major points for showing the full "rainbow" of Continental Infantry uniforms including early-war Militia,the Continental Army of 1776, the Additional Continental Regiments, red-clad Patriots of Webb's Continentals & the 1st Connecticut, Riflemen & Light Infantry, frontier units, a wide variety of the German hired troops, French forces as well as both early & late-war Continental Marine uniforms & state navies. The inclusion of Native Indian & substantial coverage of Loyalist troops' uniforms also contributes to the book's wide ranging value.About the only section I found to be a bit sparse was that covering the Continental Light Dragoons. For a book that covered so much it's odd not too see a green-uniformed 4th Light Dragoon in addition to the early captured red-faced blue British uniforms or a 1779-regulation-uniformed 1st/2nd Light Dragoon with blue-faced white.A somewhat unforgiveable example of sloppy scholarship/editing is a private & officer of the Virginia regiments dressed according to the 1779 regulations but shown in blue-faced blue with white lace which was assigned to the North & South Carolina & Georgia regiments. Virginia was in the Mid-Atlantic group with Delaware, PA & Maryland which was to have red facings. Also the captioning of a 1779-regulation private of the New York or New Jersey Line as belonging to the red-faced Pennsylvania Line. What also strikes me as rather odd was almost identical illustrations of gunners in the British Artillery section.The section on navies & ships of the War is also very informative & a nice bonus considering the book is predominantly focused on uniforms. The lengthy introduction should be quite useful for younger readers or as a nice refresher to the subject.As a former member of the recreated 2nd Light Dragoons/Tallmadge's Troop I couldn't help but notice that the uniform depicted was the blue-faced buff which may not be totally accurate. It would have been much more accurate to show a 2nd LD private in 1779-regulation white facings or the rare 1780 green-faced white uniform. I don't fault the research done way back in 1949-50 for the Company of Military Historians plate, but surviving paintings & artworks which show buff facings may simply be white facings faded with age.It's often said that "too many cooks spoil the pie" & in this case I am inclined to agree since it seems like if one author had written the book on his own (yes, a monumental undertaking, but John Mollo did OK 23 years ago!) & the book had more efficent editing/fact-checking we would have a very definitive work. The book could definately have benefitted from the input of authors/researcher members from the Company of Military Historians in the editing process. This is still a very valuable work which I highly recommend especially for younger readers & really hope a revised edition is in the future.Update 5/5/09: To "retort" to another reviewer of this book, even the "EXPERTS" do make mistakes on occasion, especially as here in the editing process. It isn't "quibbling" to dispute errors of uniform depictions/facing colors but rather getting the facts right for the period depicted even if the difference is 1777 instead of 1776. Would you not question say, Robert E. Lee being shown wearing a purple frock coat instead of grey?

The book is chock full of illustrations representing a wide range of soldiers from various countries. It starts with a good narrative of the European colonization of the American continent through the American Revolution. I especially like the information on Spain's contributions to the success of our War of Independence which has been non-existent in other books. Good information, great illustrations. This book is great for anyone looking for a wide variety of illustrations on uniforms and accoutrements.

Excellent book with history of the American Revolution and great pictures of uniforms of the different units of the different countries involved. Highly recommend this book.

This is an excellant book, very well done illustartions & the writing is very well done & easy to understand. This would be my 2nd choice out of the three I purchased.1. Uniforms of the American Revolution in Color by Mollo2. An Illustrated History of Uniforms 1775 - 1783 The American Revolutionary War by Kiley3. Militray Uniforms in America: Era of the revolutionary War by Elting