David Forman and the Continental Army Red Coats of Edward Taylor

The Continental Army was faced with many problems, particularly early in the war. Among them was the inability to provide uniforms to its troops. When David Forman started raising his Additional Regiment of the Continental Army in January 1777, there were no uniforms available.

George Washington was aware that Forman’s men needed uniforms. On April 17, he wrote James Mease, the Army’s Clothier General, about “a sufficient quantity [of uniforms] for Colo. Forman's Regiment of which they are in immediate want.” But the uniforms that were available were thick wool and ill-suited for the spring. Washington “directed the Colo. to have the heavy woolen linings taken out of the Coats… as they will be too warm for summer.”

What is most interesting about these uniforms is that they were red; they had been taken from the British Army. David Forman’s regiment would be unformed as British soldiers. This concerned George Washington, who instructed his aide, George Johnston, to write Forman on May 9: "His Excellency conceives of the disadvantages and dangers that must attend our troops being clothed in scarlet; desires that you would have those drawn dyed some other color."

Forman’s men spent the summer of 1777 in a salt marsh near on the shore building a salt works co-owned by their Colonel. The men grew sick and lacked provisions. Desertions resulted. In July and August 1777, two Pennsylvania newspapers advertised desertions from David Forman's Additional Regiment. One noted the deserter was in a uniform described as "scarlet and buff with pewter buttons." The second newspaper account described the deserter's uniform as "red coat with buff-colored facings, with woolen jacket, buff breeches and wool hat cocked up." A shore resident and militiaman, Samuel Lippincott, recalled meeting Captain John Burrowes of Forman’s regiment "who commanded a company which were termed Red Coats from the color of their outer garments."

Forman’s red-coated Continentals participated in the Battle of Germantown, where Colonel Asher Holmes, leading the Monmouth militia, referred to them as “the Red Coats under Gen. Forman.” General Alexander MacDougall of the Continental Army also described that “Forman's Red Coats stood firm and advanced upon the British Red Coats." It is known that the Battle of Germantown was fought in poor visibility (due to fog and smoke from gunpowder filling the air). 

The Continental Army held firm at first, but broke lines amidst confusion about British positions. There was friendly fire between Continental units. Koert Schenck of Monmouth County recalled that Forman’s men “who all wore red coats and were fired at by some of our troops by mistake.”

The origin of these uniforms is briefly discussed by Rachel Henderson, wife of Dr. Thomas Henderson, a friend of Forman’s. In a statement provided in Daniel Applegate’s postwar veteran’s pension, she wrote of Forman’s regiment “in regular uniform red coats, the said red coats having been taken by the Militia of Monmouth County from a British vessel captured in Raritan Bay.”

Henderson’s account is corroborated by Abraham Melat’s testimony in his postwar veteran’s pension application:

He was with a number of others, marched to Freehold and then put under the command of Col David Forman & company, consisting of about 30 under the command of Capt. John Burrowes, marched to the Monmouth shore to protect it, while there, a British vessel was wrecked, from which he took a large quantity of clothing and all the company, when he returned to headquarters were dressed in clothes we took from the British ship.

Finally, Daniel Hygate’s testimony in Thomas Henderson’s pension application further corroborates that Forman’s regiment wore uniforms taken from the British: "said men raised & under drill & in regular uniforms, in red coats, the said red coats having been taken by the militia of Monmouth County from a British vessel captured in Raritan Bay."

It is also known that David Forman used his own money to clothe his men. On March 1, 1778, as Forman was losing command of his regiment as a result of a dispute with the New Jersey Legislature, he submitted a £467 bill for clothing them over the course of "18 days of purchasing." The Continental Army’s account books also list $10,000 owed Forman in December 1778 for expenses incurred for equipping and clothing his men. As late as 1781, the New Jersey State Treasurer was carrying a line item for £961 in bounties and clothing expenses owed to Forman for his Additional Regiment.

It is unknown whether Forman had to purchase the captured British uniforms for his men or if the uniforms were condemned to him as a prize of war with the captured vessel. Either way, Forman faced additional expenses in clothing his men beyond their uniforms. For example, shoes were an expensive necessity also in short supply.

It is a fascinating irony that the regiment of Continentals raised to defend Monmouth County from British attacks wore British uniforms. This serves as a good reminder that the early Continental Army was truly a threadbare operation.

Caption: Re-enactors in the blue-coated uniforms of the 3rd New Jersey Continental Regiment. David Forman’s Monmouth County regiment, in contrast, wore Red Coats taken from the British.

Related Historic Site: Cliveden (The Chew House)

Sources: Geore Washington to James Mease, John Fitzpatrick, The Writings of George Washington, US Govt Printing Office, Washington DC, 1932, vol 7, 420-2; George Johnson to David Forman, Neilson Family Papers, box 1, folder: Rutgersania, Rutgers University Special Collections Charles Lefferts, Uniforms of American, British, French & German Armies in the Revolution (New York: 1926) p 78; Asher Holmes, Letter Concerning the Battle at Germantown, 1777, Proceedings of the NJHS, vol 7, 1922, p34-5; New Jersey State Archives, Dept. of Treasury, Auditor's Acct. Books, Book B, Ledger A, reel 181, #35-6; Account List, Clothier General, National Archives, Papers of the Continental Congress, M247, I59, Miscellaneous Papers, v 2, p 143; Thomas Henderson (W426), Forman’s Regiment and Monmouth County militia, Supplementary deposition of Daniel Applegate, 21 April 1837, transcribed by John U. Rees; Forman, Samuel S. Narrative of a Journey down the Ohio and Mississippi in 1789-90 (Cincinnati, R. Clarke and Co., 1888) p 9-10. Franklin Ellis, The History of Monmouth County (R.T. Peck: Philadelphia, 1885), p 735; National Archives, revolutionary War veterans Pension Applications, New Jersey - Samuel Lippincott; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Abraham Melat of Mercer Co, www.fold3.com/image/#23397176; National Archives, Revolutionary War Veterans' Pension Application, Thomas Henderson of New Jersey, www.fold3.com/image/#23877525  The Library Company, New Jersey Votes of the Assembly, June 1781, p 71-72.